Earlier this month, the United States Department of Defense issued a call for proposals for US$15 billion for a five-year translation contract. Good news for the language services industry…at least for those LSPs who understand the bid process. As the United States government’s spending mounts, many companies and consultants hope to cash in on lucrative contracts like the aforementioned. According to Allbusiness.com, the U.S. government annually awards $1 trillion in contracts, and 23 percent of this total goes to small businesses. But, surprisingly, only 1 percent of small businesses pursues them. Why? Perhaps because they feel the process is too daunting? Or, maybe they just don’t know where to get started.
There’s clearly money to be made, but it takes a lot of work to secure a contract with a government agency. All but the very smallest government contracts start with an RFP, which invites contractors to bid on the project and provides guidelines for doing so. But you can’t bid until you’re an approved vendor. And you can’t obtain this status until you register with the appropriate agencies and databases.
Keep reading for an overview of the steps a business of any size, needs to take in order to compete for U.S. government contracts.
