Description
This Government Business Development training offers essential skills in professional business development for Government contractors selling services and solutions to the Federal Government. The two-day course begins with an overview of the Federal business development (BD) process and what it takes to succeed in the profession. It proceeds to the basics of U.S. Government business. It then focuses on the nuances of Government contracting that every Federal business developer has to understand in order to win contracts, such as rules of the socioeconomic program for small businesses, and how you can make the program serve your goals even if you do not directly qualify for the benefits.
The course also teaches practical skills in conducting market research to both identify Federal agencies as target customers and build a robust Government opportunities pipeline. The pipeline discussions covers a variety of techniques from determining your opportunity search criteria to prioritizing your must-win opportunities, and tells you about the leading free and paid market tools available for Government opportunity identification.
After thoroughly explaining tactical tasks, the course demonstrates strategies for business development planning that every Government business developer needs to know. The course culminates in instructions for both engaging with the Federal customers through becoming a trusted adviser and marketing to the Feds effectively using a Government-focused capability statement and a multitude of techniques to engage with the evasive Government officials who generally don’t like to meet with Government contractors. It introduces the concept of capture management to prepare effectively for proposal writing.
Gain understanding of the Federal Business Development life cycle, learn how to navigate the U.S. Government marketplace, perform strategic business development planning, dive into Government market research and market analysis, master Federal marketing and Government sales, understand the intricacies of opportunities pipeline development, and qualify opportunities like a pro! All to maximize your Government contract win probability.
As a whole, the course is an interactive 2-day workshop that is 50 percent lecture, 30 percent exercises, and 20 percent discussion. It is built around hands-on exercises and scenarios to practice and discuss key steps of the Government Business Development process.
The experts who teach our Foundation of Federal Business Development training are highly experienced currently practicing Federal proposal professionals whose years of successful experience in Government acquisition and training allow them to offer valuable insights to our students. Our instructors can answer tough questions as they come up during the course. They can also tailor the material to their students’ specific challenges, and share their experience based on the most current realities. Check our instructor’s bios on our About page.
Professional Certification: This is either a major or elective class that provides 2 units (2 days) towards Bid & Proposal Academy certification (depending on the certification type). By attending this class, you will receive 3 CEUs or more towards your APMP certification, or PDUs towards your PMP (check with the PMI on what they will honor). At the end of this course, you will get a Certificate of Completion.
Who should attend this course: Government contracting business owners, executive leadership, federal business developers, account managers, federal marketing and sales managers, program staff that interface with Government customers, capture managers, proposal managers
Course materials: Course workbook, exercise handouts, handy references.
Course Curriculum
Learning Objectives
By attending this Federal Business Development Training, the participants will learn and practice skills in:
- Understanding what skill sets and qualities it takes to succeed in the Federal Business Development profession.
- Getting and maintaining Government contractor registrations.
- Navigating Federal regulations.
- Taking advantage of the Government’s socioeconomic program benefits.
- Leveraging the SBA and other agencies’ Mentor-Protégé Programs.
- Correctly determining the company’s business size and understanding its importance.
- Leveraging different forms of selling to the Federal Government.
- Understanding the rules for Government source selection and contract awards.
- Performing market research to identify target Federal agencies, Government contacts, key competitors, teaming partners, and bid opportunities.
- Building a solid Government bid opportunities pipeline.
- Using bid pipeline tools effectively beyond FedBizOpps and FedConnect.net.
- Qualifying a bid opportunity to ensure the highest Pwin.
- Setting strategies for winning bids for Government contracts.
- Calculating business development budget.
- Identifying Must-Win bid opportunities.
- Securing visits to Government customers.
- Understanding the rules of marketing to the Federal Government.
- Building effective relationships with Government officials.
- Developing business development collateral such as a high-impact Government capability statement.
- Identifying venues for effective federal business development.
- Targeting a potential teammate.
- Understanding capture management that’s required to win a Government bid.
Course Highlights
Module 1: How to Succeed in Business Development
- Federal business development lifecycle.
- Four categories of actions for growth Government contractors have to take to succeed in the Federal marketplace.
- A perfect Federal Business Developer: how to become the secret weapon for your Government contracting company’s (and career’s) explosive growth.
- Federal Business Development skillset and essential qualities.
Module 2: Foundations of Federal Contracting
- The basics of doing business with the Government.
- Taking care of registrations (whether you are new to Government business or not).
- Minding your D&B rating and PAYDEX score.
- Federal market snapshot: who are the target agencies and Government buyers, and how to identify them.
- How to navigate the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) and Government agency guidelines like a pro.
Module 3: Government Procurement Process
- Government budgeting cycle and why it is important to understand it.
- Complex procurement process.
- Determining your target agency’s acquisition process.
Module 4: Socioeconomic Programs
- Small and disadvantaged business types in the socioeconomic program.
- Using socioeconomic programs to your advantage (small business, HUBZone, 8(a), WOSB/EDWOSB,
- SDVOSB, VOSB, etc.)
- Qualifying for an 8(a) and HUBZone programs.
- Benefits and pitfalls of the 8(a) and HUBZone programs.
- The scoop on SBA and other Mentor-Protege Programs, including what to ask from your mentor.
- Determining your business size using NAICS codes, and why size makes a difference in Government procurement.
- Primary and secondary NAICS selection strategy.
Exercise: Using a case study, determine what the company is missing in order for it to succeed in the Federal Government Market.
Module 5: How the Government Enters into Contracts with Industry
- Forms of selling to the Federal Government.
- Competitive outlook in Government procurement to determine the market openness for your offerings.
- Government purchasing thresholds and micro-purchasing.
- Five tests to determine whether you need a GSA schedule.
- Government contract types and why they are important.
- Goals of Government business development and capture.
- Single award competitions.
- Multiple award contracts.
- Sole source awards.
- Becoming a Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) supplier.
- Reverse auctions.
- Grants.
- Public-private partnerships.
- R&D-related vehicles such as SBIR solicitations.
- Evaluation factors on the Best Value Continuum, from Lowest Price Technically Acceptable (LPTA) to Best Value Tradeoffs.
- Scenario-based Discussion: Discuss strategies for Government procurement at different purchasing thresholds and evaluation criteria.
Module 6: Market Research to Find Customers for Your Company: Identifying agencies that buy what your company sells
- Identifying top Government contractors for the agency.
- Conducting Government market research like a professional analyst.
- Performing an initial competitive analysis.
- Finding Government contacts.
- Getting maximum help from OSDBUs, vendor outreach events, and other methods of entering Government agencies.
Exercise: Research a customer and competitors based on a company’s core capabilities.
Module 7: How to Build Your Federal Opportunity Pipeline
- Creating a balanced pipeline that’s an engine of explosive business growth.
- Implementing an integrated, multifaceted approach to find Government bid opportunities.
- How to use pipeline tools effectively beyond FedBizOpps (FBO.gov) and FedConnect.net.
- Where to register to receive bid notices.
- How to get face time with the Government customers.
- How to leverage your workforce and partners to identify Government pipeline opportunities.
Module 8: How to Obtain Sole Source Awards
- How to reduce competition and win sole source awards.
- Adding scope to your existing Government contracts.
- Understanding regulations for issuing sole source Government contracts.
- Sole source contract award process for businesses not subject to statutory exceptions.
- How to write unsolicited proposals for Government agencies.
- How to work with Government to facilitate a sole source award.
- How to write proposals for sole source procurements.
- How to contribute to effective Justification and Approval (J&A) for a sole source proposal.
- How to receive an 8(a) sole source award.
- How to get an SDVOSB sole source award.
- How to get a WOSB and EDWOSB sole source award.
- How to get a HUBZone sole source award.
Module 9: Additional Methods of Building Government Opportunities Pipeline
- How experienced Government contractors create opportunities for themselves.
- How to identify immediate bid opportunities to add contract revenue.
- Additional techniques to attract Government opportunities to your company.
- Venues where to talk to Government customers.
- Qualifying an opportunity to ensure it fits within your strategic business development plan, has high win probability (Pwin), and low execution risk.
Exercise: Qualify a bid opportunity based on a provided scenario.
Module 10: How to Create Your Business Development Strategy and a Strategic Business Development Plan
- Four main goals of a Strategic Business Development Plan.
- Methodology for conducting a business development strategy planning session.
- How to transition from subcontracting to priming in the Government market or enter the Government market as a new business.
- How to develop a business development budget, and how many proposals do you need to write to achieve the desired growth.
- Analyzing and expanding your core competencies.
- Identifying Must-Win bid opportunities.
- Strategies for winning Government contract bids consistently.
Exercise: Calculate business development budget based on a scenario.
Module 11: Engaging with the Federal Government Customers
- How to market to the Federal Government.
- The rules of marketing to the Federal Government you cannot break at any cost.
- How to get a meeting with a Government official.
- How to become a trusted adviser to the Government customer.
- What marketing collateral you need for effective Federal business development.
- What information to include in a high-impact Government capability statement, specific to Federal customers.
- How to legally “wire” the Government bid to your company.
- Professional associations to join for Government business development purposes.
- How to target potential teammates to be added to a winning bid team.
- Four important goal of working with the customer.
- How to prepare for an effective capture and proposal process (and what an effective capture process will help you achieve beyond business development).
- How to attract Government customers to your company through Web and social media.
- Low, medium, and high-cost Government marketing activities.
Exercise: Critique a Government capability statement to identify missing information and recommend improvements.
Module 12: Transitioning to the Capture Process
- Qualifying a bid opportunity.
- Gate review that kicks off the capture process.
- Components of the capture process important for Federal business development and proper positioning to write a winning proposal.
Module 13: Summary and Recap
Meet Your Instructor
Olessia Smotrova, CF.APMP Fellow
Olessia has more than 25 years of experience in business development. She led winning bids for four out of the top five Government contractors, winning more than $26 billion over the course of her career in single award contracts. She is an AI developer and strategist, pioneering the use of generative AI in Government contracting. She has created and implemented AI tools for business development processes, proposal strategy formulation, and competitive analysis. She is an AI super-user and thought leader in the practical application of generative AI in synthesizing complex data, generating innovative solutions, and driving decision-making in high-stakes Government BD environments.
She is the author of the book How to Get Government Contracts: Have a Slice of $1 Trillion Pie and seven other books. She has taught a graduate course for the Stevens Institute of Technology, and she provided training to Treasury and NASA. She has served for 2 years as the President of the National Contracts Management Association (NCMA) Bethesda/Medical Chapter and for 2 years as the President of the Association of Proposal Management Professionals (APMP) National Capital Area Chapter.
Olessia is recognized as an APMP Fellow for her contributions to the field of capture and proposals – the highest honor in the business development profession. Her skills span every aspect of business development, sales, and marketing. Prior to supporting Fortune 500 companies and small businesses as a proposal consultant and growing OST, she worked as a business developer for Raytheon and Lockheed Martin and wrote for the Financial Times of London.
