How Teaming with Your Competition Can Help You Win More Government Contracts
Everybody is always looking for an edge when developing their government contracting business. Logic would lead you to believe that you always need to beat your competitors and win as many contracts as possible in order to grow your business.
But there may be other paths to growth, and a minor shift in your thinking could have a major impact on your win potential. One of these ways is “co-opetition” – cooperating with your competition and joining them in pursuing bids.
Teaming with your competition may be an effective method of growing your company and increasing your share of the market. In this article, we’ll go over the types of teaming, the benefits that this strategy may bring, and some of the things you should do to ensure successful partnerships.
Types of Teaming
Teaming comes in as many shapes and varieties. In order to assemble a competitive and sensible team, you will need to focus on your personal preferences, professional network, and the bid itself. At the end of the day, you can choose from any or a combination of the types of teams below, depending on your situation.
If you’re a larger company, you may be the lead contractor who hires one or more subcontractors for a project. This might be the most beneficial method of teaming if you want to maintain control of a project or if the bulk of the project falls within your area of expertise, but you need a few smaller contractors with unique skills to complete the project.
Government contracting giant Boeing often subcontracts specialty services. In a contract awarded in 2017 by the US Air Force, Boeing will use subcontractors to outfit the future Air Force One planes with state-of-the-art protective measures and an advanced communications system. You should never consider yourself too large or a project too small to at least consider teaming as an option.
Conversely, if you’re a small- or medium-sized contractor, you may decide to subcontract your specialty services to a larger contractor. This is a common method that small companies use to get a piece of the larger government contracts for which they are undersized.
Sometimes, large contractors are even required to seek smaller subcontractors for their government projects. Contract requirements may specify that a certain percentage of the project dollars must be awarded to minority-owned businesses, small business entities, woman-owned small businesses, and other set-asides.
Benefits of Teaming
The first and most obvious benefit of teaming is the increased size of your team and its professional network. The larger team size instantly supplements the list of your past performance and references, which are key review factors for most if not all non-LPTA government contracts.
The increase also allows you to cast a wider net with any business relationships gained from that partnership. Teams should be strategically assembled to supplement your existing business relationships in a manner that can be mutually beneficial to all participants of the team. Different team members can headline different bids based on the strength of their business relationship with the hiring entity, ultimately improving name recognition for all members involved.
How to Ensure Successful Teaming
Just jumping into a team doesn’t automatically ensure a winning proposal or a successful project. Even if you are teaming with another contractor, you will still need to do your homework on your client and strategically assemble a team to improve your probability of winning a bid. Your business development team should strategically develop relationships with potential clients or you should identify team members who can provide such relationships.
For instance, your homework may reveal that your client prefers to hire teams with specific specialties on-staff rather than subcontracted. This is a sign that your company may need to hire temporary employees or enter a joint venture rather than the prime contractor-subcontractor type of relationship. Each bid will be unique and your business development team should identify the key relationships needed to increase your win probability.
Although you will not want to team with members who are redundant with your own services, make sure you have redundant skills in your teaming network. For instance, a lead design firm that you work well with may not be available for your next project, so you’ll need to have a backup design firm who can help. Having a few redundancies in your teaming network allows for flexibility and its associated benefits discussed earlier.
The fluidity and impermanence of teaming is something to remember as your business grows. Remember to assemble teams specific to each bid or contract and dissolve the team at the completion of the project. Some partnerships will work better than others and teaming allows you to recycle successful teams in new contracts while shedding unsustainable partnerships.
