Field notes.
Occasional writing on federal, state, and local contracting and the parts of GovCon nobody explains until you've lost a pursuit to them.
- · naics · federal · guide
NAICS 541512: who actually wins federal IT systems-design contracts
Eight thousand firms hold the certification. Eighty win 80 percent of the dollars. Here's why.
- · dod · cmmc · cybersecurity
DoD CMMC 2.0 readiness for federal contractors
CMMC 2.0 is the gating cybersecurity certification for DoD primes and subs. Here's how to assess where you stand.
- · recompete · strategy
Recompete intel: how to predict which contracts will recompete in the next 12 months
70 percent of federal contracts recompete; predicting which ones is a structural advantage.
- · sam-gov · guide · registration
SAM.gov for federal contractors: the registration playbook
Three-week registration timeline, common rejection reasons, and how to keep your status active.
- · sba · set-asides · guide
SBA set-aside cheat sheet for federal contractors
Eight set-aside types, when each applies, and the dollar bands they cluster around.
- · sled · cooperatives · guide
Sourcewell vendor onboarding: a contractor's playbook
Sourcewell is the most-used cooperative in the country. Here's how to get on their vehicles in 60 days.
- · sbir · usda · guide
USDA SBIR Phase II: how to convert a Phase I win
Phase II is where the dollars are. Here's the conversion playbook.
- · usaspending · guide · data
USAspending.gov power-user guide for federal BD
USAspending is the most under-used data source in federal contracting. Here's how to mine it.
- · product
Why we ship the reason for every score
Opportunity ranking is the feature. Per-factor English explanation is the product.
- · strategy
Why incumbents matter more than set-asides
A recompete pursued by the right bidder is a better signal than a set-aside flag.