I Have a GSA Schedule: What Do I Do Now? Part 1 of a 4-Part Series

Perhaps the most common question asked by any small to mid-size enterprise that has recently acquired a GSA Schedule is expressed in the title of this article.

When you realize that approximately 20% of the Schedule holders account for roughly 80% of all revenue derived from these Schedules, the obvious question becomes: What are the successful Schedule holders doing that I am not?

The seemingly mutually exclusive attributes of assertion and patience need to be present. Assertion is required to doggedly discover those Agencies, programs and personnel that constitute many of the essential elements in any sale to the Government. Patience is the sense that the Government moves slowly in the acquisition phase of completing a contract action. This fact leads to the first of 3 essential steps (Discovery, Planning and Execution) that form the foundation of virtually any successful effort in government sales.

The first of these is “Discovery”. The first two components of Discovery are:

1. How is the Government buying the solutions we are selling?

Is the buying centralized or decentralized?
Who makes the buying decision? End user, Contracting Officer, or combination of both?
What contractual vehicles do they prefer? GSA Schedules, Basic Purchase Agreements, Agency or Government-Wide Multiple Award Contracts?
Is the buying done directly or is it imbedded as part of a larger program (e.g. large design and construction buy) where the buyer is another company.

2. Where are my competitors focused?

Where have your top 3 or 5 competitors made the bulk of their sales?
What contractual vehicles or entry points are they using?
Who do they deal with in their top accounts?

While these action items sound sufficiently straightforward, the fact is that a great deal of research and “shoe leather” is required to obtain valid, comprehensive answers that permit us to proceed intelligently in our quest for Government sales.

In Part 2 we will address the third component of the Discovery process: “Who is buying what you are selling?” In other words, how do you determine what agencies to focus your limited resources on and why?

The Health Care Market Presents Unique Opportunities

Fourteen federal agencies have a wide-range of opportunities for healthcare firms in technology, administration, research, and regulatory implementation. Your firm has developed a product or capability that would provide value to federal healthcare marketplace. Where do you begin?

Whether your company is in the Top 100 Government Contractors, a small disadvantaged business, an 8(a), or a commercial healthcare firm exploring the Federal healthcare marketplace there is a basic tenet that holds value for every entity, namely that trust delivers sales. So first become a trusted advisor.

Becoming a trusted advisor for a federal healthcare buyer is a time intensive endeavor. Bear in mind, people buy what they need, not necessarily what you have to sell. Know their business and figure out what they most likely need. It may take numerous meetings to get to the ultimate buyer. The reward will be worth the effort. Remember if the proposal comes out and you have not met the buyer – nine times out of ten, your chances of a “win” are reduced by 90%.

Ten steps to becoming a trusted advisor:
1. Think big, start small and build trust
2. Select a specialty or area of expertise in your firm and build on that
3. Target federal agencies meetings for your specialty
4. Understand end-users needs before you meet
5. Bring a team of experts to the table
6. Offer specific ideas to the end-user problem
7. Voice your opinion
8. Have a contract closing mechanism
9. Deliver what you promise
10. Never stop adding value

Specialty areas for Federal healthcare opportunities could include any mixture of business knowledge and subject matter expertise (SME) in the following areas:

Departments: Health and Human Services, Veterans Administration, Department of Defense; Department of Labor, and Office of Personnel Management.
Agencies: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS), Agency for Health Research and Quality (AHRQ), National Institute of Health (NIH), Center for Disease Control (CDC), Military Health Services (MHS), Indian Health Services (HIS), Veterans Health Administration.
Programs: Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE, ChampVA, Indian Health Services (IHS), Federal Employee Health Benefits (FEHB), community health and workman’s compensation.
SMEs: managed care, fee for service, fraud prevention, disease management, quality, physicians, hospitals, pharmacy, behavioral health, dental, payers, transportation, medical home, performance management, security, disaster recovery, HIPAA, and federal architecture.
Capabilities: actuarial, algorithm development, compliance, project management, CMMI, application development lifecycle, assessments, surveys, business intelligence, data modeling, predictive analytics, investigative, clinical, analysis, medical necessity and audit.
Technologies: data warehousing, electronic health records (EHR), health information exchange (HIE), call centers, EDI, enterprise platforms, claims processing, enrollment, and eligibility.

Kelly Walker, Seneca Creek Consulting, LLC 2010