Myth Buster #2: Federal Bids Have Too Many Requirements

If you’re new to government bidding, you may be wondering how to find opportunities with the federal government. If you’re feeling discouraged as a smaller business trying to compete with larger businesses, we’re here to help. When you first start bidding on federal opportunities, there may be a large number of requirements to get your business started, but once you get everything in order it won’t be as overwhelming as you once thought. We’re going to debunk this myth and show you that federal contracts aren’t all that scary and are worth bidding on.

Working with the Federal Government

Doing business with the federal government is a great way to earn new revenue and gain experience for your business. Since the federal government is the world’s largest buyer of goods and services, you’ll find that they’re always looking to purchase something new which could very well be something that your business can offer. It’s also important to keep in mind that the federal government actively looks to work with smaller businesses, is guaranteed to have the funds to pay you, spends more during a recession, and wants to build long-term relationships with vendors. So, this may be the perfect opportunity to expand your business into the federal market. It is true that working with the federal government may have more requirements to get your business started, but once you register your business and comply with the standard requirements, you’ll be all set to start bidding.

How to Get Your Business Started

The federal government spends billions of dollars a year on goods and services and sets aside at least 23% of all contracting dollars to small businesses, including women-, minority-, and service-disabled veteran-owned businesses, so if your business can bid competitively and fulfill the entire contract, you’ll have a greater chance at winning.

Some of the basic requirements, according to the Small Business Administration (SBA), that you’ll need to meet as a small business to compete for federal contracts include:

• Unique Entity Identifier (UEI)

This is a 12-character alpha numeric value that is your official I.D. to do business with the U.S. government. You will receive this number when you register on SAM.gov.

• NAICS codes

You’ll then need to match your products and services to a NAICS (North American Industry Classification System) code. These codes help classify your business based on the products and services you provide. You can view a list through the U.S. Census Bureau.

• Meet the proper size standards

To classify as a small business, you’ll need to meet the size requirements set up by the SBA. They help define the maximum size a business can be to qualify.

• Register with SAM.gov

To bid on federal contracts you must register your business through SAM.gov. This will help prove whether your business is eligible to bid on federal contracts reserved for small businesses.

• Maintain compliance and meet cybersecurity requirements

Your business will need to comply with all the federal laws and regulations which you can learn more about here. You will also need to show the ability to safeguard your systems and data if you’re looking to do business with the Department of Defense.

Although this may seem like a lot at first, once you follow these steps to register and confirm your business meets the laws and regulations, you’ll be ready to bid on federal opportunities and won’t have to go through this process every time you want to submit a bid.

Finding Matching Federal Bid Opportunities

Once you’re ready to start bidding, one of the easiest ways to find matching bid opportunities is to utilize a platform like Bidnet Direct. By registering with our federal package, not only will you have access to thousands of federal bids, but you can also access state, local, and member agency bids. In fact, in the past year alone, there have been over 137,000 federal bid opportunities published on Bidnet Direct and there are currently over 6,000 open federal bids that you can view and bid on today.

To make sure you get alerted of the most relevant bids, you’ll want to make sure to set up your NIGP categories, which are product and service category codes that help identify what you provide, and your keywords which help narrow down your search even further. Once you set these up and have selected all the categories that apply to your business, you’ll automatically be able to see all the matching opportunities that have been issued by various federal government agencies. You will also receive daily email notifications with matching bids, so you never miss out on an important opportunity.

Take on Federal Bidding Today

As you’re getting ready to explore federal bidding, remember that taking on something you’ve never done before can be a little challenging at first, but if you follow these steps and make sure your business is eligible and can competitively bid on federal opportunities, you’ll have a great chance at succeeding. There are many advantages to doing business with federal government agencies: the contracts are more profitable, many tend to be longer-term contracts, and it gives you the opportunity to explore new markets and make new connections. We hope we’ve helped debunk this myth that federal bids have too many requirements for you to stand a chance, because you DO stand a chance and should explore new business avenues if you have the means to do so. By registering as a vendor on Bidnet Direct, we can help make the government bidding process easier and less time-consuming for your business so you can focus on writing your next winning proposal.