Walter Cotton III  

Your Multi Million Dollar Contract Is Waiting On You

(By Walter Cotton III)

The one thing that you need to be aware of, as we get ready for the new Fiscal, is that contracting opportunities for VOSB & DVOSB have never been better.  The balance of power has truly tipped toward our favor, and if you are ready for it this is the year that you will finally win that big one.

The VA is aggressively implementing their Veterans First initiative, DoD has earmarked Billions for Veteran contracting, GSA’s VETS GWAC is starting to attract attention and all other Agencies are responding to the call-to-action (i.e. meet your VOSB & DVOSB spending goal or be prepared to explain why you missed it.)!

Yet, the question that still remains unanswered is “are you ready-willing-& able to take advantage of these doors that have been opened for you?

In 2005 my organization decided to take the Joint Venturing route to preparedness, and because we were the best qualified vendor we acquired more than $8 Million Dollars in contracts.  In July of 2007 we were selected as the only SDVOSB teaming partner for a $4.5 Billion dollar contracting initiative.  The Capture Manager’s rational for selecting my organization was: “Past Performance in the area of Data Center and IT Operations relocation/Facility Planning and Transition, & MRIT’s ability address our 40% subcontracting requirement.”

You need to note the order of the above statement, as our qualification (not our preference) was the critical determining factor.

My point is very simply this: it is your season to win & win big, but for many of you the road to success leads through the field of Joint Venturing.

Here is a real-world example:

American Sanitary Products, Inc. (“ASP”) was interested in pursuing a VA contract that was being considered for consolidation and delivery to a JWOD organization.  The owner of this company had already adopted and implemented the Joint Venturing strategy that I evangelized, and therefore was in a position to deliver the following argument to the VA committee that was driving this initiative: “We hope American Sanitary Products can be a procurement option for this solicitation.  We have national sales support and an extensive distributor network for shipping purposes.  This will allow VA locations to receive product in a timely manner.  We think we have a great program to offer, benefiting the Veterans Administration with the most widely recognized products in our industry, while increasing their socio-economic spend.”

Clearly this is a material contracting opportunity for ASP, Inc.  Yet a closer evaluation of this example reveals the following:

• They were proactive in building an organizational model that made them qualified to meet the needs of the mission.
• They have the law on their side.
• The size of the opportunity is not an issue, and
• They are prepared to leverage both policy and legal remedies on their behalf, should they be denied an opportunity to participate in what will be a multi-million contract.

You too have an opportunity to duplicate or exceed these results.  Yet if you don’t own the capacity and ability to meet the needs of the mission being contracted against, you are not going to get the business.

I have said it, I have demonstrated it and I can show you a growing number of people that got it early and are doing it themselves.

What are you waiting on?  One of the quickest paths you can take, to going from to Zero to multi-million dollar Hero, is through a land called Joint Venturing.

Empower Yourself…