Insider Intelligence

What does the legislative process and procurement have in common?  At first glance, it doesn’t appear like much, but let’s take a closer look. Every legislative session in Lansing, policies are established, and budgets are approved. Both policy and appropriations have a significant impact on state projects, but most importantly create opportunities for those that […]

We have all heard the saying “know your competition.”  It doesn’t matter if in business or sports, you need to know who you are going up against.  When pursuing state contracts this is critical.  This sounds like common sense, but businesses rarely do an in-depth review of the companies they are competing against.  Think of […]

What is a cooperative contract? Cooperative contracts are most widely used in public procurement i.e.: state and local governments, however, you will also find cooperatives in both K-12 and higher education.  These types of contracts involve the sharing of contracts between organizations.   As defined in the American Bar Association Model Procurement Code for State and […]

Occasionally, you will see this in a Request for Proposal (RFP), “Mandatory Oral Presentation”, sending you, and your RFP team, into a panic.  First, public speaking, even in small groups can be intimidating.  Second, you have a million questions; who will be there to evaluate and listen, who from the team should present, and what […]

Winston Churchill once said, “All men make mistakes, but only wise men learn from their mistakes”. This is never more true than with the bidding process. No one likes to lose, especially when bidding on a large contract. However, the State does provide a mechanism for bidders to receive insight into how their bid failed. […]

In the words of William Shakespeare, “Methinks thou dost protest too much.”  However, this is not true when protesting an award of a state contract.  Protesting is your right as a bidder during the solicitation process.  There are many misconceptions when it comes to filing a protest.  For example: I will be shut out from […]

In the second post of my two-part series, we examine how invaluable knowledge and experience can be to the government procurement process. KNOW your product This seems obvious, but unbelievably there are companies that do not prepare their team to present their product to prospective clients.  Many companies have a government sales person.  This is […]

In the first of a two-part series, we’ll examine the people side of state government procurement.  I’ll help you drive down the questions of who are you marketing your product to? KNOW your market Is your target market the public sector?  If you are targeting the public sector to expand your business opportunities there is […]