Federal, state, and local government agencies buy everything from toothpicks and cleaning services to spaceships and cancer research. More than half of what the government spends goes to the purchase of services—making services the government’s single largest spending category.

The key is to determine which government agencies buy the products and/or services you sell and how your target agencies contract. Then develop a focused marketing strategy targeting those agencies. When you are marketing to the federal government, keep these important issues in mind:

  1. Familiarize yourself with the agency's operating administration. Get to know the people who will actually use your products or services, as well as the procurement officers you will deal with.
  2. Focus on opportunities in your niche and prioritize.
  3. Make appointments and attend contracting sessions. Network as frequently and broadly as you can. The more you know about each agency and each opportunity, the better your chances of winning contracts.
  4. Be persistent, consistent, and professional. Follow through on every commitment you make.

Careful research can well serve you as you identify markets and niches within the federal government. These resources can help you find the information you need:

Acquisition Central is geared to the federal acquisition community and the government's business partners. From this site you can access shared systems and tools to help you conduct business efficiently. It includes links to the sites listed below.

Federal Acquisition Service (FAS) is the newly planned General Services Administration (GSA) organization that serves as a resource for learning about how to do business with GSA. The FAS provides federal customers with the products, services, and programs to meet their supply, service, procurement, vehicle purchasing and leasing, travel and transportation, and personal property management requirements. The agency brings hundreds of thousands of federal customers together with more than 11,000 contractors.

FedBizOpps.gov is the single government point-of-entry (GPE) for Federal government procurement opportunities over $25,000. Government buyers are able to publicize their business opportunities by posting information directly to FedBizOpps via the Internet. Through one portal - FedBizOpps (FBO) - commercial vendors seeking Federal markets for their products and services can search, monitor and retrieve opportunities solicited by the entire Federal contracting community.

On the Department of Defense Web site, you’ll find the products and services purchased within a given fiscal year by the DoD. Data is sorted by FSC/SVC code and provide the name and location of the DoD activities that purchased each commodity or service. In addition, DoD Small Business Specialists are at each DoD buying activity and can give you assistance on how to market to the DoD.

There are several agencies that publish calendars showing events, such as vendor outreach workshops. These are available nationwide:

Small Business Administration: Training events are listed for every state in the union, ranging from how to write a business plan to federal government contracting workshops. Most federal contracting events are offered in the Washington, D.C. region.

Department of Transportation: The Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU) is responsible for the implementation and execution of the Department of Transportation (DOT) activities on behalf of small businesses, minority businesses, and businesses owned and controlled by disadvantaged persons and firms. You’ll find a calendar showing OSDBU events across the U.S. related to contracting with DOT and also on a variety of other topics for small businesses.

When you have decided what federal markets you want to sell to, it’s time to register your business with the federal government and monitor opportunities. Learn how to do that in the next section, Getting Started.
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