As the summer heat begins to force us indoors, the US Government’s various procurement arms also start to heat up. August and September represent peak buying season for the US Government as the fiscal year reaches its September 30th end. As you can clearly see below, via the graph provided by Govly.com Analytics, the number of *RFQs posted over time peaks in the late August/early September timeframe before quickly falling off.
*The graph above, generated by the Govly application, represents the number of RFQs posted via the SEWP, GSA, ITES(3H/3S/SW2), and CIO-CS vehicles during the time period shown.
Mike Weiland (CEO & Co-founder) sat down with Jon Wright (CRO & Co-founder) to document and share a few best practices they’ve cataloged over their combined 40 years of procurement experience.
Automate: Allow your most valuable resources (sales teams) to focus on what they do best
Automating your deal identification process is essential with the influx of RFQs flooding your reps. By automating your deal identification process, you substantially reduce the risk of missing opportunities that align with your business. Additionally, automation allows your business to capture the opportunities that were missed by your competition as they waded through the flood of RFQs. Everything from automated notifications when your registered deal gets released to being notified when an 'or-equal' gets published for an OEM that you specialize in, automation of your top of funnel is a must.
Pay close attention to September orders
During the final month of the Federal fiscal year, the sales and ops team should pay extra attention to the details of each RFQ and subsequent order received.
- AOF clauses: Watch for orders with Availability of Funds clauses. Generally, these RFQs are published when the customer has not yet received next year's funding. Suppliers can face exorbitant carrying costs if the customer's funding is delayed.
- Defense-rated orders: When Box 13a is checked on your 1449, make sure to flow the requirement down to your supplier. These rated orders take priority over all non-rated government orders and over all commercial orders the manufacturer has. Identifying this during the ordering process is paramount and we recommend that if you are procuring through multiple suppliers or tiers that you hear back from the OEM that they have acknowledged the rating so that any/all delays can be mitigated accordingly.
- Keep an eye on your supply chain: When demand spikes, supply chains are strained or broken altogether. Sometimes this strain causes links within the supply chain to stretch and look for a supply source in non-approved locations. In recent years there has been a notable rise in gray and black market goods finding their way into supply chains. To combat this, businesses should work with their internal teams and suppliers to continually review and audit their SCRM.
Focus on your team’s mental and physical well-being
During this busy season, leaders should take extra steps to maintain situational awareness as it pertains to their team members on the front line - this is the time for servant leadership. The increasing number of RFQs, Mods and approaching deadlines make it easy to overlook the individuals who keep the deals coming. Below are a few approaches that Jon and Mike have successfully leveraged in the past.
- Supply team meals with office or home delivery
- Maintain as much flexibility as you can. Work with each individual team member to identify working hours that fit and space for breaks.
- Provide and announce post-buying season recovery, company events with accolades, massages, gift cards, et.
Are there other topics you’d like to learn more about? Shoot one of us an email and we’d love to discuss.
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