The World of Government Contracts: An Insider's Guide with CountryIntel

Ever wanted to navigate the world of government contracting vehicles without getting lost in the labyrinth? Strap on your seatbelts as we journey together to demystify this complex terrain. We're joined by hosts Spencer Bentley and Devon Florczak, an expert with immense knowledge in this field, who will help us unravel the layers of complexity around contract vehicles like IDIQs, GWACs, and BPAs. We discuss their benefits, drawbacks, and how they can serve different needs for small businesses. You don't want to miss out on this deep dive into how these contracting vehicles operate, and which might be the most advantageous for your business.

What does the future hold for government contracts and their demand for IT infrastructure and technology? Are you aware of the shift in talent sourcing and how it's reshaping expectations and compensation in the government workforce? Let's figure it out together. Devon gives us a front-row seat into the world of government contracts, the rising demand for emerging technologies, and the incredible opportunities it opens up for small businesses like never before. This episode promises to be both illuminating and empowering, whether you're a small business owner hoping to tap into federal contracts or an individual with a curiosity for the space. So why wait? Let's decode the world of government contracting vehicles together!

• Hosted by: Terrell Cummings & Devon Florczak
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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:18

Hello and welcome back to the Country Intelligence Report. I am your host, spencer Bentley, alongside Devin Florzak. Today we have an interesting topic that will definitely be of interest to all that are trying to break into the federal contracting space or those that deal with this on a regular basis. It is government contracting vehicles, something that is a very esoteric discussion, but one that is really valuable and one that plays a huge role in the day-to-day life of government contractors, especially those that deal with new business development, even marketing operations. It touches almost every aspect of what we do here, especially at the Country Intelligence Group. We will dive right into it. In the ever-evolving landscape of government contracting, we have witnessed a plethora of vehicles, from indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity, idiq contracts to government-wide acquisition contracts, better known as GWACs, and blanket purchase agreements or BPAs, devin. I am wondering if you can break down for our listeners the unique features of these and other vehicles and how they may cater differently to the needs of small businesses in our space.

Speaker 2: 1:52

Yeah, I can just start by going with the three that you mentioned and maybe mention a couple others, starting with IDIQs. The stands for indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity. Essentially it means that the government is looking for indefinite quantity of something or services during a fixed period of time. Essentially, they don't know the quantity of what they're looking for. It's more so a vehicle where they have an idea of what they're looking for but it's just very generic and broad about what they're looking for until they actually go ahead and use that vehicle. There are pros and cons to that. The pros to that is that typically you have to obviously apply for these IDIQs. It's usually more so like a normal proposal process where the government will give out specific task areas. You'll tell the government essentially what task areas you think your company can cover and then you sort of prove why you think your company can cover those. Of course you'll mention your past performance, references, generic strategies towards those areas as well, and then the government will go ahead and look at all the pros and cons and see what companies cover what sort of areas and then choose which companies actually have to go on the IDIQ. And the good thing is that once you're on one of these IDIQs, you're part of a select group that the government will then go to for the work that will be dedicated towards that contract vehicle, and that's a good thing because, regarding at least from the competition standpoint, there might be a small select group of companies. For example, you might 20, 30, 50 companies in there, which is not really too many companies compared to an open contract that's free and open to apply for. But the downside of that is that you could be going against some of the bigger contracting groups, such as Boozal and Northrop, et cetera, so there's definitely some good and bad about it. I think it's definitely ideal if you're a small business to try to get on one of these, just because it seems like the current trend is that a lot of these contracting offices are using these vehicles more to get work out there quicker, and I think that's just a general trend that we're seeing and we could touch on that later.

Speaker 2: 4:41

Regarding government-wide acquisition contracts, or GWACs, I honestly don't have much experience with these. From what I understand at least, it's more so IT focused, it looks like, and it looks like it's a multi-agency vehicle where many agencies are looking to collaborate and look for something that some or all of them might be using, and work might be dedicated towards that, to sort of getting the agencies in line with one specific contractor to facilitate the work. So yeah, I don't think we have much experience with those, but something that does seem good about them, of course, is exposure to many agencies at once and of course, if you can get your company name out there to a lot of people at once, it's always a good thing. And then Lincoln Purchase Agreements, bpas.

Speaker 2: 5:43

So I think these are traditionally sole source where only usually one company wins these. It looks like if you have a good relationship with a government agency and they like you, they'll probably keep providing these plain purchase agreements for the services that you're doing, and I think these are the most straight up way to get work from the government. But of course you need to establish sort of a line of trust between the client and your company as well. So, yeah, those I think are three vehicles. Obviously there are a lot more, but yeah, to me IDIQs seem to be the best way to go and seem to be where the market is sort of trending.

Speaker 1: 6:35

Yeah, that makes sense, just given the structure of it. It seems like that's where a lot of businesses are probably going to start focusing their efforts, their contract developing efforts, their proposal efforts, things like that. So, yeah, that makes a lot of sense and that sort of dovetails into the next question I was going to ask is you know, are there any particular vehicles that may be more advantageous part of me or risky for small businesses? You know there's so many options that are available, but some you know may make sense for a small business more than others, such as, you know, the IDIQ. You know it could be, you know, advantageous for a small business where the GWACs are probably not the way to go, just because of how demanding a vehicle like that could be, if they're able to fulfill it at all. It seems like those are a little bit more catered towards the larger players in the space. But just interested in your point of view on that, if you have any ideas or opinions on what may be more advantageous for small businesses.

Speaker 2: 7:51

Yeah, I mean. To me it's the IDIQs, just because of the fact that you know it seems like, or you know the intent of these is that there's supposed to be a lot of contracts that come through these and are processed more quicker than normal, or at least that's what I've seen in the last year for some of the IDIQs that we've applied for. And what I think is really important is that you know the upfront they've always said. You know a big issue with their contracting offices is that it takes way too long to go from you know work, going from like an RFP, rfi stage to the work actually being done. And I know a couple of the ones that you know we've been able to get on recently. You know they said their intent is, you know, to have the work up and running in 60 to 90 days from the time that they actually put the proposal out there and I thought that's, you know, pretty interesting. But you know it's, you know it's pretty ambitious, I would say. I guess you know because obviously you still have to involve, you know, the contracting office and there's a lot of moving parts on, you know, the federal side towards actually choosing who gets to work and then you know doing all the paperwork and starting to, you know, get those deliverables going.

Speaker 2: 9:15

So I think you know obviously are not obviously, but you know IDIQs are to me are the way to go and you know, if you're a small business contracting group, if you can get a couple of these at once, you really get some flexibility and you can sort of choose. You know what you go after. You know obviously, you know when work comes out it's going to have to fall under your task area to be able to apply for it. But at least you sort of know and have a general idea of. You know where the work is coming from, because I think that's sort of an issue that you know small businesses have as well in the federal contracting spaces, identifying work and trying to figure out you know where is this new work coming from. So you know they be looking on SAMgov, should they be looking through GSA? Should they be looking to become a supplier for Northrop or, you know, booze or Boeing. So if you can get an IDIQ, at least you sort of know where to look for work and actually get to see and build a relationship with some people on the federal side.

Speaker 2: 10:23

Yeah, but as far as the other ones go, you know GWACs. You know it seems like they're very broad and you know, like I said, a good benefit of them is that you know you have, you know multi. You know it seems like a multi-agency effort but I'm assuming those seem like they're more for you know the larger companies to fulfill. You know that might be challenging to support a multi-agency effort if you're a small business and you only have you know 30, 40, 50, you know 100 people under your company. And, yeah, as far as you know any other contract vehicles, you know the bank person's agreements are. You know single-word contracts. Like I said before, those could definitely be a little bit more on the risky side, just because you know typically, you know obviously only one company wins them.

Speaker 2: 11:18

But I feel like most of you know the proposals that we read when they come out. You can sort of tell, you know when they're being written for. You know a certain group you know, depending on the language they're using and especially if they get very specific on what they're looking for, then you kind of sort of know you know someone's already in line for that work. So yeah, I doubly think you know IDIQs are the way to go, and if not, then I don't think it hurts to reach out to other contracting businesses. I really haven't looked into you know what being a supplier for, like booze or Boeing, looks like, but I think if you can build a relationship with maybe more of the you know medium-level companies you know companies that are, you know about to lose their small business, set aside or are still looking for you know smalls to partner with, I think that could be, you know, advantageous. I think that's something that we're definitely looking into.

Speaker 1: 12:17

Yeah, that's definitely a smart way to to expand your portfolio. It's common for contracts to sort of force small businesses to scale up and they lose their small business set aside and all of the benefits that come with that. And while it's sort of a circumstance where a company's suffering from success, it is a great opportunity for another small to come in and a partner with that company that still has sort of the small business mentality, still has that line of business and the benefits that come along with being a small business in their purview. That's a great opportunity for a small business to come in, try to partner, still provide them with those benefits while obviously adding value and getting some benefits of their own. So, yeah, it's something that we're definitely looking into.

Speaker 2: 13:26

Yeah, and of course there's money out there for small businesses. There's quotas that exist that a certain percentage of the money out there for federal contracts does have to involve a small business in some way. So these companies are always looking for people to partner with and if you're having issues forming a relationship to get on an IDIQ or work on some of these larger contract vehicles, one way to do that is to sort of not really seek a mentor for your business, but seek a partnership with some companies that do have access to these IDIQs and sort of form a two-way relationship.

Speaker 1: 14:11

Yeah, and I think it's important to note that, while some of the larger contracting firms or part of me consulting firms they may have small business I like to call them ambassadors or small business cheerleaders on staff, it's really no substitute for being able to speak to decision makers, and that's more likely to occur in the small to medium sized businesses, where they'll give you that consideration and the time of day to actually speak to someone who can make a decision. So it's a lot of advantages to small businesses partnering with other small businesses in this space here.

Speaker 2: 14:55

Yep, definitely.

Speaker 1: 14:58

Yeah, and just sort of building upon that and given the current trends in government procurement, where do you see the future of contracting vehicles heading? I mean, for small businesses keen on aligning part of me, their strategies to these anticipated changes, what contracting vehicles should they and we all sort of be investing time and to understanding more deeply and really setting up our systems and our operations internally to cater to?

Speaker 2: 15:34

Yeah, and I guess I'll go back to the IDIQ. Well, but, excuse me, yeah. So for the IDIQs, typically, like I said, it's very generic but if you get on them it's definitely advantageous. But it does seem like agencies are heading towards a path of having multiple IDIQs out there and sort of consolidating all the contracts that they have under one or two IDIQs. And if you have a relationship or you're on an IDIQ with that agency and you happen to see that they're opening up another one, that's a very easy path to getting on that second IDIQ. Because to me I haven't been in the federal contracting space for too long only three or four years for now but to me it seems like a lot of these contracts are sort of floating out there. There's definitely a lack of communication that we see often between the contracting office and the actual agency that's listening to that work and anything to help them on their end to sort of consolidate their work. So things are more bundled together. I think that's where they're going to be heading and, like I said, eventually I just feel like most agencies will have one or two or three IDIQs that you'll have to be on. You'll have to have a good relationship with them and obviously be on the actual vehicle to apply for the work, versus the more open solicitations that are out there. If that's something that you can get in front of and sort of market yourselves and be in the know for when these IDIQs come out and just apply for everyone that you see, I think that's a very good idea. As far as outside the IDIQs, something that I thought was interesting is just the type of work that's coming out.

Speaker 2: 17:37

Obviously, as we're in a halfway hybrid remote work era and people going in the office as well, the pace of technology that we're all using is only increasing. I think that there will be more of demand on work that involves IT infrastructure and things in line of working with data, working with actual hardware and software. There will definitely be some niche work available, depending on what an agency is looking for. We've all seen the memos that have maybe come out in the last few weeks from the DoD and elsewhere about AI. I don't think many companies are actually. I mean, I guess they have products around AI, but I don't think the government really knows what they're looking for in regards to that. I think it's really up to us as a vendor, to shine a light on what they can actually use AI and some of these more advanced statistical queries and whatnot for use and their day-to-day use, and how it can sort of emphasize and back up the work that they're doing.

Speaker 2: 18:56

I think definitely there's going to be an increased focus on IT infrastructure and technology in general. Everyone is about sustainability as well, of course, things where there might be sustainability-focused contracts where they're going to say okay, the solution that you guys are providing it has to not use any carbon fuels or it has to use X amount of energy, et cetera. Things like that. I think that government contracts are just going to get very niche and then very specific to what the agency is looking for. It's definitely an interesting time right now to be in the federal contract space, and especially with all the money that's being appropriated to it as well.

Speaker 1: 19:45

Yeah, you dropped a couple of gems there that I couldn't agree with more the emphasis on IT infrastructure, the vast sort of green space available to AI, and that AI is enabling the opportunity for vendors and consultants to really push the agenda for the government and help fill those knowledge gaps for the more technical aspects of the work that are being optimized these days by these new tools. I think that that's really a golden sort of sweet spot for small businesses to occupy. It's a place where small businesses can really stand toe to toe with the larger vendors, because the expertise doesn't require a huge, large workforce. It just requires some really niche know-how from some savvy entrepreneurs that are finding ways to get the work done.

Speaker 2: 20:52

So, yeah, I think that could also be an issue eventually.

Speaker 2: 21:01

As far as the people who actually code it seems like everyone who's really good at computer science they sort of make their own company and do their own work and they don't really have to actually support not federal contracting, but it's not like they have to seek work out.

Speaker 2: 21:19

It seems like those folks more so build a portfolio sort of work when they want and people approach them on certain work, but it doesn't seem like they're looking for work. And I think that's where the government might run into an issue where, if they want to compete with people who either work at these large companies who are getting paid a lot more to build their actual infrastructure at Google or AWS, versus the federal contracting sphere, I think that's going to be an issue one day for those in the DoD and elsewhere that if they're looking for these very specific applications to be built, they're probably going to have to pay up a lot of money to Microsoft or Amazon or whoever to get it done, because I feel like their best people are more so working on their own products versus what the government wants.

Speaker 1: 22:13

That's true. Yeah, I think talent sourcing, even retention, has always kind of been historically an issue with the federal government. But now, with the advent of all these highly technical, like you said, statistical models, large language models, things like that, being sort of required to keep pace with not just the private sector but other countries around the world, the federal government is really going to have to pick up the pace and they're going to have to, I think, reimagine what their, their workforce looks like and the expectations and compensation. All of those things are going to have to have a real revamp because even the larger players in the space, the larger consulting firms, in terms of the highly technical expertise, they're still not keeping pace with the private sector. The digital architects, the engineers over at Google, apple, those are the top, the cream of the crop. And to entice them to leave that sector and come work for something that's maybe not quite as free or creative or however you want to paint government work, it's going to be a haul, it's going to be quite a reimagining of the federal workforce, but I do think that this is a great opportunity for some really entrepreneurial-minded, young, tech-savvy individuals to come into the space and fill these voids, because they don't need to work for the larger, larger players in the space to demand that type of compensation from the government. If you can prove that you can get the work done.

Speaker 1: 24:30

The government is a great customer to have. When you get past the inner workings of the bureaucracy and things like that, it's pretty well known that it's a consistent source of income. I think it's going to be on the government's side to then, like I said, just reimagine it, not put so many guards around who small businesses can work with in addition to the government, things like that. I would say just not to let the idea of working for the government versus the larger players in tech, not to let that idea be clouded or misconstrued or you know, sort of I guess, for lack of a better word perverted by the conceptions of federal work, because this is a great opportunity. The requirement for these new emerging technologies that's going to be on the government's side is immense and it's only now just beginning. So to get on the ground floor of that development push I think is really advantageous.

Speaker 2: 25:52

Yeah, it's almost like the government should more so be looking at smaller businesses and groups that sort of have that hunger in them to get the more ambitious work done, especially when it comes to IT infrastructure.

Speaker 2: 26:09

Because, like I said and this is just an assumption, of course, but I'm assuming that the top engineers at the top tech companies are working on their own companies' products, which, of course, that company might also sell to the government, Right?

Speaker 2: 26:26

A lot Microsoft teams are business version versus the DoD version, so things like that. But for the ideas that they have and platforms and different applications that they want to build that are more niche, where the Air Force might be looking for something very specific for one of their aircraft, et cetera, like a little application to track how, I would say, the equipment on the aircraft is doing or how is the outside walls of the aircraft holding up, something like that. I don't think I guess they could be going to Boeing for that, but I would assume that their best engineers aren't going to be rededicated to work on the application that might be used by 50 people and it'd be worth like 10 million or something like that. That might be penis to them, Right? So I'm assuming that that work should more so be for small businesses and those that still have talented people around to support those efforts that aren't really working on a big idea yet. But yeah, it's definitely very interesting.

Speaker 1: 27:44

Yeah, completely agree, completely agree. So this is a very sort of in the weeds topic. I think this is something that obviously we'll be touching on well into the future, just because this is the life that we live is navigating contract vehicles. So we will definitely be touching on this again and we'll leave it there for now. Thank you all for listening. Have a great day. Thank you for listening to the country intelligence report. Please like and subscribe to stay on top of the latest developments with the show. For more information on the country intelligence group, please visit our website at wwwcountryintelcom. You can also be found across multiple social media platforms at country intel.