1. Contract with America – Sounds Good Here’s How You Get One
Gene Kalb, Fencebids
John Feerick, Premier Fence LLC
February 8, 2011

2. Introduction
Millions of dollars are spent by federal, state and local governments on fences and access control products. This session gives a brief overview on how to find the bids; what to do once you find them; how procurement officers evaluate and award the bids; how to get paid; and more.
Your participation is encouraged. We want to hear from you what your experiences have been.

3. DRAFT AGENDA – who does what (placeholder: to be removed)
What the government buys (Gene)
Finding the bids (Gene)
Bidding on the bids (John)
Winning the bids (secrets to success) (tbd)
Losing the bids (how bids are evaluated) (tbd)
Getting paid (tbd)
What’s in the future? (tbd)

4. Agenda What the government buys Finding the bids Bidding on the bids
Winning the bids (secrets to success)
Losing the bids (how bids are evaluated)
Getting paid
What’s in the future?

5. What the Government Buys
Prisons
Military Bases
Playgrounds
Post Offices
Schools
Borders
What have you found that the government needs to be fenced?

6. Finding the Bids Federal State Local Military bases Post offices
Department of Highway
Prisons
National Parks
Bureau of Land Management
State
Highways
Airports
Local
Schools
Parks
Playgrounds
Conservation land

7. Federal Bids By law, all jobs >$25,000 must be published for bid
Jobs are published on federal websites
Have you used this site?

8. Searching the Site: Challenges
Basic vs. Advances search
How do you sift through the hits?
Search Fenc* = >900 hits
Are the results meaningful?
Geographic limits: what’s missed
Data input
What’s in a name?
Misspellinggz
Singular vs. plural
Many sources put in the data
Once the job is found, register and track a contract, amendment, and update

9. Tips & Techniques Start with a lot of stuff
There’s only so much that can be weeded out electronically
You really need a human eye

10. State Bids There is no single repository of state bids
50 states means 50 different procurement sites
Some, but not all, work cooperatively
All States have different rules & techniques
Focus on the ones you’re interested in
Limitations
Not very good
Not intuitive
States contract out with private vendors to do their procurement databases
Some require registration and a fee to search

11. Local Bids Some have websites for procurement
Some just advertise in local newspapers
Challenges
Each has their own rules
There is no uniform format
Very few are computer-savvy: many are procurement people from a different era who have been thrust into the electronic age

12. What Can You Do? What do YOU do?
Search the federal, state, local sites yourself
Alternatively….

13. What Else Can You Do? Use Paid Services Alternatively….
Monthly fees add up (start at ~$30-$50 each and go up from there)
Many still contain a lot of “noise”
Alternatively….

14. Fencebids Organized by region Minimizes noise Links to all jobs
ed every Friday
Free subscription

15. Agenda What the government buys Finding the bids Bidding on the bids
Winning the bids (secrets to success)
Losing the bids (how bids are evaluated)
Getting paid
What’s in the future?

16. Bidding on the Bids
[John to include what a contractor does to make sure the bid is successful; eg
Site visits
Bonding
Overhead
Insurance
Prevailing wages
Other?
Timing for this section?

17. Agenda What the government buys Finding the bids Bidding on the bids
Winning the bids (secrets to success)
Losing the bids (how bids are evaluated)
Getting paid
What’s in the future?

18. Winning the Bids
John to include some tips from the Contractor’s point of view for ensuring the bid is successful. E.g.,
When would you not bid
What to be careful of: cheap competition, etc.
Should we try to include the Small Business Administration representative’s point of view?
What kills your chances for a successful bid
What red flags to look for
When you determine a bid is too low
Immigration issues (probably a hot topic)
How to assure prompt payment (note: this will also be covered in future presentation)
What is the typical payment schedule
Timing for this section?

19. Agenda What the government buys Finding the bids Bidding on the bids
Winning the bids (secrets to success)
Losing the bids (how bids are evaluated)
Getting paid
What’s in the future?

20. Losing the Bids Can the SBA help us to identify things like
Is it always the lowest bid they choose or do they look for other criteria
If you’re not a preferred vendor, how do you become one?
Timing for this section?

21. Agenda What the government buys Finding the bids Bidding on the bids
Winning the bids (secrets to success)
Losing the bids (how bids are evaluated)
Getting paid
What’s in the future?

22. Getting Paid
John to talk through his experiences from a Contractor’s point of view
Can we get a spokesperson from the State of Nevada to talk about their payment process and anything else they feel might be pertinent?
Timing for this section?

23. Agenda What the government buys Finding the bids Bidding on the bids
Winning the bids (secrets to success)
Losing the bids (how bids are evaluated)
Getting paid
What’s in the future?

24. What’s in the Future

25. Summary
[top level take-aways]
Thank you