The Townsend Report

Whether your company is a large or small government contractor, teaming arrangements are more important than ever. To be successful in a government bid, you must not only offer the products or services that are sought by an agency, but you must also gain access to the appropriate contract vehicle. Agencies seek to streamline procurement by pre-competing contracts to limit the number of proposals they will receive for a given solicitation.  They also have targets for set-aside contracts for special groups such as minority-, veteran-, and woman-owned companies.  Agencies may choose one or more large system integrators to simplify shopping for tasks later and use them as the clearinghouse for project labor. The disconnect between contract vehicles and capabilities means that contract holders need to find companies whose skills match the needs of the agency, and companies offering products and services need to form alliances with companies that hold the contract vehicles. With just

For anyone left who thinks that Microsoft is the same company it was in the heyday of Windows, today's acquisition of LinkedIn shows just how far Microsoft is willing to go in pursuit of its long term vision. How is this acquisition different from earlier acquisitions? Microsoft is acquiring the leader .  Similar to the Skype acquisition, Microsoft is gaining market share from a top player and not an also-ran.  Microsoft's timing for cloud and social is right . Microsoft comes into this acquisition with strong momentum of Office 365 and Dynamics CRM Online cloud growth. LinkedIn targets business rather than consumer users . The business market is more conservative and less likely to flit from one social network to another.   Paid and free services go well together . Microsoft offers a strong sales channel and field sales presence that create new opportunities to monetize LinkedIn.  Free users create a steady stream of prospects for the combined product and service o

Source: Architect of the Capitol Many government contractors pursue and win multi-award contract vehicles such as bulk purchase agreements (BPAs) and indefinite date, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contracts. These vehicles are then used to secure later task order contracts for specific deliverables, terms, and prices. You can track task orders and multi-award contracts in Dynamics CRM using InfoStrat's Dynamics CRM for Government Contractors solution . Contracts can show subordinate task orders as well as how much of the contract ceiling amount has been used. In terms of opportunity tracking, you may want to track each task order as an opportunity as well as the parent contract.  Be sure to set up your reports so they don't double count your wins and losses. For more posts on government contracting, see: Dynamics CRM and Government Contracting SharePoint or CRM for Government Contractor (GovCon) CaptureManagement? 6 Simple CRM Tips for Small Government Contracto