Gloria Larkin – President and CEO, TargetGov

Scott Semple – Founder and Managing Partner, NewTHINK Solutions & Senior Director, NVSBC

It is well known that Fed Fiscal Q4 – July through September – represents the prime awards season for small business government contractors.  But do you know how much of this year’s acquisition activity will be crammed into this 3-month period?  More importantly, do you know why this year – FFY’24 Q4 – is different from all previous years? 

Here are the FACTS, the OPPORTUNITIES, and some ideas to build your Q4 SALES CAMPAIGN ACTION PLAN

FACTS. Each year, total federal agency awards to small businesses in FFY Q4 represent 41% of the entire year’s awards. Within Q4, the month of September alone represents almost 22% of the entire year’s awards!  Why this trend?  Budgets, continuing resolutions (CR’s), and procrastination are the general excuses.  Regardless of the reason, small business owners need to seize this opportunity to thrive – many firms report September award revenue equal to the rest of their year combined! 

FFY’24 promises the largest Q4 awards totals in history.  The reasons are numerous:

• Behind on goal attainment: New higher goals for SDB and SDVOSB have resulted in more agencies being behind their small business goal attainment spend plan this year than ever before, with billions more in contracts available for certified small businesses. The standing goals for WOSB and HUBZone have not been met in recent years as well, with billions more in opportunities here as well.   
• Legal issues: Myriad issues from non-stop protests delaying the availably of many contract vehicles (CIO-SP4, T4NG2, Polaris are notable examples) to challenges to the SDB/8a program brought on by a Tennessee Federal District Court decision have slowed the pace of set aside acquisitions and awards.
• Election year.  Adding to the CR and heavily divided Congress, the ever-changing priorities that characterize an election year have further delayed federal acquisitions.   
• Fewer acquisition professionals in federal service: As of last December, over 43% of the experienced acquisition workforce retired from federal employment, and the re-hire/training rate is not keeping pace. As a solution, the federal acquisition process has incorporated artificial intelligence (AI) and robotic process automation (RPA) in the entire acquisition life cycle from market research to contract vehicle choice, to source selection, through contract management, and contract close-out; with ultimately fewer human beings involved on the government side.
• It is more difficult to meet with real decision-makers. Because fewer acquisition professionals and program managers are available, those remaining must handle the ever-growing $700B+ in contracts and they have little precious time to meet with uninformed small businesses.

OPPORTUNITY. 

Opportunity. Taken together, the FACTS above indicate that the next 3 months have billions of dollars in opportunities and will be the most active in history for set aside contracts for firms of all designations, and with some of the highest hurdles in place.  This suggests a lot of federal agency acquisition personnel are using every possible approach to find qualified firms, solicit bids, and make awards in as short a time frame as possible.  So how do you take advantage of this incredible opportunity?

• How will agencies, prime contractors, and teaming partners find your firm in a sea of competition?  Agency acquisition teams now need more small businesses with more skills to satisfy more requirements than ever.  Focusing your Q4 outbound marketing and sales campaigns on all target agency acquisition teams, primes, and partners is an essential step for every firm.  But here’s the biggest change and greatest opportunity for astute business owners.  The emergence of AI-assisted market research (AIMR) capabilities by agency personnel means more searching and fewer RFIs.  Government users have quickly become adept with AI and data scraping tools.  For example, the Department of Homeland Security’s Procurement Innovation Lab created their own market research tool to find contractors and GSA’s Market Research as a Service (MRAS) offers outsourced AI-fueled market research support for all federal DOD and Civilian agencies.
• Where will they be looking? Primary data sources to conduct market research for small set-aside firms will focus on your SAM profile and your SBA DSBS profile.  There are new fields in SAM for keywords and phrases and in SBA’s DSBS, three fields in your company’s profile could determine if you match their search criteria: Capabilities Narrative, Special Equipment & Materials, and Keywords.
• What will they be looking for?  Agencies will be matching the words in these SAM and DSBS fields against specific agency requirements using tools that rank your match to their needs.  This means that broad, generic one-size-fits-all capabilities statements or lack of detailed keywords will reduce your match profile, or worse, if you ignore adding appropriate keywords and phrases to your federal registrations, your company is totally invisible to these new AIMR processes and essentially locked out of opportunities. 
• How does your past performance rank? To win, it is mandatory that one can prove acceptable, or better yet, exceptional past performance or experience. The last section in your company’s DSBS is devoted to providing past performance examples, and over 90% of small businesses fail to keep this updated, immediately disqualifying themselves from serious consideration.
• How will agencies make awards?  Agencies will rely on fast-track award methods including expanded use of existing agency and GWAC contract vehicles.  GSA MAS and related vehicles like 8a Stars or OASIS are likely vehicles of choice for a significant volume of new awards.  Also, agency BPA, MATOCs, SATOCs, and IDIQ contracts are heavily used.  And, for those eligible and knowledgeable, sole source awards will be used wherever possible.
• What happens next?  As agency, prime contractor, and partner searches and AIMR result in previously unheard of proactive inquiries to your firm, the next step, after updating your SAM and SBA DSBS, requires a targeted response that matches your web presence while proving your capacity to perform the work with appropriate past performance. 

Q4 MARKETING AND SALES CAMPAIGN ACTION PLAN. 

To maximize this time-sensitive revenue-generating OPPORTUNITY, you need to implement a plan today with these ideas to build your Q4 MARKETING AND SALES CAMPAIGN ACTION PLAN. 

1. Review/revise your SBA DSBS and SAM records to ensure the language describing your Capabilities Narrative, Special Equipment & Materials, and Keywords matches the verbiage used in your target agencies’ most recent RFPs/RFIs/RFQs.  Check the DSBS records of your competitors and competimates – how are they describing their offerings and capabilities that compete with yours?
2. Review/revise your branded collateral materials to ensure they project the same capabilities and capacity as the match that led the agency to your door.  The keywords and phrases in the sections titled Keywords, Capabilities Narrative, and Special Equipment and Materials on your DSBS record also need to feature prominently on your company’s 1-page or 2-page capability statement and are a part of your 90-second elevator pitch.  Responses to agency solicitations will be processed quickly with the limited time available – make sure your brand is clear and your responses are crisp with appropriate past performance.
3. Get your company’s targeted capabilities in front of the right potential agency buyers, primes, and partners ASAP.  For agencies on your business development target list, identify all of the acquisition and program personnel responsible for services and/or products your firm provides, and send them and the small business representatives your tailored 1-pager or 2-pager and request a capabilities briefing after you have identified three or more specific opportunity matches to discuss. If you have not done that research, do not reach out as you are wasting your time and theirs.
4. Identify agencies with small business goal gaps and reach out to them to request a capability briefing. Where can you find this information? History repeats itself – look at the SBA small business procurement scorecard for agencies that chronically underperform in your set aside category.  Cross-reference your NAICS or PSC codes to identify the opportunities to discuss. If they were behind goal attainment last year this year, it will surely be worse. After completing your research, send your briefing request email with a tailored capability statement to their needs immediately.
5. Create and track your Q4 sales and marketing campaign. Using your existing pipeline tracking system or an Excel spreadsheet, track your outreach activities and all inbound inquiries. Respond quickly – Q4 will be over before you know it! 

Gloria Larkin can be reached at glorialarkintg@targetgov.com or call 866-579-1346 x 325.

Scott Semple can be reached at scott.semple@newthinksolutions.com