Hi guys, I am the original poster and surprised to come back to the WIFCON forum and see so many responses! It is great to see that we have a mix of all kinds of individuals - visionaries, veteran experts, hungry up-and-comers, etc. It is great to have a forum where people can have a civil discourse and agree to disagree without it devolving into name calling like so many industry forums tend to.
I did not mean to upset or disparage any contracting folks. I think the problem is with the Customer and myself (Vendor) in that we don't know who to contact. The GSA is vast and different regions/departments *seem* to be specialize in IT acquisition and others specialize in XYZ. I really have no idea what I am talking about, that is why I use the word seem. I am a computer programmer/business owner. Because of my experience I consider it a miracle that we've made it to this point and have some large contracts.
Could anybody begin to nudge me in the right direction? Who is the kind of person/consultant I should hire? What would the terms I should google for? 80% of what has been stated in this thread goes straight over my head. Am I on the wrong forum?
To reiterate, what I am looking for is an expert who can talk with me and our End Customers in plain English. I will tell them "Hey, we have identified some IT products/services that our end user at GSA is interested in acquiring from us. We have an 8a SDB designation but they need about $50m in services and products and that is over the $3.5m threshold that our current contracts with them are. Blah blah". The expert will reply "Ok, from everything you told me so far, I suggest we meet together with the end user at GSA and we can show them two options on how to approach the contracting folks and get this awarded. For example, we could try to get a BPA setup, or maybe a Limited Sources competition. Blah blah. I recommend use GSA Region X office for this."
My end goal is to reduce the lengthy discussions that go on between end users and the contracting staff as they try to figure out this and that. If we can arm our End User with valuable information then it helps everybody out!
I know that many of my peers rely on their Federal Sales people to try to help the End Users navigate these treacherous waters. I would rather find a specialized expert to help us out.
We have a potentially $50m project at DHS on our long term horizon that we also need help with.
Please send me a Private Message if you know of anybody who we can hire for this.
Thank You!