There’s a lot involved in achieving victory in federal contracting. The size of the potential win is in direct correlation to the level of effort required to make it happen. For some contracts, the levels of effort and resulting spend aren’t proportional to the initial victory.
I’m talking about multiple award contracts, or MACs. These are the agency-specific or governmentwide contract vehicles where you work and work and spend and spend, all to get the glorious zero entry in the Federal Procurement Data System. Okay, sometimes it’s $250 or $2,500, but those dollars aren’t associated with any work and don’t begin to make you whole…
There are disciplines more companies should undertake when it comes to pursuing and competing on MACs as successful offerors. To make the most of the time, money, and emotion inevitably expended during MAC pursuits, companies should develop these strategies:
- Validate the Scope. What is the point of the MAC and how do your offerings fit? Each one is created to fulfill certain types of requirements. Do your due diligence before committing too much energy.
- Verify the Customers. On many of today’s MACs, especially the governmentwide ones, there are many, many customers involved. They’re the organizations that own or manage the requirement, use the goods and services provided, submit the requisitions, and have the dollars to be obligated. They are most often NOT the organization writing, issuing, or managing the contracts. Do you know them? Do they know you? By the way, does your customer even care about the vehicle you just won?… Read the full article here.
