Earnest Consulting Group

FYI on RFIs, Part 5: Ghosting Certifications and Experience

June 1, 2022 | Business Development, Government

Photo by MART PRODUCTION: https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-person-writing-on-a-planner-7718675/ Part 5 of our series on RFIs details the ghosting of certifications and experience, with an example of a software development client who successfully recommended that specific criteria be included in an RFP If you read our last post in this series, you won't be surprised to hear that smart contractors often ghost*--in other words, suggest that a government agency specify--criteria that give them a competitive advantage. This is the case again with the ghosting of certifications, experience, education, and sometimes even security clearances. One of our clients used this strategy in a bid for…

FYI on RFIs, Part 4: Ghosting and GWACs

May 25, 2022 | Business Development, Government

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio: https://www.pexels.com/photo/crop-businessman-signing-contract-in-office-3771097/ In part 4 of our series on RFIs, we discuss ghosting of Government Wide Acquisition Contracts (GWAC)--and a few examples that demonstrate how smart contractors use this tactic In An Insider's Guide to Winning Government Contracts, Joshua P. Frank coined the term “ghosting” as it related to RFIs. Ghosting is a commonly-used RFI response strategy, where contractors recommend specific information to be included in a Request for Quotation (RFQ) or Request for Proposal (RFP) that gives them a competitive advantage. The elements that…

FYI on RFIs, Part 3: “Ghosting” salient characteristics

May 18, 2022 | Business Development, Government

Part 3 in our series on RFIs covers ghosting as it applies to product specifications--or what the government refers to as “salient characteristics” Last week, I provided an overview of “ghosting” as it applies to RFIs. In short, ghosting occurs when a contractor recommends that specific information be included in a Request for Quotation (RFQ) or Request for Proposal (RFP) to give it a competitive advantage. As discussed, there are different aspects of RFIs that can be ghosted, including experience, certifications, and clearance; the use, or lack of use, of contract vehicles; and acquisition size. In this post, we’ll…

FYI on RFIs, Part 2: Ghosting as a Response Strategy

May 11, 2022 | Business Development, Government

This is the second in a series about Requests for Information (RFI) related to government work. We continue the conversation by defining “ghosting” in the bidding process and how it’s used strategically by contractors. When you hear the term “ghosting,” you may think of the modern definition of suddenly opting out of a relationship after frequent contact. As it applies to contracting, however, it means quite the opposite. “Ghosting” as an RFI strategy demands being very present in terms of the relationship you hope to build with a government entity. Here’s how it works: a contractor will recommend that…

FYI on RFIs, Part 1: Do I Have to Respond–and What’s the Minimum I Can Include?

May 4, 2022 | Business Development, Government

Photo by Scott Graham on Unsplash This is the first in a series of posts in which I’ll discuss different aspects of responding to Requests for Information (RFI) related to government work. I'll begin by talking about whether RFI's are a necessary prerequisite to winning government bids, and then I'll detail some best practices for ensuring your RFI keeps you in the running. I’m often asked whether it’s necessary to respond to an RFI to win a government bid--and, if so, what’s the minimum that can be included in a response. The bottom line is that it is not required--but my…

When should you protest a government award?

April 27, 2022 | Business Development, Government

When my company first started pursuing government contracts, I took a different approach to protesting government awards. I was impatient, impetuous, and had a little larger chip on my shoulder--and as a result, I did some things that I should have done. While I’m not an attorney, I’ve learned some things along the way about when it’s worth issuing a protest and when it’s better to walk away. Here is some advice that I now follow--and recommend to my clients. Don’t protest only because you’re angry. If you’re at all competitive, you will occasionally get angry when you don’t win.…

Learning from Our Mistakes

April 20, 2022 | Business Development, Government

One of the benefits of experience is that you learn not just what works, but what no longer works all that well. I’ve seen this in my work helping businesses develop and implement their government business plans. Our clients often use techniques and approaches that we used successfully in the past in securing our own government contracts. However, some of the methods we once used now go against everything we teach. Here are a few examples--and the lessons we now share with our clients as a result: Undervaluing our services. We got into government contracting because our local economy was…

Army Seeks Credentialing Support Services

February 17, 2022 | Business Development, Government, Opportunity

Army Medical Command has a requirement to provide non-personal credentialing branch support services to the United States Army Reserve Command. The procurement includes credentialing and Information Technology services. Credentialing and privileging services consist of management and operations support, file management, document processing, prime source verification, national practitioner data bank, credentialing and Operational privileging, peer review, inter-facility credential transfer brief, and operational privileging. The Health Readiness Contracting Office, Joint Base San Antonio Fort Sam Houston, Texas is responsible for this procurement. They expect to release the RFP on or about March 3, 2022. Please reach out if you have any questions…

Receiving a Debriefing Critical for Successful Government Contractors

February 15, 2022 | Business Development, Government

So you've decided to throw your hat in on a Request for Quotation (RFQ). You may not have done a whole lot of outreach to the government agency in question, but that's ok. This RFQ only has a few evaluation criteria. You estimate it will only take a few hours to write a thoughtful response, formulate pricing and update your past performance matrix. You decide to "Swing the Bat." More on "Swinging the Bat" can be found here. So you submitted, and you didn't win. Now what? You Lost You lost to someone who bid lower than you on a…

Flight Standards Service – Translation Services – FAA

February 3, 2022 | Business Development, Government, Opportunity

Photo by Bill Abbott on Flickr The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has a requirement for translating submitted foreign language documents into English. Document content will consist of confirmations of airmen identity and ratings, a notice of aircraft registration cancelation or non-issue, and related follow-up communications. They are currently conducting market research to determine who is capable of providing these services. If you are interested in providing these services you should respond in writing to the FAA by February 15th, 2022 Please reach out if you have any questions by contacting us here.

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