NVSBC’s Consulting Program (formerly known as VetFedConsult) is a FREE business development consultation program offered to GovCon business owners and their staff by a team of seasoned consultants who specialize in the federal GovCon marketplace. Over 1,056 consultations have been provided.
Program Highlights
Free Consultation
Experience transformative one-on-one training and personalized consultations designed around your specific business. Together, we’ll craft a tailored strategy to align goals and solutions with your unique journey.
Networking
Cultivate strategic relationships with individuals and organizations that align with your vision and goals. Simultaneously, enhance your professional visibility to attract valuable business opportunities.
Advocacy
Benefit from consultants who serve as champions for small businesses – actively engaged in the growth of your individual enterprise and advocating for opportunities across the broader business landscape.
Training
Identify and leverage the optimal marketing channels and tactical approaches that resonate most powerfully within your specific industry area, ensuring your message reaches the right people at the right time.
Underwritten by a generous grant from Boeing, our Consulting Program is designed to support the growth of your company at any life stage of business – emerging, small, growth, to exiting.

Let's Start Consulting!
Reach out to us to learn more about the NVSBC Consultation Program.
Proven strategies that work
Here are three government contracting strategies that has proven successful over and over again.
Building Relationships
Establishing strong relationships with key stakeholders, such as contracting officers, program managers, and end users, can lead to more opportunities and better understanding of the agency’s needs.
Understanding the Market
Conducting thorough market research to understand the agency’s mission, upcoming projects, and procurement trends can help in tailoring offerings to meet specific needs.
Teams and Partnerships
Forming strategic partnerships or joint ventures with other businesses can enhance capabilities, increase competitive advantage, and provide access to larger or more complex opportunities.
“Participation in NVSBC has been beneficial to my organization. The contacts and relationships I have made and formed through NVSBC membership has yielded several qualitative and quantitative benefits, returning 10X my annual membership investment.”
– Eric Wright, PhD, Vets2PM
Frequently asked questions
Individuals or firms who enter into a contract with any government department or agency to perform a specified task, provide labor and materials, or sell goods and services are known as federal contractors. A federal subcontractor is a business that works with another business that has direct government contracts. Both federal contractors and subcontractors take on certain responsibilities while doing business with the federal government. Discrimination based on sex, race, color, national origin, religion, disability, or veteran status is prohibited under the law. Affirmative action is required when hiring people from historically discriminated-against groups or minority-owned enterprises.
- Good Compensation: You will be properly compensated if you do business with the government. The government wants things done right the first time, therefore they’re willing to pay more for high-quality labor. Contractors are significantly more likely to be paid more than full-time government employees who perform equivalent tasks. Benefits are the only thing the government does not grant to contractors.
- Good Reputation: Winning a government contract builds up a good reputation for a business. Whenever a brand successfully bids on any government contract and gets good reviews and feedback from government agencies, they are more likely to get referred and contracted for more contracting opportunities in the future.
- Long Contracts: It may be difficult to become a government contractor, but once chosen, companies are frequently hired for long periods. The majority of the government’s planned service contracts require contractors to work for at least one to three years. If a contract company performs well during its initial contract time, the government will frequently return to them with additional work to accomplish.
- Lots of Rules: It requires a lot of paperwork to apply to work as a federal contractor. To operate with the government, businesses must have certain credentials and codes. Companies must also comply with the Code of Federal Regulations and a variety of other labor laws. It will be reported if the job is not done correctly or according to the stated rules. That documentation is then made public and accessible at any time. Businesses must also keep track of their documentation. The government can request an audit of any of its contracted enterprises at any time.
- No Stability: While partnering with a federal contractor can result in a long-term contract for some companies, the industry remains unpredictable. The government can decide to stop cooperating with a certain corporation at any time, without warning.
The principle of transparency ensures that state entities contract through a public selection process that includes objective, transparent, fair, and complete rules that allow bidders to submit appropriate proposals as well as file objections, observations, questions, and/or clarifications to the contracting entity’s documents.
According to the economic principle, selection procedures should be arranged so that only the procedures that are strictly necessary and have connected terms and preclusive and urgent deadlines are used, guaranteeing that the least amount of resources are used.
Contractors, governmental agencies, and public officials are all held accountable for their actions throughout the selection process under the responsibility principle.
- Fixed-Price Contracts: The pricing of this group of government contracts will not change. However, there are times when a ceiling price, target price, or even both are used. It’s also worth noting that with fixed-price contracts, the risk is transferred to the contract. This is because these government contracts are not based on the amount of time or resources spent. You’re working with what they put in front of you.
- Time & Materials Contracts: This one is quite straightforward. For these contracts, the government establishes a per-hour labor rate, assesses materials costs, and establishes a price ceiling. If you can provide the services within the budget, this is a fantastic option. Contracts for emergency services, for example, are frequently quite short-term. The contractor will only deliver labor and not materials in some situations, known as labor-hour contracts.
- Cost-Reimbursement Contracts: While fixed-price contracts place greater risk on the contractors, cost-reimbursement arrangements place more risk on the government agency. These government contracts are more likely to be for research and development than for actual goods or services. Cost-reimbursement contracts are divided into numerous subcategories, including cost/cost-sharing, cost-plus-fixed-fee, cost-plus award fee, and cost-plus incentive fee contracts. Some of these have a minimum and maximum payment range, while others are more flexible.
- Incentive Contracts: An incentive contract will be based upon either a cost-reimbursement contract or a fixed-price contract with added incentives. A cost-reimbursement contract or a fixed-price contract with additional incentives will be used to create an incentive contract. Because the government is well aware of the potential for traffic disruption, they may award an incentive contract to a business that can complete the project speedily. If the company completes this project ahead of schedule, it may be eligible for a bonus or incentive if the contract is completed on time or early.
- Indefinite Delivery & Quantity Contracts: A government agency may not always know exactly what they require. For example, they may not be aware of the exact quantities of material they require or the length of time they require a contractor to offer a service. These are the most adaptable government contracts. They’re given out when the government isn’t sure how much of an item or service they’ll need or when they’ll need it. They’re also known as Task Order Contracts or Delivery Order Contracts.
The federal government needs to acquire products and services in order to keep all public and essential services such as those required for public safety, national security, health, infrastructure and social services.