and see what you get. Mission Oriented
Business Integrated Services (MOBIS, for
short) is GSA Schedule 874—the primary
schedule for training and all types of
consulting, including coaching. In 2011,
a whopping $5.1 billion was spent on
theses services.
At the 2012 NSA Winter Conference in
Dallas, I interviewed some attendees about
doing business with the U.S. government.
Here are their responses:
“It’s just too hard!”
“Well, I thought about it but ...”
“Not for me, it’s too much b….s….”
“I’m not sure if I would ever get paid.”
Kevin O’Connor, CSP, was the
only person I interviewed who had
experience with government customers.
His sage comment: “They’re pretty
much like all other customers — it’s just
a different industry.”
Well said, Kevin.
Now, I will debunk some common
myths about government contracting:
MYTH: Doing business with the government is too complicated and it takes
forever to get paid.
FACT: The government uses many commercial business practices, such as buying
off-the-shelf and using credit cards for
payment. Generally, the government pays
within 30 days of invoicing and will pay
interest if the late payment is their fault.
MYTH: I’ll have to compete against
large businesses and multi-national corporations for contracts.
FACT: There are many small business
“set-aside” programs and certifications
that allow you to compete only with other
businesses like yours; for example, small
businesses, woman-owned businesses,
minority-owned businesses and veteran-
owned businesses.
