Failed Audits occur when a government agency or organization is investigated to see if they have kept accurate records of their spending and if they have successfully met their outlined goals or not. When the auditing team determines that the agency has fallen short or their financial records are inaccurate that agency fails the audit. At its most basic a failed audit is simply a notification that there is a current problem within an agency or organization that needs to be fixed. 

For businesses looking to win more contracts with the federal government, failed audits are a goldmine of an opportunity. They essentially act as a laundry list of ongoing problems inside an agency for your business to come in and resolve. By researching the critical points of failure and identifying their reoccurring hot button issues we can reach out to the government with a solution that sets your business apart from the rest, and wins you a unique contract without the need for a single bid. 

Unsolicited Proposals are proposals created by a business without any assistance or guidance from the government. These types of offers come about when a business has a unique and new solution to a current government problem that is not being actively addressed. This means that for an Unsolicited Proposal to be accepted there cannot be an ongoing contract that is already working to resolve the issue. 

 If your business has a unique offer that you know the government, or a particular agency, would benefit from, but there are not any available contracts for what you’re selling then an Unsolicited Proposal is one of the best ways to create the opportunity yourself. Additionally, due to the need for an unsolicited proposal to have a unique solution that addresses a problem, your proposal will have little to no competition. 

Before you can write an Unsolicited Proposal, it will be necessary to first determine your audience. By researching the budgets, mission statements, and the most recent Annual Reports, savvy businesses can easily identify which agencies would benefit the most from their unique offer.  

• Determine which agency would benefit most from your offer, and therefore would be most likely to accept the Unsolicited Proposal. 

• You can submit the same offer to multiple agencies. Although it is recommended to tailor each one to the department you’re submitting it to. 

• Research who the key decision makers are. Find out who would be the one responsible for evaluating the Unsolicited Proposal, and if they have any hot button issues you can incorporate into your offer. 

• Build a relationship with the key players by attending conferences, scheduling meetings, and making phone calls. Contracts are always more likely to be awarded to vendors the agency already knows and trusts. 

Unsolicited Proposals are generally split into 3 sections: Introduction, Technical, and the Contract Outline. 

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