DHA Seeks Alternative Care Models for the Next TRICARE Contract
September 1, 2020 | Business Development, Government, Opportunity
Photo by Army Medicine on Flickr We recently reviewed a report from the Senate Committee on Armed Services to the Defense Health Agency (DHA). This report encouraged DHA to embrace more competition in the next TRICARE procurement process. Since the release of this report, some key milestones have taken place specifically these developments: DHA Responds to Senate Committee on Armed Services On Thursday, August 13th, DHA responded to the Senate's report released on June 24th. In this report, DHA indicated to the Senate that it would "expand on the existing two-region structure by implementing demonstrations that will permit DHA to test…
What Is The Bare Minimum I Need To Get A Government Contract?
June 8, 2020 | Business Development, Government
Photo by carnagenyc on Flickr As someone who specializes in helping companies do business with the government, I get asked a lot of questions about the quickest path to getting a contract. While not often phrased this way, one of the most questions I hear amounts to this: “What is the least amount of work my company needs to do to get a government contract?” The good news is that there is a simple answer: Register your company in the government’s System for Award Management (SAM) system, and you’re eligible to be awarded a contract. The bad news is that…
Health Care Facing New Obstacles in the Pandemic – And Possibly New Opportunities
May 19, 2020 | Business Development
Photo by Army Medicine on Flickr I remember one of the reasons I pursued a career in healthcare was because I saw it as an industry that was not affected by the economy. I learned that to be untrue pretty early in my career as I watched my employer, a small urgent care clinic in my hometown, be significantly affected by shrinking reimbursements by a shrinking local workforce due to the closing of multiple well-paying local factories. Proven Wrong Again I'm seeing this mindset as a myth once again. I see hospitals and health care systems suffer considerably due to…
You Gotta Swing the Bat!
August 5, 2019 | Business Development, Government
Photo by Erik Drost on Flickr I've just started to follow baseball. My oldest daughter plays softball and loves to watch the Yankees so I've found myself watching more softball and baseball. I often hear her coaches say, "That was your pitch. Why didn't you swing?" I assume they are also implying, "you may not see the 'perfect' pitch so you must take some chances when the ball is delivered to the strike zone". Another obvious message is if you want to hit the ball, you gotta swing the bat! Doing My Homework I thought about that a bit and…
Not All Government Customers Are Created Equal
January 4, 2019 | Business Development, Government
Photo by dpbirds on Flickr When I first started doing business with the Federal government, I assumed they were one customer. Since they all followed the same rules, why wouldn't the process of winning business be the same, right? However, after I participated in some procurements, I found this not to be the case. Even each agency has different customers within their organization. In my experience, they are not all equal in the sense of being a good fit for the goods/services we were selling or our company's vision. I have listed below some experiences that showed me we were not a good…
Your Government Business Plan: How to Get Started–and Why Now is the Time
November 29, 2018 | Business Development, Government
It was March 2004. Our community had lost two of its three largest employers within one year of each other. Even for something as essential as health care, when people have no insurance and they have to choose between making the mortgage payment and a doctor's visit, the mortgage payment wins. We had to have a new line of business, and fast or cuts including my job were inevitable. A large Request for Proposal (RFP) for primary care and clinic management services with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) was just released for competition. Winning this opportunity would solve a…


MYTH: Government agencies always award contracts based on price alone. Lowest price always wins.