A Friggin Awesome GovCon Newsletter

Welcome back to the "The GovCon" – where we talk about getting a piece of that sweet government pie!

If you've ever sat through the "DoD Contract Academy" podcast without throwing your phone across the room, then you're probably aware of the golden rule: find govcon leads EARLY!

In this issue we crunched some numbers to show you exactly which agencies have those early opportunities AND what they are looking for.

*The following data points will fluctuate as the government updates market research and contract opportunities

1. Government Contracting Niche Spotlight:

A great way to find an early opportunity to engage in with the government is to look for sources sought and requests for information (RFI). Here are a list of the top agencies that have sources sought solicitatiions due in the next three months.

1. Army: 222 Sources Sought due in the next 3 months

2. VA: 174 Sources Sought due in the next 3 months

3. USAF: 163 Sources Sought due in the next 3 months

4. NAVY: 99 Sources Sought due in the next 3 months

5. HHS: 74 Sources Sought due in the next 3 months

What are they buying?

1. Professional Services - leading the pack with 156 notices

2. IT - techies, here's your shot with 105 notices

3. Construction - 104, time to build some bridges (literally)

4. Health Services - 32, because nothing says "care" like a government contract

5. Land Vehicles - 21 notices

There are also a significant amount of sources sought requests for various machinery, tools, electrical components etc.

Since professional services lead the way, the next thing I wanna know is, what type of services?

Of the professional services, the top five categories are:

1. Administrative

2. Scientific & Technical

3. Janitorial

4. Hazardous waste (someone's gotta clean that s#!t up!)

5. Training / Professional Development

Now, when it comes to the opportunity of the week (see the next section), I could go with the most popular services category of admin, but I'm not.

I think most of us in the public sector could predict at least 3 of the top professional services areas. But how many of you reading right now expected janitorial or hazardous waste services to be one of the most popular categories?

Well, not me, and that brings us to the opportunity of the week.

2. Opportunity of the Week: HAZARDOUS WASTE

Now, before you say "Rick, stop talking trash", I just want you to guess how much the US federal government has spent on hazardous waste services over the past three fiscal years...

7 BILLION DOLLARS!

Total US spending on Hazardous Waste Related Services from FY21-FY24 to the time of me writing this is $7.3B and climbing.

For those of you in this glamorous line of work, the Army National Guard Bureau is looking for a few good men, or women, to dispose of medical waste:

Army National Guard Bureau

Medical Waste Disposal Services

Sources Sought Due: 25 March 2024

Solicitation# W912JF24

This one involves collection, transport, treatment, and disposal of Regulated Medical Waste.

Not going to bore you with any details besides that, if you're interested, you can look it up yourself. However, you may be interested in how to respond to a source of sought like this and get the most benefit for your business. If so, keep reading because in the next section we're going to tackle this very topic in the pro tip of the week.

3. Pro Tip Of the Week: Sources Sought (SS) Best Practices

Writing a SS response is not merely about presenting facts, but about persuasively articulating your unique value proposition

I could go on for a long time on this subject but here's a few quick bites.

1. Recommend that the government consider setting this solicitation aside for your type of business (WOSB, SDVOSB etc).

2. Always use the SS response as a springboard to request a meeting with the federal office. Relationships win contracts.

3. Whenever you're sending any email, and especially a proposal or official response. Make sure you write "please confirm receipt" in the email. If the government does not respond that they have received your submission, you have to assume that they did not receive it. When I was running an acquisitions branch for the US Air Force, emails were blocked from landing in my inbox all the time. That includes emails from companies and probably hundreds from my wife. Government email protocols will block emails for certain reasons, some of those reasons include having an attachment, containing links, containing pictures, etc.If they do not confirm receipt, I would send a stripped down email and call the office to make sure they received your submission.

4. Recommended Event or Conference

Consistency is key to victory. Thus, we piggy back on the National Guard opportunity listed earlier and spotlight the National Guard Association’s 146th General Conference and Exhibition.

National Guard association 146 General Conference and Exhibition. This conference will be hosted August 23 to the 26th summer of 2024 in Detroit Michigan. You can head over to NGAUS.org and check out their upcoming events for more information.

Well, that's the GovCon for this week. Please subscribe and if you have any areas you would like us to explore, please drop your suggestions in the comments!

Keep it real

Rick

Lt. Col. Ret. Rick Howard served as a procurement officer for the DoD managing $82 billion in contracts, founded DoD Contract Academy, and advised over 500 clients that secured hundreds of millions in federal contracts. Dive into his top-rated podcast and explore dodcontract.com for specialized training and coaching.