Getting United States government contracts seems awfully lucrative.
The billions of dollars that are spent for so many multi-national companies makes government contracts seem extremely profitable.
Then there are a number of small business programs that help small businesses get a foot into the door.
Sometimes that just adds to the idea that getting government business is easy.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
The reality is that while government contracts can be large, but it can also be low margin.
When evaluating government contracts one must look at their competition.
If a business is use to competing with big business, then they can be assured they will be competing with them for government business.
The upside is that most big businesses actually increases their margins when pricing for the United States government.
This is to the small business's benefit as they just need to simply match or beat those prices.
Competing with other small businesses can be harder because they will have many of the same advantages.
It could be made even more difficult if the competition is already winning the contracts.
Another thing to evaluate is the help that is available.
There are small business develop centers funded by the Small Business Administration and the Minority Business Development Agency.
The General Services Administration (GSA) has training for getting a GSA Schedule.
And each department of the civil government has an Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU) who's job it is to assist small businesses in getting more government work and contracts.
Review all the available help and see if this will be enough assistance to get started.
The main thing to remember is that getting government work will take time and effort.
However, perseverance will pay off.
That is when government contracts are most lucrative, because the government procurement personnel like to use the same people over and over.
Meaning it may be hard to get in, but once a business is in, they are in.