How Can We Win More Government Work?
A cry for help I've heard a couple of times over the past few months is: "𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒘𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒏 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒏𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌?". The answer is, there is no simple answer!
Having said that for this BD Tips Wednesday post I thought I would run a few [5] basic things you need to have in place if you want to stand a chance of winning more work from Government - whether that be Federal, State or local.
1. Understand the Procurement Process
First of all, you need to understand the procurement process that particular Government level, agency, department, Owned Corporation (GOC), etc has in place.
This extends beyond whether or not they have a panel in place (hint: most will), but also applies to matter level. For example, is there a monetary threshold over which they need to get more than one, three or five quotes?
In short, if you want to win more Government work, first of all learn how to play the game. You need to:
understand the procurement rules - is it a competitive bidding (RFP/RFT/RFQ) process or can it be a sole-source contracts?
register on the relevant Government tender websites.
get notifications of all relevant tenders being released (you can even pay for this service!).
know the compliance requirements - ISO? What are the minimum insurance levels (public liability / professional indemnity / cyber insurance)? Anti Money Laundering / Supply Chain / ESG compliant?
2. Develop a Strong Value Proposition
Next up, like all things, you need to have a strong value proposition.
Don't think that just because it is Government they are going to give you the work - they're not! Likewise, thinking just because you're a taxpayer means Government owes you something is a doomed to failure strategy!
Government, just like any other client you have, needs to know what you are offering over and above the competition. You need to be able to differentiate your offering from everyone else.
Here, you can focus on your cost efficiencies/value for money, innovation, social impact. These are differentiators Government rewards.
3. Have the right experience...
Again, Government doesn't owe you anything so don't go for work if you don't have at least some experience doing what you say you can do!
Here, you might say you don't have experience acting for Government directly so should you still go for the work? The answer is "possibly", as Government also likes experience acting against Government (provided you agree not to act against them once they become your paymaster 😁).
4. Build relationships
Government procurement rules means that building relationships with Government employees can be a little more tricky than with the private sector. However, at the end of the day, professional services remains a people-to-people business - it's built on a trusted relationship between buyer and seller. While it might be a little more complicated, that doesn't change just because you are dealing with Government employees.
As a result, make sure to:
attend all relevant industry events.
provide [free] training as a value add where it will be warmly received.
leverage off your existing Government connections.
understand who they key decision makers are!
become known as the 'go to' person for Government in your area of expertise.
5. Have a good pitch team!
Last of all, make sure you employ a good pitch team - either internally or outsourced - who understand how Government works and know how to respond to Government tenders. This is a specialist area.
Tip here. A good Government tender writer fully understands the 'D.N.A of a client acquisition' concept and can tailor a response to tick all of the relevant boxes!
Bringing it all together
So the next time you ask yourself how you can go about wining more Government work, check to see if you have ticked all five of the above boxes off.
Further Reading
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