Business Insights

There are a lot of different factors that go into preparing a bid proposal – labor costs, travel, materials, parts and maintenance all must be calculated and presented in the final proposal. Most agencies, when they post a bid, will break down the required aspects of a proposal so that vendors can factor in these elements to their cost projections for a project. For vendors that are new to bidding, writing a bid proposal can be confusing and time consuming, but having examples to go by it can help to make the process a bit easier. One recommended way to find relevant contract examples is to look at past bid documents and awards. By doing this, vendors can clarify exactly what an agency is looking for in a bid proposal while also determining what a fair price for their services might be.

The food and agriculture industry is a vital part of our modern lives. From the food we eat to the related products we buy from local farms and businesses, every person necessarily interacts with the agriculture sector on a daily basis; it is a big contributor to the national economy and our collective well being. Every year, the USDA obligates roughly $4.6 billion for products and services; of this, $510 million is allocated to government commercial purchase card transactions (also known as “P-Cards”, which allow agencies to go out and buy products directly from a source, without having to go through a formal bid process or enter into a contract). More than 55 percent of what the USDA buys every year involves procurement of food commodities by the Agricultural Marketing Service and the Kansas City Commodity Office of the Farm Service Agency.[i]

Do you have a plan ready in case a disaster strikes? Whether they are natural or man-made, emergency situations can arise at a moment’s notice and dramatically alter the usual way you live or do business. Emergencies of all kinds occur in every type of environment, and though you may not have lived through anything catastrophic yet, that doesn’t mean that it can’t happen. If an emergency situation unfolded in your area, would you be able to handle it? Could your business survive an unpredictable turn of events? The answer to these questions depends on whether or not you have a robust disaster recovery plan prepared.

As one of the largest industries in the United States, the medical and healthcare sector is both a vital part of citizens’ daily lives and a major driver of the national economy. At one point or another, every single person living in the U.S. will require some sort of medical service, whether in the form of a doctor’s appointment, emergency hospital or ambulance services, a prescription for pharmaceuticals or the purchase of medical supplies. Because medical and healthcare services are so important to individuals and society, every year state and federal government departments collectively spend billions of dollars to procure services for those who require care.

When searching through available contract opportunities, you may notice that some bids say “Sole Source intended” in the title. These are what government agencies call ‘no-bid contracts’. Unlike Requests For Proposal, which similarly don’t require a formal bidding process but do call for multiple bids to be submitted, sole source or no-bid contracts are used to hire a vendor as quickly as possible for a specific job, without the need for a competitive bidding process.

Every year, the federal government spends trillions of dollars on millions of contracts throughout the nation: more than 3 million contracts were awarded in 2015. Because the federal government is in charge of distributing a massive pool of funds, they tend to have more money to spend on projects when compared with state and local agencies. This is why federal contracts can often be more lucrative than others for vendors. Like other government agencies, federal agencies spend their funds on a wide variety of products and services; however certain industries tend to produce more contract opportunities than others. One of the most popular categories for federal contracting is the aircraft and aviation sector.

With a population of 2.2 million, Houston is the 4^th largest city in the United States but is ranked as the largest city in the Southern portion of the U.S. In 2015, total government spending in Houston was $4.791 billion; compared with Texas’s next three largest cities, Houston’s budget is almost double that of San Antonio, Dallas or Austin.

Over the last few years, small businesses have been on top when it comes to winning government contracts. In the United States, government agencies are obligated to award 23% of contracts to small businesses but that goal has not always been met. In recent years, however, most government agencies have not only reached this goal but surpassed it: In 2014, government awarded 25 percent of all contracts to small businesses, totaling about $91.7 billion in spending.[i] These contracting achievements encourage small businesses to engage in competitive government bidding, and also provide an incentive for entrepreneurs to start more small businesses.

For small to medium-sized businesses that are pursuing government contracts in information technology, it can be tough to know how to craft a winning proposal. Even if you already provide IT products and services in the private sector, bidding on public sector opportunities can be an entirely new experience. In this article we will provide five tips on how winning bids are created, and identify the elements of a public sector proposal that make it more likely to be a winner.

With a population of 3.8 million people, the City of Los Angeles is the second largest city in the U.S. after New York City. L.A. is ranked 7^th in the Global Economic Power Index (behind New York, London, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Paris and Singapore) and is considered the largest manufacturing center in the United States. The administration and operations needs of Los Angeles are handled by 42 government departments, all of which purchase goods and services from all types of vendors, both within and outside the city. If you are a vendor who owns a business within the city limits of Greater Los Angeles, you’re in luck, as local businesses are preferred over outside vendors when it comes to securing City procurement contracts.