The Benefits of Securing Government Contracts

• February 10, 2009
• by ServeNow Staff
• Business Tips

Part 1 of 3: Government contracts offer consistent, ongoing revenue for process serving and investigation companies

Almost every government agency will need to procure the services of a process server or investigator at some point. Child welfare services or a city prosecutor may need a process serving company to handle their local serves or a State University may need an investigator to provide background checks on potential employees.

So how do government offices find providers of these services? Usually, they will publish an RFP. An RFP (Request for Proposal) is a call for businesses to bid on a contract opportunity for specific goods or services. This enables the government agency to receive multiple formal responses for an available government contract.

The contracts elicited from RFPs can range in the volume of work and dollar amount. Recent RFPs that have been posted to ServeNow.com’s Yahoo Group, for instance, include The Texas Workforce Commission that needed approximately 150 papers per month served and the Salt Lake City Prosecutors office which was looking for a company that had the capacity to serve up to 6,800 papers annually.

The New York State Administration for Children’s Services recently worked with ServeNow.com to post contracts worth $25,000 and $100,000 to the ServeNow.com Yahoo Group.

“Our process serving contracts can range from $5,000 to $100,000 in value. Length of contract can vary, but generally, a $100,000 contract will last six to eight months,” said Frank Veloza, senior buyer for New York State Administration for Children’s Services.

Why Apply for Government contracts and RFPs?

According to a recent poll in the ServeNow.com Yahoo Group/listserve only 27% of process serving and investigative companies who responded said they have bid on government contracts. But for these businesses, government contracts can make a lot of sense for a number of reasons.

Dependable Monthly Income

Government contracts can provide steady, ongoing monthly revenue – a luxury that many process serving companies don’t generally have. Guaranteed revenue enables an organization to develop marketing budgets, hire staff and grow their business intelligently. The reoccurring monthly business generated from government contracts are also a hedge against months that are slow.

“The government contract we earned has nearly doubled our business,” said Matt Klein from Sunshine Legal Support in Eugene, Oregon. “Generally the bidding process requires that you bid low in order to win the contract, but there is an opportunity to make up for it in the volume.”

Strengthen your client portfolio

Government agencies can be great additions to your client list. Listing government agencies on your client portfolio or using them for a testimonial can make your process service or investigation business attractive to law firms, collection companies, and insurance companies who may be considering your company for volume services.

Increase your company’s value

Both investigation and process serving businesses tend to have few assets other than the relationships they have built with their customers. Having government contracts can make your company more valuable when it is time to sell your company or apply for a business loan or line of credit. Contracts can be passed on to the buyers of your business, making your company a more attractive acquisition.

You have a good chance at winning contracts

Many government contracts are set aside for small business or minority-owned companies. States such as Maryland and others have put policies in place that require at least 25% of government contracts be awarded to minority-owned businesses. If yours is a minority-owned or a female-owned business, you should consider taking advantage of these opportunities to give your bottom line a boost.

Where can you find Government Contracts and RFPs?

The first step in securing government contract work is finding the opportunities. RFPs are not easy to find and usually require a fee to acquire the information.

“The relationship we have established with ServeNow.com has proven to be invaluable,” said Veloza. “ServeNow.com has helped streamline the process of helping us find pre-qualified and experienced process servers.”

This is one example of the type of relationship that the ServeNow.com/PInow.com team has established with state and local government agencies who hire process servers and investigators on a regular basis.

RFPs can also be accessed in ServeNow.com’s Free ServeReport Newsletter for process servers and investigators. With a little work, you can uncover the RFPs and government contracts that can ensure steady work and can bring your company to the next level. Good luck!

Continue to Part 2: Determining which contracts are right for you

Also see:

Part 3: Responding to Process Serving and Investigation RFPs