State Government Contracting Guide

State and local governments in the U.S. are incredibly varied and have a wide variety of needs. They rely heavily on private companies to fulfill many of their operational goals, including building mass transit, providing public safety and performing environmental studies. A state and local government contractor will work with one or more state governments to offer their products or services to better serve the citizens of those states.

With over 100,000 unique government entities purchasing goods and services valued at nearly $1.5 trillion annually, the state, local and education (SLED) government market represents nearly 10% of the United States’ GDP. But this market is widely varied and made up of a number of different types of government agencies, including: 

• State Governments: State governments generally have large budgets and often issue high dollar value state contract opportunities that companies who are serious about doing SLED business won’t want to miss out on.
• Municipal Governments: Municipal governments oversee the operation and functions of cities, towns, townships, villages and boroughs.
• Counties: County governments typically serve a larger geographical area than cities and towns, but are generally smaller than states.
• Special Districts: Special districts are limited-purpose local governmental entities that operate independently from city, town or county governments, providing services such as (but not limited to) flood control, healthcare services or parks and recreation.
• Independent School Districts: These are a common type of school district that typically focus on primary and secondary educations and operate independently from any municipality, county or state.
• Public Colleges and Universities: These are focused on providing higher education services and typically receive the majority of their funding through state ownership or public funds.

Free Guide: State & Local Contracting 101

The SLED contracting market is full of opportunity. Discover how your business can succeed in selling to SLED government agencies across the country.

Get Your Guide

The most common type of state and local government contract is an invitation to bid, RFP or RFQ. These are similar but slightly different types of government contract opportunities, which can often be differentiated as follows:

• A request for bid is generally intended to find a vendor for services at the lowest price.
• A request for proposal (RFP) evaluates the merits of competing vendors.
• A request for quotation (RFQ) asks for the cost of meeting a specific need.

Prior to the bid, RFP or RFQ actually being released, contractors can get a sense for where state and local contracts are going to be released by tracking planned future contracts to begin building their pursuit strategy in advance. Having this extra lead time can often make it easier to understand the opportunity in its entirety, put together a project team and decide whether or not to bid on a contract. They can also track expiring fixed-term contracts to understand where they have a good chance of unseating the incumbent supplier.

State government contract opportunities are often focused on major information technology infrastructure efforts and civil infrastructure projects like roads, highways and water. State governments can also be involved in critical efforts such as operating police and fire services, establishing zoning regulations, licensing professions and arranging elections.

A winning strategy for contractors in this field is understanding the buying cycle of the state agency you are going after, and knowing when to proactively seek opportunities that align to your company’s core competencies.

Find State Contracts with GovWin IQ

Local government contracts in the United States are often focused on the operational needs of their municipal government, county, special district, school district or university. This can include the performance of essential administrative functions such as voter registrations, record keeping, law enforcement and administering health and welfare services, or the provision of goods and services necessary to help keep their agency running at full speed.

A winning strategy to get your foot in the door on local contracts can be to develop a relationship with the key decision maker at your target agency well in advance in order to influence the eventual bid, RFP or RFQ opportunity.

Find Local Contracts with GovWin IQ

Deltek has been providing state and local government contractors with solutions that support their business endeavors for over 30 years. With GovWin IQ, a business development market intelligence solution and Costpoint, an ERP solution for government contractors, Deltek helps businesses find, win and deliver on more U.S. state and local government contracts.