Federal Ecosystem and Community

Breaking into federal contracting can be challenging. The high barriers to entry, long learning curves, and slow sales cycles can discourage even the most determined individuals. Although plenty of free government resources are available, many people have unrealistic expectations about what they can achieve. Join us as we introduce you to lesser-known federal resources and show you how to maximize their benefits.

As generative AI tools for federal proposal development continue to advance rapidly, every federal contractor faces the decision of how deeply to embrace these efficiency-enhancing technologies. Join us in this enlightening webisode as we explore the key factors to consider before incorporating AI into your next federal proposal.

Elevate your organization’s presence and offerings in the federal contracting market with tech-forward strategies. Join us in this informative webisode as we unveil the power of forging strategic alliances with top-tier tech vendors.

The Pulse and Loudoun Chamber collaborated to host a LIVE edition of our SHRED series. This event united industry peers for an engaging discussion focused on sharing experiences, lessons learned, and valuable recommendations to enhance a federal contractor’s position in the Business-to-Government (B2G) sector. Continue reading here for more context.

The business value at stake from government and regulatory intervention is enormous. Happenings on “The Hill” directly impact the day-to-day of the federal contracting market, including the competitive landscape. So why do only some federal contractors organize their government relations as carefully as they do their business functions? One big reason: COST. Here are four ways to organize an impactful government affairs function within your organization – without breaking the bank.

There is an art to “shredding” a federal solicitation and building a federal proposal outline that is comprehensive and biddable. It requires a systematic approach (with a bit of creativity) that responds to all instructions of a federal solicitation in a way that is easy for an outsider to review, analyze, and score. Ready to perfect your masterpiece? Here are four thoughts to consider the next time you “shred” a federal RFP.

A huge market is available to you as a federal subcontractor for a government prime. On average, 57% ($310B) of all federal obligations have gone to federal subcontractors annually over the past decade, according to USASpending data. Subcontractors are crucial in completing federal prime projects bringing specialized expertise, technology, or skills to civilian and defense missions. The Pulse offers four tips and tricks to ensure you are always in demand.

The government contracting market has many options for paid data and opportunity identification systems. Unfortunately, these platforms don’t want you to know that most data can be accessed for free. The Pulse has four creative ways to source market intelligence for free.

Cold calling is not dead – but how chilly should your introduction be to be effective? The Pulse offers four methods to warm up federal sales outreach.

CX is meant to be a holistic aggregate of your experiences with an organization. CX is a critical component that drives our day-to-day experiences and subconsciously (or consciously!) impact what vendors, brands, products, or organizations we choose to deal with. While CX is commonly considered an element only important to product marketing and sales, we believe it is also directly related to business and proposal development in the GovCon space. Why? Because CX is directly linked to the fulfillment one feels throughout the process. Do you feel like your proposal process is ineffective? Is your team experiencing burnout? It may be time to re-evaluate your proposal development journey. Here are four CX principles you can directly apply today.

You’ve done it – you found the guy who has drank whiskey and smoked cigars with the best of GovCon over the last 20 years. His base pay is over 200k – non-negotiable. You hire him only to find out he doesn’t know what FBO is, and the start to his every answer is “According to GovWin…”. What went wrong?

Somewhere along the way, building a proposal became streamlined (out of necessity) and rooted in fundamentals and processes (this part is debatable). As a result, outlining an RFP has, quite simply, become formulaic, and any person who is good “at managing proposals” can support almost any RFP from any agency and in virtually any subject area. GASP? They don’t need subject matter expertise? Direct agency familiarity? No, because setting up the skeleton of an RFP is just a paint-by-numbers exercise that requires attention to detail.

Capture is too big a topic to cover in one video. We could dive into numerous elements, processes, and best practices, including their fair share of overplayed tropes and clichés– walking the halls, knocking on doors—and shaping the opportunity. But what is shaping?  Is it as easy as hitting the gym and eating better to get into the best shape of your life? Here are four tangible ways to shape and opportunity.

“I don’t think that means what you think it means.” In this episode, The Pulse walks through our favorite GovCon verbiage misconceptions!