[robertha]

I just registered on SAM and submitted a bid (something unrelated to this), but no idea what I was doing, I mean I put together a plan, had meaningful past performance, but overall I'm just hoping for the best. Would you happen to have any resources you followed? Or, suggestions that you believe led you to submitting a successful bid?

[efm]

There are Procurement Technical Assistance centers in every region of the country. They are staffed by former procurement officers, and help companies learn how to sell to government and prime contractors.

http://www.aptac-us.org/

[robertha]

I was just looking into it a few hours ago, do you have a good experience with them? Just as many people on here I've been through different forms of office hours, one of them with a locally run entrepreneurship center, I saw an attorney (that was years ago before I could properly afford one). I know the guy volunteered his time, but basically what he said was "hey, give me a portion of your company, and I'll provide you with services", I came away with absolutely zero advice. That's why when I was looking into it today, I was a bit skeptical.

[efm]

I saw a presentation from one of the people from the local office. Her advice seemed reasonable: Go to the procurement conferences, get a one-pager of the capabilities of your firm, and talk to the purchasing agents. See government contracting as a supplement to your business revenue, not the core.

[robertha]

Thank you for passing it on, I'll send them a message tomorrow.

[gbacon]

Was your bid on the recent SBIR/STTR solicitation by chance?

[robertha]

Custom database product for EPA, seemed like a good fit. While I have no connections to EPA, I do some collaborative work with bio-engineering department at a university in Chicago, I'm a data scientist/developer/have a small team, I thought I'd try dipping my toes in something new.

[gbacon]

Any technical people you were able to have discussions with in preparing your bid would be good places to start with follow-on conversations.

An acquaintance with a setup similar to yours does well with a virtuous cycle of rolling SBIR and STTR results into his commercial products, which fuel more SBIR wins. He also does lots of legwork in the form of hand delivering white papers he’s written in office calls with customers and potential customers during site visits.

People do business with people — particularly those we like, know, and trust — not companies and agencies. Find someone whose headache you can make go away. Keep the conversation moving.

This is a patient person’s game. Sometimes you’re planting seeds that will bloom later.