These are the key steps to finding and understanding any government contract, regardless of whether it is coming from the federal or local side.

• Search for available contracts with your company’s codes, or by using relevant keywords associated with your products and services. 

• NAICS/PSC Codes: Federal 

• NIGP Codes: State, Local, Municipal 

• This is often an individual attachment that will be labeled as either SOW or PWS (Scope of Work or Performance Work Statement) 

• If you cannot find this document by itself, it has likely been included inside the primary bidding document 

• Regularly labeled with RFQ, RFP, RFI, Sol, solicitation, or very simply the Solicitation ID by itself 

• Often this will be findable by doing a simple ctrl + F [Instructions to offerors] 

• It might go under a different name entirely (e.g. Bidding instructions, submission requirements, etc.) 

• Normally this section is contained in either the first 25% of the primary bidding document or the last 25%. 

• Price: The lower your price the more points you score 
• Look out for any contract labeled as Lowest Price Technically Acceptable (LPTA). These contracts are nearly 100% price-based, and are awarded to whoever bids the lowest dollar amount. 

• Technical: What is the quality of the goods/services you will be providing? How qualified are the personnel who will be doing the job? 

• Past Performance: Does your company have a history of successfully completing prior jobs of a similar size and scope. 

• Newer companies often charge less, around 5-12%, while they are still building up their credibility. 

• Wage Determination Sheets are in-depth lists of hundreds of different positions along with what the government considers to be a fair wage for each one based on the State’s minimum wage and cost of living. 

• Use sites like GSAElibrary and GSA Advantage to search for competitive prices that the government is already paying for similar items. 

• Important Note: GSA has some of the most competitive prices on the market, and some of their prices might be unrealistic for your business. 

A debrief meeting provides you with valuable feedback on how your proposal was evaluated and perceived. It is also another opportunity to connect with the government agency you want to do business with. Debrief meetings can help you improve future proposals. You should always ask for a debriefing request when you’re not awarded the contract. 

Simply write to the procurement officer via email, or whoever is the main government point of contact for the contract, and inform them that you are requesting a debrief to discuss how your bid was evaluated, and why it was not selected for award. 

What is a FOIA?

The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is an official legal request of the government to release any of their records into your hands. FOIAs work for any federal agency and allow citizens to have greater access to and transparency from the government. For our purposes FOIAs allow businesses to examine past contracts to gain greater insight into the previous contract’s requirements and what has changed, who the incumbent is and what services they provided (unless they are listed as proprietary/redacted), as well as what the terms of the original agreement were. For any companies who want to do in-depth research on the opportunities they intend to bid on FOIA’s are a necessary tool. 

How Do You Submit a FOIA 

Luckily for us, submitting a FOIA is as easy as searching for the Agency’s Name + FOIA in any standard web browser. From there they will either have an official point of contact who you can email a FOIA to or a portal where vendors can submit their requests. 

Here are some links to popular Agency’s FOIA pages to help you get started: 

Before we begin the next module, work with your team to complete the following items.