The government spends billions of dollars each year on goods and services, and by tapping into this vast marketplace, small businesses can secure lucrative deals, gain steady income and heightened visibility. In this episode of The Agent of Wealth Podcast, host Marc Bautis and guest Richard C. Howard dive deep into the world of government contracts.
As a career military acquisitions officer, Howard oversaw $82B+ in DoD contracts, and has advised and trained over 400 companies as a consultant. He’s the CEO of DoD Contract – which guides, trains, and mentors small business owners and sales executives through the government sales process – and the host of DoD Contract Academy Podcast.
In this episode, you will learn:
- The benefits of selling to the US government as a small business.
- How small businesses can find opportunities to sell their products or services to the government.
- How small businesses can stand out in the government procurement process.
- How small businesses and startups can utilize the Small Business Innovation Research Program.
- And more!
Resources:
www.dodcontract.com | DoD Contract Academy (Podcast) | Usaspending.gov | Sam.gov | Small Business Innovative Research Program | Bautis Financial: 7 N Mountain Ave Montclair, New Jersey 07042 (862) 205-5000 | Schedule an Introductory Call
Disclosure: The transcript below has been lightly edited for clarity and content. It is not a direct transcription of the full conversation, which can be listened to above.
Welcome back to The Agent of Wealth. This is your host, Marc Bautis. I’m joined by a guest for today’s episode, Richard C. Howard. Richard is a leading authority on US federal government contracts. As a career military acquisitions officer, he oversaw $82B+ in DoD contracts, and has advised and trained over 400 companies as a consultant. Richard is the CEO of DoD Contract, which guides, trains, and mentors small business owners and sales executives through the government sales process.
Richard is the host of the DoD Contract Academy Podcast, and speaks extensively on the nuance of federal contracting strategy. Richard, welcome to the show.
Thanks for having me on, Marc.
I don’t think people even realize that government contracts are out there. Can you start off by explaining this market size, and some of the benefits of selling to the government as a small business?
The Benefits of Selling to The US Government as a Small Business
The US government is the single biggest purchaser of goods and services in the world. When people think about government spending, most immediately think of big defense contractors. But in reality, the government buys just about anything you could think of – from defense and weapon-related spending, to tai chi instruction, to commodities, to food. Think about it like this: Every military base is basically a small town, or city in some cases. All of the infrastructure that goes into that town or city is paid for by the government. And they have a mandate to buy from small businesses.
So whether you’re in – cybersecurity, accounting, legal, you’re selling food, you have a franchise, you have a training business – the government is most likely buying in your area. It is very rare that I find an area where the government isn’t spending money, so the spending is vast.
The government has to buy from small businesses, yet less than half of 1% of US small businesses are actually participating in the government contracting process, despite the high spending levels.
Alright, so there’s a lot of opportunity here. How does a small business find the contracts?
How Small Businesses Can Find Opportunities to Sell to The Government
Because we’re talking about the government, there is a lot of regulation that exists to ensure there’s fairness and that the public can see what the government’s doing. So everything the government spends money on – with the exception of a couple classified contracting avenues – is public knowledge.
So, as a small business owner, you should ask, “Does the government buy what I sell?” To find your answer, go to a website like usaspending.gov and begin searching public records to find out what the government spends on.
Whatever you sell, it probably falls under something called a North American Industry Classification Code, or NAICS code. When you go into usaspending.gov, type in what you sell under NAICS – for example, accounting. The website will suggest different codes that you would fall under. You can click on that, and sort it by small business spending.
You can quickly see how much the government spends on small business contracts in your industry and area of focus.
Are these contracts location specific? Does it help if a business is located near a military base, for example, or does it not matter?
It depends on what you’re selling. By the way, government contracts certainly extend past the Department of Defense and military bases. There’s lots of different federal agencies that spend money.
Okay so once a business owner discovers how much the government is spending in their niche, what’s the next step?
Once you know that the government buys what you sell – if it’s local, they buy it in your state, or if not, you can work anywhere – the next step is to register your company. You can do that at sam.gov. That’s where all registering and most of the solicitations take place.
So when you go to sam.gov, you’ll find instructions on the screen for registering. Of course, you need to have a legal business in the United States, and come ready to register with your EIN number.
All in all, the process takes a couple weeks sometimes, but at the end of it you’ll get what they call a CAGE code and UEI number – these are federal identification numbers for your business. Once you have those, you can start bidding on contracts.
By bidding, do you mean writing proposals?
Yes.
How Small Businesses Can Stand Out in the Government Procurement Process
What can a small business do to separate themselves from the others trying to do the same thing?
Good question. This is really where most companies fail in selling to the government…
Once your business is registered through sam.gov, you will begin to see what’s called a request for proposal, or RFP. At that point, a business can begin writing a proposal. But, the government is very regulated in how they buy products and services.
For instance, if I saw an RFP come out that the government is looking to buy a $3 million landscaping contract for base X, I can’t just pick up the phone and talk to someone to get my questions about the contract answered. Now, if it’s a big contract, the government will answer most questions publicly through sam.gov. In those cases, you might get some answers that can inform your proposal.
But otherwise, you won’t be able to set up a meeting with a government worker. You won’t be able to develop a relationship…
So, before the RFP comes out, there’s something called the market research phase. Let’s say you’re a software developer, and the government is putting a command and control platform together, and you have a great user interface for that. Well, it’s during the market research phase that you can engage with the government if you really want to have a shot at landing the contract later on. Meaning, before the RFP comes out, we want to know who is doing the purchase, and we want to know the details of the opportunity ahead of time.
If you want to differentiate yourself from the rest of the herd, you want to look for things like a request for information or sources sought. When those come out, they’re squarely in the market research phase. At that point, you can set up a meeting with the government.
I recommend small businesses to respond to requests for information. They’ll answer questions like:
- How long have you been in business?
- Do you have past performance?
- What do you think of the approach the government wants to take?
And, you’ll be able to suggest things. For instance, when you register your business, there are different certifications. Examples include:
- Small business certification
- Woman-owned small business certification
- Disabled Veteran-owned small business certification
If you happen to have one of those certifications, you do have a leg up, because the government needs to set aside a specific percentage of contracts to those certified businesses.
But, back to the market research phase, you can actually recommend that the government lists the contract for a specific certified group. So, you’re helping the government write the solicitation, and you can give yourself a leg-up if you suggest a certification you have.
Okay, so you’re trying to influence the decision a little bit. Have you ever seen a case where a small business had a product or service that the government isn’t spending on, but they propose it to them?
Yeah, there are a couple of ways to do that. I would say if you take away one tip on selling to the government, it’s to get meetings and build relationships with the people that actually buy what you sell. There’s a lot of ways to do that, but mainly through research.
If your business sells a product or service that the government is not actively looking for, but you want to sell to the government, the government needs two things: A requirement, and funding.
The Small Business Innovation Research Program
If it’s an innovative solution of some kind, for example a patent, you can go after something called the Small Business Innovative Research Program, or SBIR. Any government agency that spends a certain amount of money in research and development has got to contribute to this program. So, the SBIR program spends about $4 billion a year on innovative research and development contracts with small businesses.
This is a way to basically propose your product or service to the government, because they have funding in the SBIR program. If the review panel thinks that what you have is innovative, and that it would achieve a government need, you can win one of those contracts.
Phase one of SBIR is kind of low dollar. Let’s say, for example, you’re creating a VR training system. In that case, phase one might just be a feasibility study. You might propose that the government uses a VR or augmented reality training system to help maintain or fix aircrafts, for instance. Well, that might resonate with the board. That first phase one event is probably going to be somewhere around $100,000-$150,000, which is small for government contracts.
But, what you’re really doing is:
- You’re establishing past performance with the government, because now you have a contract.
- They’re now going to help you find people in the government that would potentially sponsor you.
Now you can’t totally rely on the government SBIR office, you also need to put yourself out there to find a sponsor. If you find somebody willing to sponsor, but they don’t necessarily have to have money, they just sign a memorandum of understanding for you to go to phase two.
Phase two is to develop a prototype, or set up a demonstration. There could be a lot of different things that you’re recommending, but that’s the phase two piece.
The Small Business Innovative Research Program is really great for getting your feet wet. Even if you have a developed product but you’re modifying it for government use, that would also qualify for the program.
Going back to finding these opportunities, my father actually had a government contract through a larger corporation. He created a pellet that went into 50 caliber ammunition. He wouldn’t get the government contract himself, but General Dynamics or Olin would go through him to create this component of their contracts with the government. Are there opportunities like that out there?
Yes. That’s a really good point. There is a variety of ways the government can buy things from a small or large business owner. For example:
- Contracts.
- Subcontracting.
- Sole source contracts.
As a business owner, you need to understand how the government is buying what you’re selling. That’s something that you can do pretty easily with the research tools the government offers.
Let’s say you own a company that is licensed to do HVAC. Over time, you’ve built a relationship with the government office that purchases contracts in construction. From that relationship, you learn that next year, Hanscom Air Force Base is going to be building an office building, and you have interest in installing the HVAC system. But, you aren’t able to take the full construction contract.
What I recommend you do is look through a website like usaspending.gov to see which construction companies have done that type of work with the government – illustrating past performance – and reach out to them about this upcoming opportunity. The fact that you’re bringing them this opportunity sweetened the pot for them to work with you, involving you in the project.
If you reach out to three companies like that, you’ll get at least one or two bites to form an agreement and go after a large contract together. That’s very helpful for a small business, because the big company can handle the proposal writing, and so on.
Artificial intelligence is all the rage right now. Do you see AI being used to uncover some of these opportunities, or to help small businesses in this process?
It’s interesting that you bring that up. Two of my recent episodes on the DoD Contract Academy Podcast were about AI in the government space.
One of them is called Govly, which uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to enable government contractors, OEMs, and distributors to accurately plan for government purchases years in advance
The other is called Rogue, which is an AI tool specifically designed to help businesses write proposals for government contracts. It kind of works like ChatGPT.
Business Financing and Government Contracts
What happens if a business needs financing to fulfill an order from the government?
First, it depends on the contract. If it’s a SBIR contract, where the business is developing something for the first time, then you can win the contract before you have to start development. But those are research and development contracts.
So let’s say you win a small services contract that involves employing 20 people. The small business will have to pay those individual employees before the government pays the small business. That’s because there’s about a 90 day turnaround time on invoicing to the government.
Now, there are certain financing houses set up specifically for government contractors. One thing to know is once you win that government contract, it’s one of the most secure contracts you’re going to have. So a lot of banks know they can count on the government paying the business.
That’s also one of the reasons companies go after government contracts – because it increases the value of your company.
Are Government Contracts Recession-Proof?
In addition to AI, the other thing that we’re constantly hearing about is this looming recession. At a high level, how is government spending compared to other industries?
Government spending is more stable. I always recommend that business owners – small or large – have one stream of income from commercial sales and another stream of income from government sector sales. The government is spending year over year, whether there’s a recession or not.
But I would say that the government experiences difficulties in different ways, and typically at different times.
Usually, if you have a three-year government contract, for example, you’ll receive that funding month over month. Now, there are times when the government shuts down, or when there is sequestration. The government can terminate a contract for convenience. But if they do, there are regulations to protect the companies that held the government contract.
That’s good. Well, we’re just about out of time. Richard, thank you for joining me today. You did a great job explaining how businesses can leverage government contracts as well as how to navigate the government procurement process. What’s the best way for our listeners to contact you or learn more about your advisory coaching services?
Your listeners can go to dodcontract.com to schedule a consultation. On the website, we also have courses available. And of course your listeners can check out my podcast, DoD Contract Academy, on whatever platform they like to listen on.
Great, we’ll link to those resources in the show notes. Thanks again, Richard. And thank you to everyone who tuned into today’s episode. Don’t forget to follow The Agent of Wealth on the platform you listen from and leave us a review on the show.
In this episode of The Agent of Wealth Podcast, the Bautis Financial team discusses the second book assignment in their monthly Book Club, The Infinite Game by Simon Sinek. The book seeks to answer the question: How do you win a game that has no end? These “infinite games” include business, politics and life itself. The book challenges the ways that we look at the responsibility of business and life.
In this episode, we discuss:
- Infinite games versus finite games.
- The five essential practices of an infinite mindset.
- The difference between worthy rivals and competitors.
- The role of a just cause, or “why.”
- The role of a leader.
- And more!
This is the second episode in the Bautis Financial Book Club series. Listen to the first episode, where we discuss Atomic Habits by James Clear, here.
Resources:
The Infinite Game | Start With Why | Bautis Financial: (862) 205-5000
Disclosure: The transcript below has been lightly edited for clarity and content. It is not a direct transcription of the full conversation, which can be listened to above.
Marc:
Welcome back to The Agent of Wealth Podcast, this is your host Marc Bautis. On today’s episode, we brought back the entire Bautis Financial team to discuss the second book we’ve read for our book club. John, Kyra and Kayla, welcome to the show.
Last month we read Atomic Habits by James Clear, which I picked. Kyra picked the one we’re going to talk about today, The Infinite Game. So Kyra, I’ll have you lead this discussion.
Kyra:
Thanks, Marc. Yes, I selected The Infinite Game by Simon Sinek. I picked this book off the shelves of Barnes & Nobles about a year ago, intrigued by the front end paper, which reads in part:
How do you win a game that has no end?
Finite games, according to James P. Carse, have known players, fixed rules and a clear end point. The winners and losers are easily identified, like in a game of football or chess.
In infinite games, like business or politics or life itself, the players come and go, the rules are changeable and there is no defined end point. There are no winners or losers in an infinite game. There is no such thing as “winning business” or “winning life,” for example, there is only ahead and behind.
I thought this would be a good selection for the Bautis Financial book club because these discussions are happening with my coworkers, my team, and at large, the book’s main goal is to challenge the ways that we look at the responsibility of business and our responsibility to employees.
My first question is for John. In chapter 1 of the book, Simon says any leader who wants to adopt an infinite mindset must follow five essential practices, the first being “Advance a Just Cause.” By advancing a just cause, you should feel inspired every morning. Share with us your Just Cause in business, and one in your personal life.
John:
It’s interesting that you ask me this, because it’s one of the things that was the most thought-provoking for me. When reading this book, I was unpacking how I’ve thought about the things that motivate me. And I don’t know if I have my “Just Cause” at a personal level figured out. Right now, with four kids, there’s no infinite game — it’s more of a finite game to get through the day.
But this question reminded me of the Advice Value Stack that we share with our clients (see below). At the top is fulfilling a life’s purpose. While this is certainly something that I’ve given a lot of thought to, I don’t have that wake up motivated feeling yet.
From a business perspective, it’s a little different — because there’s me and our business. One of the things that I really enjoy about this job is helping people gain confidence. Whenever I’m meeting with a client or prospect, my approach is to help them build confidence. And this is definitely one of the things that keeps me motivated and excited every morning.
Kyra:
That’s great. And this book was thought provoking in that way. And I agree with you on the personal level. For me, I want to leave a legacy… but what is that legacy? A lot of people also call this your “why.”
John:
Didn’t Sinek write a book about that?
Marc Bautis :
Yes, Start With Why, I believe.
John:
Yeah, funny enough.
Kyra:
So, it’s worth mentioning the second essential practice — building a trusting team. But my next question relates to the third, which is “Study Your Worthy Rivals.” However, Simon does caution that Worthy Rivals differ from competitors, saying “Viewing other companies or other individuals as competitors is really unhealthy. If you have a competitor at work, it means that you will undermine them so that you can improve your sales, so you can get the bonus, etc.” Marc, in your opinion, what differs a Worthy Rival from a competitor?
Marc:
I grew up playing a lot of sports and always looked at the person on the other side of the field as a competitor. That mindset transitioned into business as well, especially when starting Bautis Financial — I looked at other advisors as competition. Sinek takes a different approach, saying you shouldn’t look at people as competitors but as worthy rivals. These are players in the game worthy of comparison.
Worthy rivals can be players in the industry, outside the industry, sworn enemies, collaborators or colleagues. But regardless of who they are, the main point is that they do something just as good, or maybe even better, than you — that can be a superior product, command greater loyalty, lead more efficiently or effectively.
You don’t need to admire everything about them, agree with them, or even like them. You should simply acknowledge that they do have strengths and abilities, and you probably could learn from them.
One of the things that I’ve done recently is join a group of advisors that meets regularly and shares best practices. It’s called Advisors Growing As A Community. It’s composed of advisors from all across the country — some are not necessarily even competitors. It’s a way to continue that quest of improving ourselves.
Kyra:
That’s great! My next question is for you, John. Have you ever come away from a customer service experience feeling like your needs could have been met without much hassle, but we’re denied as part of “company policy?” Simon says that this only happens in poorly led companies. “A well-led company knows what the rules are…. (And) knows when to break the rules when it’s the right thing to do.” Can you give me an example of when you’ve ‘broken the rules’? Did it pay off?
John:
The first thing that popped into my mind was Comcast. I feel every time I have interaction with Comcast, very rarely, it is positive. It is so important for companies to leave a positive experience behind, because customers have choices. And it’s just there’s just very simple things that come along with that positive experience.
I don’t have a specific example when I’ve broken the rules, but I can say that an infinite mindset, in most cases, trickles down to the people who are in contact with the consumer on a regular basis.
Marc:
I like how the Ritz-Carlton approaches it. They give every employee the authority to spend up to $2,000 to improve client experience in any way they choose. I think that’s a really great strategy.
Yesterday I saw a thread on Twitter that began with someone complaining about U-Haul customer service. What started as a singular tweet turned into a thread of customer complaints of poor service from a slew of companies. I mean, you wouldn’t believe the amount of people that posted. Businesses have to remember that people have a voice, and they will use it.
So, getting back to your question, Kya… Sinek talks a lot about the focus of a company. In the finite mindset, it is shareholders. But in infinite games, it’s the customer, the employees and the shareholders — it’s everyone involved.
Kyra:
I’d agree. Little things go a long way.
So my next question is for you Marc: At the conclusion of the book, do you feel inspired to adopt an infinite mindset?
Marc:
Sinek talks about the five essential practices of an infinite mindset, all of which resonated with me. I talked earlier about worthy rivals. He also talks about advancing a just cause. One of my just causes is financial literacy — as a company, we try to teach and promote financial literacy with our content. Since many people aren’t taught financial literacy growing up, it’s a passion of mine to help with that.
He also talks about building trusting teams and leaders. One story that related to the idea was about the Marine Corps. Sinek found that the Marine Corps identifies leaders through a variety of assessment and tests. However, leaders aren’t chosen by their ability to complete the assessments, but rather on the characteristics they exhibit: such as honesty, integrity, judgment and decisiveness. For example, the Marine Corps is not interested in whether someone can cross a water hazard — they want leaders to create a trusting environment so that their team can cross any water obstacles.
Reading that opened my eyes and made me brainstorm better ways to lead.
Kyra:
Yeah, I liked that story too. Kayla, my next question is for you. How did this book inspire you to cultivate the courage to lead in your own life?
Kayla:
That’s a really interesting question. I think within your own life, it’s kind of hard to pinpoint your “why” — I don’t have one right now, and I don’t necessarily think that’s a bad thing. But just knowing that you’re working towards something bigger creates that infinite mindset. So that was one of the biggest takeaways for me.
Another thing that I took away from the book is that you are your own biggest competitor. There’s no good in comparing yourself to colleagues or others around you — you should just be comparing you to yourself. And the last thing that I’m taking into my own life is that in a finite game, you’re worried about small consequences, but in an infinite game, you’re not really letting those hold you back.
Kyra:
Was there any aspect of The Infinite Games that you would change, that you disliked or that you disagreed with?
Kayla:
I thought It was really entertaining the whole way through. One criticism that I do have is that some of the stories felt a bit redundant. There were a lot of businesses used as examples, like everyone has mentioned: Wells Fargo, Apple versus Microsoft, etc. I liked the story about CVS’ decision to stop selling cigarettes a few years back, and how the decision opened up their store to more partnerships with businesses that were health-focused. While I thought these were entertaining, they had the same general idea and felt redundant.
John:
Something I couldn’t get out of my head as I was reading the book is that the infinite game is just as important as the finite game. And that good companies actually figure out a way to make them both co-exist.
I felt Sinek always had this anticapitalist feel to the way he was talking about business. And I don’t know if that was necessarily his intention, but it certainly seemed that way. And I just couldn’t help thinking that the purest sense of the infinite game is probably just as evil as the purest sense of the finite game.
In my opinion, it’s best to meet in the middle — almost like politics. Did anyone else have that thought about his approach?
Marc:
Yeah, he weaves in it a little bit. But also I think business is not as simple as just an infinite game. I think there’s finite games within the infinite game. I guess Sinek is trying to go over on one side in terms of the message. But in reality, it’s probably not as simple as outlined.
If you look at it from a pure capitalist vs. anticapitalist perspective, I think he does weave some of that in there. It’s hard to tell if that’s his stance on it or not, but I think there’s a little bit of it in there.
Kyra:
I think there’s something to be said for coming to the middle, or taking sort of going back to what you were saying, Mark, about worthy rivals, taking the practices, and successes that come from both infinite and finite games and using them both to your advantage when you are a business owner, or working for a business. And there’s just something to be said for learning from all different types of perspectives and then putting them to use in your own way.
John:
Absolutely.
Kyra:
Alright, we’re just about out of time. Thank you all for participating in today’s conversation. John, what book did you select for us to read next month?
John:
So next month we’re going to talk about Elon Musk. There’s obviously a lot in the news about him these days, between Space X and some of his comments about Bitcoin. We will be reading Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future.
Kyra:
Looking forward to it. I don’t think we can get away from him if we try, so.
John:
If you can’t beat them, join them.
Marc Bautis :
All right. So that just about wraps up today’s show. Thank you everyone for listening in.
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