The Department of Commerce identifies the economic base of the country (i.e., products and services) by types of industry, such as manufacturing, construction, agricultural, service group, etc., through a coding system. This system enables the government to obtain the data it needs to analyze economic trends and similar information.

Obtaining a Schedule contract can be a bit overwhelming and time-consuming. However, when you are finally awarded a contract, your hard work is definitely not over. If you want to really capitalize on your new opportunity and generate sales against your hard-earned contract, you will now have to actively market your contract to potential buyers. As many GSA Contracting Officers will tell you, getting "on schedule" and having a GSA contract is only a license to "hunt" for opportunities.

One of the most important things you need to do early in the process is to let the government know that you are ready and able to provide the products or services it needs. To do this, you must register your company with the Central Contractor Registration (CCR) at http://www.ccr.gov, the primary database of government vendors and suppliers. The CCR collects, validates, stores and disseminates data in support of federal projects and missions.

As previously mentioned, if a product or service is a commercial-type or general-purpose item, there is a good chance that the General Services Administration (GSA) buys it for all government agencies, including the DoD.

The six steps in this guide will, among other things, help you determine the correct MAS Schedule and the correct Special Item Number (SIN), evaluate the competition's products and pricing, assess market potential, prepare a solicitation package, and handle negotiations with a GSA Contracting Officer. The end goal is that you "get on schedule" and receive that much-sought-after "GSA Contract" or "GSA Number," which many businesses work very hard to obtain.

This method works much the same way as a bid-matching service, but costs you nothing (you are already paying for it with your tax dollars). Stop in the Procurement Technical Assistance Center nearest you, sign up to be a client, and get your prospective buyers and bid leads through the PTAC. Their automated systems scan hundreds of government and commercial web sites, delivering emails with the latest opportunities.

One way to locate potential government customers is through FedBizOpps (Federal Business Opportunities), the official web site listing of all federal government contracting opportunities and awards over $25,000. Government buyers are able to post information about their business opportunities directly to FedBizOpps via the Internet at www.fbo.gov.

One way to locate government buying offices is to pick up your local phone book, search the blue (or Yellow Pages) under "Government, federal," and then look for a listing for the purchasing office or small business office. If neither of these offices is identified, then call the office(s) listed and make an appointment to meet with them.

Instead of doing the work yourself, you can subscribe to a "bid matching" service to provide you with leads on bids and prospective customers. The bid service, with your help, will develop a company profile using keywords and government product and service codes to help match your company's capabilities to the needs of the government.

Now that you are thinking of your business in terms of the end items that you are capable of providing, you are ready to identify prospective customers: the buying offices within the federal government that have a need for your product or service.

OK, so what do you have to do to actually sign that first deal with the government? We have broken down the actions you need to take into ten steps and we will guide you through the process of completing each one. Although we are presenting the actions you need to take in a step-by-step fashion, it does not mean that they need to be done one at a time. They can be done simultaneously or in a different order, depending on your circumstances.

You are now ready to get started. You might imagine that the first thing you should do is get out there out and look for all those government buyers and bid opportunities, right?

No discussion of government procedures and rules is complete without talking about the basic rulebook for government contracts: the Federal Acquisition Regulation, commonly known as "the FAR."

What was so significant about FASA to the interests of small businesses? Here are some of the specific changes that this law made:

Laws that Affect Government Contracting Public Law Result Purveyor of Public Affairs Act of 1795 Allowed the government to buy needed supplies and materials to perform government functions. Civil Sundry Appropriations Act of 1

Now let's take a closer look at the laws and regulations that will affect you when you do business with the government. Maybe the easiest way to begin is with a brief history lesson.

As previously discussed, all branches of federal government are required by law to migrate their business practices to a paperless operation. In implementing the new e-procurement way of contracting, it is clear that there is a need to ensure the confidentiality, security, and authentication of information exchanged between government and its contractors in the electronic environment.

You've heard it said many times, "Government contracting seems hard--so many rules and regulations. And, if you don't follow them, the government is just waiting to take you down!"

Let's get started by looking at some of the differences in procedures. First of all, the federal government conducts its business through authorized agents, called contracting officers:

This "quiz" is not meant to be a serious scientific assessment. Its main purpose is to get you thinking about the government market, what areas you may need to work on, and what will be expected of you and your company. So, with that in mind, here are the categories for scoring:

The concept of electronic procurement for a small business not yet comfortable with new technology can be overwhelming. E-procurement takes many forms and has become a requirement for doing business with the government. But the electronic procurement requirements that we describe here are not unique to the government. They are the same as a large private-sector business requires of its suppliers. Therefore, it is essential that any business at least consider these issues, whether it does business with the government or not.

We can't stress enough the importance of this area. Simply put, if you are not capable of doing business using some kind of electronic commerce (e-commerce) or electronic procurement (e-procurement), you will not be doing business with the government.

The terms of a government contract generally require you to assure the quality of the product or service that your business will be providing. To do that, you need to show that you have some kind of formal, documented quality control plan in place.

One question that often plagues small business owners at the start is," Is my business big enough to handle a government contract?" Actually, there are many companies with fewer than five employees that have received a contract. In fact, some companies that have only one person in their entire operation have been awarded a contract. In one case, mentioned earlier, it kept the owner busy for an entire year and amounted to his total year's salary.

What is the financial situation of your business? Is your business financially stable or are you just starting out and short on cash flow? Are you able to make payroll and other payments with no problem? In other words, is your business financially healthy?