Watch the Archived Event: Business Development Experts Share Best Practices for Government Contractors

On Thursday, September 16 at 6PM ET, a panel of noted Government Contracting business development experts shared their tips and best practices. See the archived video from the event below, read an event recap, and watch for liveblogged notes, photos and more.

Featured Panelists:

• Al Mink, SRA, Inc
• Dan Shyti, L-3 STRATIS
• Byron Johns, American Systems Corporation
• Jim McCarthy, AOC Key Solutions
• Mary Gostel, FedSources
• Hilary Fordwich, Strelmark Consulting

Meet the Panelists
Back Row: Jim McCarthy, Al Mink, Dan Shyti and Byron Johns
Front Row: Mary Gostel and Hilary Fordwich

As an added bonus, attendees who registered online will receive a copy of the brand new Clarity BD report, scheduled to be released in early September, featuring benchmarking data on business capture processes from across the government contracting industry. For more information and to get your copy of the report, please e-mail join@govwin.com

System Requirements:
To view the event video, all you need is a Web browser with the free Adobe Flash player plugin and an Internet connection (500kpbs or higher download speed recommended).

It is not news that traditional media has taken some hits over the last few years. Changing demographics, technology and interests have alerted the landscape on not just what people are looking for in terms of news, but also, where they are going to get it.

The latest evening news ratings for the 2009-2010 season only support this shift. Compared to last year (2008-2009 season), “NBC Nightly News,” ABC’s “Word News” and the “CBS Evening News” (yes, CBS still has news) lost a combined 739,000 viewers (over 330,000 were in age group 25-54, leaving 400,000 -25 and +54). That is a pretty staggering number of people who are no longer getting news from one of three traditional networks.

Granted, last year’s data does include coverage of the 2008 presidential election, perhaps one of the most significant moments in recent memory. However, the drop off does demonstrate that traditional networks need to do more to gain competitiveness with other forms of media and captivate audiences.

In places where this data has been released, it is extremely interesting to view the comments threads. A majority of posters believe that network and cable news programs are biased and largely rhetorical. Instead of providing information that is newsworthy or insightful, many believe news channels contain pure commentary. What this means for networks is that unless they specifically align themselves with a doctrine and build around securing a specific demographic, they are going to continue to lose share to other networks and providers.

The alternative to special interest stories, commentary and light news, which is what the traditional networks specialize in today, is to actually change their programming model to include robust news coverage or to stop being considered as a news source altogether. Either approach may seem like utter lunacy to the networks today, but as audience erosion continues and advertising dollars dry-up, the time experiment and make a new model work is now.

On Thursday, September 16 from 5:30 to 8:00 pm, a group of leading business development professionals in the government space is gathering at the Tower Club in Tysons Corner, VA to discuss best practices, strategies and changes in the federal procurement marketplace.

The event will help facilitate a discussion among the leaders in federal contracting and sales in the GovCon space at a time when the dynamics of doing business with the federal government is changing faster than ever.

To get the conversation started before the event, I had a chance to ask one question of each of the panelists. Take a look at their responses below, and submit your comments.

And don’t forget to register for the GovCon Business Development Panel, this Thursday from 5:30 to 8:00 pm. You don’t want to miss the opportunity to network with top GovCon experts over complimentary cocktails and appetizers. Click to register(registration is free).

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Question: What piece of advice would you offer business development professionals in the government space on either what they are doing or not doing that they need to change to improve their success?

Jim McCarthy, CEO, AOC Key Solutions

Here is my advice: We need to reinvent the way we conduct business development, execute capture, and manage proposals. We need a new process, a new paradigm. We need to change our thinking from a slavish compliance to RFP requirements (“beyond mere compliance”) that elevate form and process over substance and content.

We need to shift to thinking about how we can serve our government customers and add value to them. Not how we can guile them into awarding us the contract.

Stop focusing on what we want to “tell them and sell them.” Focus instead on what they want to hear and what they want to buy. Telling and selling is often different than hearing and buying. To know the difference takes leadership and courage. It is time to reinvent ourselves as BD professionals.

Dan Shyti, Vice President, GWAC Management Center, L-3 STRATIS

The Federal BD process is a unique animal.  If one were to explain it to a commercial salesperson, they would think you were from another planet.  Because of the uniqueness, it’s easy for a Federal BD person to focus on reading portals like Input, tracking RFPs, and following the government compliance process.  It’s easy to forget that basic sales skills still apply.  My advice is to keep your basic sales skills sharp.  Be personable.  Know how to make customers feel comfortable around you.  Build strong relationships across the marketplace – both inside government and with industry counterparts.

Mary Gostel, Senior Vice President, Market Intelligence, FedSources

BD professionals in government contracting need to find ways to “do more with less”.  Increased competition, IDIQ sales cycles and fewer large program opportunities translates to more proposal activity without additional resources.  Choose bids wisely, based on solid market intelligence not industry buzz, for greater win probability.

Al Mink, National Security Strategy Director, SRA, Inc

Much of the answer depends on the context. But in general I’d say, “Strive for agility and mass.”

Maneuver/Agility to move quickly in terms of closing on teaming, strategic hires, customer meetings (before doors close), writing task orders in 10 days, etc

Mass: to have the brainpower and heavy lifting to for a successful capture and proposal.  If the resources for capture are spread too thin, then you risk competition outperforming you.  For example, many firms either gloss over or decide a Black Hat is unnecessary, only to learn later that they would have improved their proposed solution had they thought about how their competition would approach the opportunity.  Another example of thinness is making “availability” the primary criteria for the technical team.  This leads to constant turnover during capture and the B team during proposal.

Maneuver/Agility and Mass – two military terms that definitely relate to successful business development activities

Hillary Fordwich, President, Strelmark, Business
Development Consultants

Business development professionals to improve their success need to keep their focus on just one issue. How are they creating a WANT for their products and services? Not selling, not pushing something that is not wanted.

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If you are outside of the DC area, but still want to participate in Thursday’s GovCon Business Development Panel, click here to watch the live-streamed panel discussion from 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM.

Follow us on Twitter @govWinTeam and use the hashtag #govbd for this event.

For people interested in business development in the government space, there is an event at the Tower Club on Thursday, September 16th, 5:30 – 8:00 pm, featuring some of the leading experts in obtaining government contracts.

The event will cover things like, finding the right opportunities, developing capture strategies and proposals, and more. What’s more, registration is free: http://govwin.com/node/72484

I will be on-site to run the live video stream and to manage questions from Twitter and the video chat. If you are outside the great DC region, we welcome you to join the live video and post your questions. But if you are within striking distance of the Tower Club in Tysons Corner, VA, you will want to be there. Not only will there be the panel discussion, but lots of networking opportunities, good food and a copy of the recent Clarity report will be distributed.

Speakers include:
Al Mink, National Security Strategy Director, SRA, Inc
Daniel A. Shyti, Vice President, GWAC Management Center, L-3 STRATIS
Finley Foster, Executive VP and GM, Business Development, American Systems
Jim McCarthy, CEO, AOC Key Solutions
Mary Gostel, Senior Vice President, Market Intelligence, FedSources
Hilary Fordwich, President and Founder, Strelmark Consulting

Click to register.

This post originally appears in the govWin.com blog section at: http://govwin.com/node/73572

The 2010 Gov 2.0 Summit in Washington, DC, brought together a high-caliber collection of thought leaders from the federal government, tech industry, SIs, the business community and others.

The conference’s overarching theme was that it is not enough for the government to simply unleash stagnant or trapped data to the masses, but rather harnessing the power of technology to improve and transform what government already does.

Here is a breakdown of some of the key points that were delivered at Gov 2.0:

@Carl Malamud, Founder and President of Public.Resource.Org, identified several examples of IT waste, including instances in which data was actually being transported by car instead of shared electronically.   Malamud sees  a need for bulk data standards and a serious “national scanning initiative” to digitize data. Malamud had perhaps the line of the conference when he said, “If we can put a man on the moon, surely we can launch the @LibraryCongress into cyberspace.”

@Ellen Miller of the Sunlight Foundation talked about how Gov 2.0 is not just about unlocking data. Otherwise, the government spends time and resources releasing census information on wild horses instead of mining safety reports. The key is for government to focus on releasing data that improves its ability to be critically assessed and improve efficiency. Lastly, Miller stressed the need for citizens to be engaged to help make #gov20 a reality.

Living up to the ideal of transforming government, Todd Park, CTO of Health and Human Service (HHS), discussed his department’s efforts to open data, including its support for
Health2Challenge and HHS’ implementation of the “blue button initiative” which will allow VA and Medicare recipients to download health data from medical providers and hospitals.

Todd Park, CTO, HHS, talks with Tim O’Reilly about how he was persuaded to work in government.

@TimOReilly moderated a session between Aneesh Chopra, Federal Chief Technology Officer of the United States and Vivek Kundra, Chief Information Officer of the United States. Chopra talked about how the government has an infrastructure challenge to satisfy the growth of mobile technology, and the need to double spectrum as part of the solution. Kundra talked about cloud computing and the need to “speed up the democratization of data.” Both proudly unveiled the launch of challenge.gov, an open contest forum for citizens to develop solutions to various government challenges.

BrightScope’s @mikealfred presented one of the most compelling cases on how a persistent pursuit of government data can fuel an innovative business model. By obtaining
data from the Department of Labor, SEC, Census Bureau, EEOC and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, BrightScope is able to provide 401K ratings and financial intelligence, which leads to greater efficiency in the 401K plan market.

On the whole, Gov 2.0 seems to be evolving. The consensus from the sessions and discussions with attendees like David Stephenson (@Data4All), Jack Dangermond @ESRI and others was that Gov 2.0 is now more about identifying opportunities, being innovative when tackling challenges and taking action.

For a complete Twitter stream of the event, click here – www.govwin.com/gov20-summit.

For the latest tweets on #g2s click here.

govWin’s team attended the
Gov 2.0 Summit, September 7-8,
at the Grand Hyatt in Washington,
DC.

Gov 2.0 brought together innovators from government and the private sector to
highlight technology and ideas that can be applied to the nation’s great
challenges. The Summit featured discussion in areas such as education,
health care, jobs as well as social media, cloud computing and mobile
technologies.

Below is a replay of tweets and comments made throughout the Gov 2.0 Summit, as well as a collection of pictures from the event. If you did not attend the event, this is an excellent way to get a snapshot of the event, and many of the key issues and thoughts presented over the two-days.

For more information on what is impacting the government community, follow us on Twitter:
@govWinTeam. Questions? @ or DM us
through Twitter.