posted
Don't be afraid to add a little extra to help cover the cost of the extra paperwork......LOTS of extra paperwork. Make sure you dot every "i" and cross every "t". Make sure you have everything in triplicate.
Dealing with the Feds isn't so bad once you get used to it. On the last federal job we did they ordered a rather large sandblasted sign for an low-income housing division that they took over. I doubled what I would have normally charged and was still the low bidder and my normal fee isn't low.
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I was contacted by someone a couple months ago about subscribing to their "program" which was supposed to open the door to the federal procurement process... For the fee of I believe $750 annually... I googled the name of the firm and came up empty...
-------------------- Ed The Signwerks 1951 SR 254 Orangeville, Pa. Posts: 199 | From: Orangeville, Pa. USA | Registered: Dec 2000
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I have never dealt with a governmental agency at any level that would give me a deposit. Therefore I include a cost of financing charge when figuring my bid. Like Glenn said, use a higher mark up than you normally would.
-------------------- Patrick Sweeney Terre Haute, Indiana Highline Signs Posts: 40 | From: Terre Haute, IN | Registered: Aug 2003
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Before I opened my own shop I worked for another screen shop which bid many govt contracts. We printed flags for the Services. We did vacuum formed plaques for them also. Our largest job was for 2.25 MILLION bumper stickers for the Air Force "Aim High" campaign. Two color with clearcoat. Remember the blue and red stripes which ended as an outline of a jet meeting at the nose? That gave me a real appreciation for how large a million really is.
Unfortunately, I have no idea weather we actually profited on any of these jobs but I doubt it, even though I worked at this shop for about 7 years. Eventually I ended up with most of the equipment from the auction.
So, once we got started it seemed natural for us to bid a few govt jobs. The first one we sharpened our pencils as much as possible and sent in our bit. Nope, didn't get it. When we requested the bidding history we found out that the job went for less than we could even purchase the stock! That was the last one we bid.
Now, we have done local work for the National Lakeshore Park and have done a wide assortment of work for the state too. I don't think much of this has been bid work though.
-------------------- Bill Modzel Mod-Zel screen Printing Traverse city, MI modzel@sbcglobal.net Posts: 1357 | From: Traverse City, MI | Registered: Nov 1998
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Nothing like you're talking about with filling out forms, etc... but we made about forty banners in december for the cencus. Each time I thought I had the procedure straight in my head, I would be passed on to a different person, and the procedure seemed to change.
This was a one time job, so no real paperwork on my end, but I would do it again...no problem. They were good to deal with, and even overnighted the payment.
-------------------- Ace Graphics & Printing Camdenton, MO. USA
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Get ready to wait a LONGGGG time for your money!!
-------------------- Jane Diaz Diaz Sign Art 628 W. Lincoln Ave. Pontiac, Il. 61764 815-844-7024 www.diazsignart.com Posts: 4102 | From: Pontiac, IL USA | Registered: Feb 1999
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You can search, pick and choose the projects you want to bid on.
You can also find suppliers.
I work at a company that makes large tent structures and much of our work is aircraft hangars, barracks and other equipment maintenance/personnel support structures for the military.
Because of this, we're growing rapidly. We went from 45 employees to 80 in three months time, and we still need more.
I forget the name of the program, and it might be specific to military work, but we get instant payment as soon as the product leaves our facility on the truck... which is nice because a $5 million contract has a LOT of outlay up front.
-------------------- "If I share all my wisdom I won't have any left for myself."
Mike Pipes stickerpimp.com Lake Havasu, AZ mike@stickerpimp.com Posts: 8746 | From: Lake Havasu, AZ USA | Registered: Jun 2000
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The Federal Government! Must be in Spanish!!
-------------------- Tony Vickio The World Famous Vickio Signs 3364 Rt.329 Watkins Glen, NY 14891 t30v@vickiosigns.com 607-535-6241 http://www.vickiosigns.com Posts: 1063 | From: Watkins Glen, New York | Registered: Sep 2001
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