Fractional BD
What is fractional Business Development?
Fractional Business Development, or BD, follows a shared-use model of business development talent applied to a technology company or contractor outbound BD efforts, meaning that one FedTrax BD consultant may be working with several different, non-competitive firms. Each firm receives this part-time focus and activity to generate new business opportunities, beginning with lead generation through initial outreach, opportunity development, intelligence gathering on agency targets, value proposition definition, and arranging prospect meetings. Meetings can be initial exploration, briefings, product demonstrations, and continued refinement of opportunities through closed contracts.
Fractional BD presents an extremely economical option for small businesses (SMBs) that may have a challenge affording a full-time BD person—particularly in the National Capital Region (DC, MD and northern VA)—yet most often yielding similar if not superior results. FedTrax will never take on more than 5 clients per consultant (average minimum effort 1 day/week for effective results) and maintains a strict conflict of interest policy regarding individual clients, meaning we will not pursue the same opportunity with more than one client company, unless there is a complementary (not competitive) teaming situation involved. FedTrax makes fractional BD simple and low risk, offering a 30 day notice for contract cancelation for ANY reason (i.e. client loses a massive contract and needs to cut back expenses).
organic demand creation
FedTrax specializes in generating organic demand by targeting Federal agencies, mission matching (STRATEGIC BD) and creating opportunities that a government Program Manager or other contact may be considering but hasn’t fully defined requirements for. We call this a Level A sales opportunity. The benefit for these opportunities is that we have helped shape the need, minimizing invited competition and increasing the chances of winning a competitive bid. In some cases a future contract can be single sourced, depending on the socio-economic status of the client company and/or contract vehicles that each may have at their disposal. The drawback? These opportunities are typically not in a dedicated budget already. This means the government may need to allocate money, request budget, or get creative using discretionary funds. Very large opportunities (multi-year, millions of dollars in value) are rarely created organically, at least in one step. More often these opportunities may be for smaller, Proof of Concept (POC) type offerings that range from less than one hundred thousand to a few million dollars. When successful, those type of technology POCs often form the basis of larger, multi-year contracts.
contract pursuits
Most companies that pursue Federal government contracts respond to publicly posted opportunities on various databases such as SAM.gov or task orders presented to those who have been awarded a seat at the table on Government Wide Acquisition Contracts (GWACs). FedTrax calls that a Level B sales opportunity. The upside is that there is a higher level of confidence that there is money budgeted for whatever Request for Proposal (RFP) or Request for Information (RFI) need is broadcast. The downside is that each company is in heavy competition. Similar to creating organic demand, FedTrax works as early as possible to develop relationships in targeted agencies for clients and helps shape certain opportunities where possible toward the client’s capabilities. This increases the likelihood of a win, even on competitive RFPs. All contract pursuits will also have some element of Capture support and result in a Proposal that FedTrax can also provide valuable help with.
teaming/subcontracting
In order to work with the Federal government, they must have a way to buy from you. That means some Federal contract that you hold that an agency can direct funds to. These contract vehicles can be very expensive to qualify and win, often cost prohibitive, for SMBs or successful commercial companies just testing the Federal market. Far and away the most common way for these companies to enter the Federal market, those that FedTrax often works with, is via subcontracting to a company that holds these contracts. FedTrax helps clients with this teaming strategy, leveraging thousands of government prime contractor relationships and similar value-creation processes that we use directly with Federal agencies. We help clients get on the radar of and partner with appropriate, right-sized teaming partners to more rapidly participate in the government market, negotiating equitable workshare and deals for our client companies that generates needed past performance in the Federal space. Typically, new government suppliers will take several years to move from a Teaming-centered strategy at acquiring business to that of a Prime Contractor.
THE INNOVATION PATHWAY
Creative technology companies can pursue what we call the innovation pathway to Federal business. There is a series of blog/articles on this in the TraxBlog that get into details. These are opportunities that the government puts out seeking inventions, prototypes and proof of concepts (POCs, mentioned earlier) where they typically know the outcome but not the best way to get there. This presents a wonderful opportunity for cutting edge companies that engage in Research and Development (R&D) around a certain type of solution (think artificial intelligence, cybersecurity exploitation, multi-source data fusion—anything not completely off the shelf that requires innovation to meet a government-specific mission. If your company falls into this category and brings unique, technological value to the table and can configure or purpose it toward defined outcomes, the innovation track may be for you. The best part about this path is that it is typically specialized, meaning more limited competition, and has lower requirements to earn a prime contract, even for companies new to the Federal space. FedTrax specializes in locating and helping shape these type opportunities for clients.
