Is there room in the Defence industry for small business

>>1606145
there are thousands of defense contracts reserved just for small business.

keep in mind that "small business" usually includes companies making up to $30 million per year though, so you may be competing with some very big companies for very big contracts.

what's that website from that one movie where the government posts all their contracts up and you bid on them?

>>1606158
https://www.fbo.gov/

>>1606160
>tfw not american and my government's equivalent is much, much smaller

>>1606161
yeah, our government dumps hundreds of billions each year into defense contractor's pockets. Just lucky I guess.

>>1606160
>https://www.fbo.gov/

Doesn't look as exciting as it did in the movie. Vote Hillary for another war?

>>1606176
>Doesn't look as exciting as it did in the movie.
most of the government contractor's world is boring shit. When I look at it all I see are dollar signs. Like a menu at a restaurant, you can pick how much money you want to make this year. See how much other people are making.

It's a marketplace, just as exciting or boring as any other marketplace.

>>1606181
> See how much other people are making.

Wait, what? Where do you see that? Do you bid on there?

>>1606184
You can search "Awards" or "Award Notices."

last time I checked you could search awarded contracts up to 10 years back.
Sometimes I like to go on there and search my CAGE code and area just to look at the work I've completed in the last decade. I've done millions of dollars worth of work for the government and I have millions more to do, it's a funny feeling looking at all those numbers next to your name.

>>1606193
what industry?

>>1606184
>Do you bid on there?
no, the bidding is done by getting the RFQ (Request For Quote) and sending it in to the person listed on the front page of the thing.

most of them are about the size of a telephone book, government contracts are thick. I've got 200+ page contracts sitting in my filing cabinet.

>>1606195
Janitorial services mostly.

I've done some environmental and security work as well.

>>1606193
How did you get into it? How did you start?

>>1606197
>no, the bidding is done by getting the RFQ (Request For Quote) and sending it in to the person listed on the front page of the thing.
>most of them are about the size of a telephone book, government contracts are thick. I've got 200+ page contracts sitting in my filing cabinet.

What sort of education background do you need to have? Law? I suppose if you're not in law then having a lawyer on retainer is a must.

>>1606199
I bought a cleaning company from a friend that already had government contracts. She taught me how to find work and bid on it.

you can learn all that for free from most community colleges though. The government benefits from having people know how to bid on work for them- more competition means better prices for them. So they sponsor free classes on government contracting.

>>1606202
no background is required unless the contract specifically asks for some certification.

they try to make it as easy as possible for the average person to bid. It is pretty simple, but the amount of electronic paperwork is intimidating to a lot of people. Lots of red tape.

>>1606205

Fair enough. So I guess the golden question is, what sort of profit do see? Enough to expand your cleaning crew a place a second bid on another job? Or is it pretty cutthroat and you have to lowball most bids to win a contract? Also, is it commonplace for people to bribe the county to win a bid, or is it law for them to pick the lowest going offer?

>>1606207
On government work I run a profit margin of about 20% for straight office cleaning and 60% for environmental work.

it pays less than most industrial work but more than a lot of corporate non-industrial just because the competition levels differ. Government work usually pays well, but not better than private sector on average. It's more reliable than private sector though. And in a lot of ways easier to predict.

I don't lowball, I don't need work that bad. I just bid what I normally charge. I almost always get the job though, I win over 95% of my government bids.

bribery is strictly forbidden and in my experience nobody will seriously consider it. They'd get fired and I'd never be able to work for the gov again. It's never even worth considering.

by law they have to choose the BEST offer. In practice that's almost always the cheapest one.