When searching for technology grants one should look at the pros and cons of targeting federal government for funding of technology grants for non-profit business. When seeking funding for programs I think that there are three advantages of targeting the federal government 1. The money is certain, 2. There is easy access to information, and 3. The larger orders, thus more profit. Whereas, three disadvantages would be: extensive bid proposal, considerable amounts of paper work throughout maintaining the contract, and the competition is great.
The first advantage that I listed is that the money is certain. If my company were to get a contract for business from the government they would be certain to be paid. It would cut out the late payment or the collections process that we currently have dealing with smaller entities or individuals. The second advantage to target the federal government is that the government may provide easier accessibility for information for its contractors through up- to- date internet sites, which you don’t always have access to with smaller suppliers. Finally, the third advantage I see is that larger orders equal’s larger profit. Securing a government contract would most likely be a substantial order and profit for our company which would be worth any hurdles we may have to jump through in the long run.
The first disadvantage I see to targeting the federal government is that there is most likely an extensive bid proposal process. We have submitted bids for local suppliers that do not even compare to the possible several hundred pages that a government proposal might contain. This would mean many physical hours invested in preparing the bid for proposal. Secondly, I think that a major disadvantage for my company if we were to secure a government bid is that there would be considerable amounts of paperwork involved in order to maintain the contract. The government is under the public eye and thus set-forth strict regulations that the suppliers must follow, which includes much paperwork! This would again, involve many hours to keep up with this obligation. The third disadvantage I believe is that the competition would be tremendous. Even though governments are asked to favor smaller businesses, I think the competition among those smaller businesses would be very great. I feel that my company would be at a disadvantage compared to other competitors simply based on the fact that first, we are not a depressed business and second that we are not a minority owned business.
Having said all this, I would advise my company leadership to “go for it”! I think they should pursue a government contract and I justify this by saying I think the advantages outweigh the disadvantages in our situation. I think the potential profit alone would justify my recommendation. However, before making that final decision to pursue, I would also recommend to my company that they review our current budget and make sure that the cost of the extra hours involved in preparing the bid proposal would be affordable even if the contract was not awarded. Then, of course, if the contract is awarded the cost of maintaining the paperwork needs to be considered as well.
