Top GovCon Execs Discuss Maximizing Your IDIQ Bid Engine
ASHBURN, Va., October 11, 2024 – On October 10, Red Team Consulting (Red Team), in partnership with Deltek, co-hosted an engaging and informative webinar titled, Best Practices in Setting up an IDIQ Bid Engine. The event attracted nearly 500 participants from both small and large businesses, all eager to learn about strategies for building and maximizing IDIQ and GWAC success.
Debi McGhee, General Manager of Capture at Red Team, moderated the panel, leading a dynamic discussion around the challenges and best practices for setting up IDIQ bid engines for both small and large companies. The webinar opened with remarks from Kathleen Sievers, Director of Federal Information Solutions at Deltek, and featured a panel of two government contracting experts, Kathleen Lear, Vice President of New Market Initiatives at MAXIMUS, and John Roman, Vice President of Contracts, Procurement & Pricing at ECS.
The panelists shared a wealth of insights, offering both strategic and practical advice to webinar attendees. Their synergy was so palpable that Lear humorously remarked they should take their discussion on the road. The conversation provided valuable takeaways for attendees, covering everything from setting up effective task order centers to understanding customer needs.
McGhee asked the panel several compelling questions, including:
- What are the lessons learned in setting up a response team or center?
- How can companies work with existing customers to procure new work on a specific vehicle?
- What is the most critical role for a small business to start its IDIQ process with and eventually build around as it grows?
Lear offered sage advice for businesses looking to create or improve their task order bid engines. “Make sure you have someone in your organization who is the guru on that vehicle,” said Lear. “Have somebody who is the expert, who can teach, train, and serve as the sounding board, ensuring you submit a compliant and compelling proposal.”
Roman highlighted the importance of documentation and organization when managing IDIQ/GWAC vehicles. “Writing things down is important,” Roman explained. “Have a checklist that people can go through. Those little things can make a difference in the end.”
Lear emphasized the importance of developing strong relationships with agencies like GSA and NIH NITAAC, key players in the federal contracting space. She also advised companies to take a proactive approach in preparing for IDIQ/GWAC vehicles. “Start early and learn often. Pay attention to federal news and stay in touch with what agencies like GSA and NITAAC are doing,” Lear recommended.
Roman provided guidance on how small and large companies can determine whether to go after an IDIQ/GWAC vehicle. “Understand which vehicles your customers are using,” said Lear. “It’s easier to win business with a customer that you have, so find out what vehicle they are using.”
Lear also addressed the challenge of choosing the right task order opportunities to pursue. “You can’t bid on everything. You have to be laser-focused,” she said. “You have to be very careful about getting lost in the overwhelming amount of opportunities that come out. Because it does take a lot of time to respond to these opportunities.”
Both panelists stressed the importance of customer intimacy throughout the webinar discussion. “You need to understand your customer’s hot buttons and pain points,” said Roman. “Even if you can do the work, you won’t win if you don’t have that intimate understanding of your customer’s needs.”
The webinar provided insights that businesses can use to set up and maintain a successful IDIQ bid engine, and as a result improve their overall success in federal contracting.
In case you missed the discussion, or would like to watch it again, you can watch the video on-demand here.
For more information on future webinars or to learn more about Red Team’s services, visit www.redteamconsulting.com.
Media inquiries:
Jenny Frazier
Senior Director of Marketing & Corporate Culture
jenny.frazier@redteamconsulting.com
About Red Team: Red Team is a strategic growth consultancy that helps companies scale in the government contracting market. Over our 20 years, we’ve helped thousands of companies achieve their growth targets with our full lifecycle business development, capture, proposal development, pricing, and training services. With our support, our clients continue to beat their largest competitors, diversify their portfolio of customers, and achieve their financial goals.
