Industry Trends: Discretionary Spending Down, Profit Margins Up &#8211; Read more!

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Download the GSA Forecast of Contracting Opportunities for Small Business – Updated Daily!

Did you know that GSA itself is the largest purchaser of of goods and services from GSA Schedules? The GSA Forecast of Contracting Opportunities informs small businesses of anticipated contracts offered by GSA for the current fiscal year (October 1, 2009, through September 30, 2010) as well as known opportunities for subsequent fiscal years. This information is made available pursuant to Public Law 100-656, Business Opportunity Development Reform Act of 1988.

The GSA Forecast of Contracting Opportunities is now available in a downloadable file which is updated daily. You can download this file into Excel (or other file type), to view all the opportunities listed in this forecast. Once downloaded, you can sort opportunities by NAICs code, place of performance, dollar value or by any category or combination of categories that make it easier for you. To download this file, click here: GSA Forecast of Contracting Opportunities (.csv Format)

Nov 20, 2009

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Top GSA Schedule Contractors by Schedule Type – FY 2010 YTD

A quick look at the overall Top 100 contractors receiving GSA Schedule contracts by Schedule Type in FY 2010 which began October 1, 2009 reveals a healthy mix of spending across a variety of schedule types.

While the GSA Information Technology Schedule (IT 70) remains king for the most part, the top contractor on the list provided below holds a GSA Financial and Business Solutions Schedule (FABS 520) with close to $52 million in sales, walloping the top GSA IT Schedule 70 contract holder by almost 4 times as of the tally we ran on 11/19/09. The Top GSA IT Schedule 70 contractor had only $14 million in sales thus far.

Federal Agency Spending

Jul 2, 2009

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The Defense Eagle is Spreading Its Wings But Not Its Money

Fiscal year 2009 defense spending is soaring literally like an aeroplane! The top industry code where the Navy and the Air Force spent most of their money – NAICS Code 336411, Aircraft Manufacturing. The Army on the other hand spent most of its money so far in NAICS Code 541330, Engineering Services. But contracts are hardly being competed.

The Navy spent over 22.78% or $ 7,915,420,099 in its top sector, and chose not to compete close to 50% of all its contracts so far amounting close to $34.7 Billion. Details…
The Army on the other has spent $5,753,130,677 in its top industry sector amounting to 16.6% of its total spending, and chose not to compete 54% of its total spending – close to $34.5 Billion. Details...
The Air Force spent $7,575,487,183 or 23.87% of its money in its top industry sector, and chose not to compete 44.08% of its awarded contracts, amounting to $31.7 Billion reported thus far. Details…

For further details about these numbers and linked reports, email Ashok Mehan at: amehan@fedmine.us, or visit: www.fedmine.us for more information. If you mention Aronson, you will receive a 10% discount off standard subscription rates!

Jun 5, 2009

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The Data Oracle that Uncle Sam Is…More on Federal Agency Spending

Tracking procurement dollars by agency is an area of common interest to both federal contractors and federal agencies. The Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS-NG) is the source most agencies and contractors rely upon to obtain government procurement information. Agencies need this data for standard internal reporting purposes; industry needs it to understand federal agency buying habits.

Agencies such as the Census Bureau, Education, Labor, and GSA (to name a few), produce copious amounts of data every year so citizens and congressional lawmakers can get up to date information on important statistics such as employment figures, economic data, population demographics and more. Agencies, however track their own procurement data much more easily than the data of other agencies. FPDS-NG gathers all of this data into a central location.

We took some of the FPDS-NG data and constructed top level market views consisting of the most popular categories. Two such reports are provided for our readers here: Continue reading »

May 25, 2009

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North America’s fast-growing technology companies – get in the market!

The Deloitte Technology Fast 500 recognizes North America’s fast-growing technology, media, telecommunications and life sciences companies. The program is based on percentage revenue growth over a five year period, recognizes all areas of technology — from Internet to life sciences, from computers to semiconductors — and includes both public and private companies.

We recently shared the GSA Schedule 70 Monthly Sales Report for April which indicated a significant spike in Schedule 70 sales for April as compared to the same time period last year and the continued strong growth of sales to State and Local Governments (STLOC) through the GSA Cooperative Purchasing Program. The Fast 500 provides further evidence of the strength of the GSA Schedules Program, nearly one-third of the top 25 of 2008′s fastest-growing technology companies held GSA schedule contracts.

2008′s top five companies (including two GSA Schedule holders) experienced an average revenue growth rate of 90,540 percent over five years, up from 41,093 percent in 2007. Continue reading »

May 22, 2009

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Federal Finance Sector Sees Robust Growth

The Accounting & Finance Industry Sector of the Federal Government is outpacing most other industry sectors in FY09. As of May 20, 2009, a little over halfway through the fiscal year, it is one of the few industry groups that finds itself already equal to what was spent within the sector for all of FY08. With close to 50% of federal spending for FY09 still to come, it shouldn’t surprise anyone if this sector doubles in spending this year.

So what is fueling demand in this sector to cause such a tremendous uplift in federal procurement? The growth can certainly be attributed to the increase in demand for Accounting & Tax preparation services due to the Recovery Act-major agencies are spending five to ten times their historic levels in FY09. Accounting services under Sector 54 are the most prominent gainers. See the report below for full details:

For questions regarding this report please write to Ashok Mehan at amehan@fedmine.us or visit www.fedmine.us to see related reports.

May 13, 2009

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D.C. Works to Secure More Federal Stimulus Money for improvement efforts

The District of Columbia, having already disbursed more than half ($240 million) of the $436 million in stimulus funds allocated to it by the administration, is looking to secure even more of the competitively-available stimulus dollars. Find out how you can take advantage of these contractor opportunities in D.C. and federal government by visiting:

District Procurement Websites for Priority Procurements (including a “Stimulus” procurement website)
Utilize federal business intelligence tools such as FedMine to identify the procurement specialists at relevant federal agencies (free Fedmine trial available; subscribe with a 10% discount by mentioning Aronson)
Contact small business specialists at various federal agency Offices of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU)

The Washington Business Journal reports the below D.C. and federal government agencies involved in these competitive opportunities. Continue reading »

Apr 24, 2009

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Federal Contract Awards in Maryland and Sector 541

The U.S. Government is one of the largest purchasers of products and services in the world. In FY2008, the government issued over $435B in contracts, so clearly this is a lucrative and highly competitive market. In this post, we’ll take a look at federal contract awards from two perspectives: geographic distribution and market segment.

Geographic Distribution - The DC Metro area is a hotbed for government contracting activity. Although it is comparatively small in square mileage, Maryland is a giant when it comes to federal contracting, receiving over $25B in contract awards in FY2008.

Federal Market Segment – Of all federal market segments, NAICS Sector 541 for Professional, Scientific and Technical Services is perhaps one of the largest in government contracting, accounting for over 20% of federal contract dollars in FY2008.

So how does Maryland stack up against the rest of the country in both overall contracts and those in Sector 541? Here are some interesting facts and figures: Continue reading »

Apr 20, 2009