Effective Communication is more than a Demo…

Growing your Defense business requires communicating your value to customers, and them acquiring it!

Thankfully, the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) encourages the government to communicate openly and regularly with Industry during key points throughout the acquisition cycle.

Here is what FAR 1.102-2(4) states:

The Government must not hesitate to communicate with industry as early as possible in the acquisition cycle to help the Government determine the capabilities available in the marketplace. Government acquisition personnel are permitted and encouraged to engage in responsible and constructive exchanges with industry.

For Industry to support these dialogues, effective communication has to go far beyond providing a compelling demo to multiple stakeholders, and providing marketing collateral about a technology’s capabilities to be considered and (hopefully!) included in an acquisition.

What I’ve seen work well are white papers that present holistic solutions and help the government build the proper contract.

For example, it may be more effective to construct a contract with a larger Other Direct Cost (ODC) allocation as part of a Systems Integration contract so that commercial technology is procured along with services for implementation instead of separately.

In this instance, it is more effective to draft a white paper that specifies the types of personnel qualifications best suited for implementing your commercial technology so that there isn’t a mismatch; you want to proactively make recommendations that prevent your Defense customer from acquiring people who have a knowledge gap about your technology. If you offer your own Professional Services, consider the pros and cons of recommending them vs. partnering with a teammate who may offer more affordable rates and can easily be trained on your technology.

Additionally, you want to understand what Acquisitions Office your Defense customer will rely on and that office’s contracting preferences. It’s important to make recommendations about the contract vehicle that will allow your Defense customer to get the best value from your technology, but that contract vehicle must be one the Acquisition Office uses, and ideally, makes their acquisition process easier.

Whitepapers with this level of thought and consideration across technologies, people, and contract vehicles are common across Systems Integrators. Commercial technology companies have the same opportunity to leverage white papers to help Defense customers get even more value from their capabilities.

Ultimately, white papers are a mechanism for more effective communication that can lead to better acquisitions, and therefore better growth.