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GSA Wants You

Your partner in Aerospace Drones is a service-disabled Iraq war veteran. You recently learned about a federal acquisition rule allowing agencies to provide sole-source and set-aside contracts to service-disabled, veteran-owned small businesses. This means agencies must devote three percent of their spending to these qualified small business owners, a goal set by Congress in the 00s. While your partner has majority (51%) ownership in the company, you are responsible for federal contract administration and oversight. You were recently alerted to an Energy Department RFP for drones needed for geo-mapping. Now you must reply to a U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) Schedules solicitation for your products. To prepare for this, you must write a 3–4 page preliminary report for your partner and senior management which details the following:

Assignment Instructions

1. Describe the electronic data interchange (EDI) or electronic submission processes and the security measures present in this approach. Analyze the advantages over classic paper solicitations.
2. Analyze whether your company has as much of a chance of having its bid accepted as a much larger corporation by comparing the advantages of being a small company over being a larger firm (e.g., Boeing) in terms of contract administration and management.
3. Speculate on how you would negotiate during the contract award process once your solicitation is accepted.
4. Determine the value of your most favored customer or class of customers to GSA.      Analyze its impact on your small business.
5. Assess the different marketing methods used to market to the federal government.      Select three most effective methods you would use to market your product or service to the U.S. government. Provide a rationale for your selection.

Formatting Requirements

Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:

• This course requires the use of Strayer Writing Standards. For assistance and information, please refer to the Strayer Writing Standards link in the left-hand menu of your course. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
• Use at least three quality resources in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia and similar Websites do not qualify as quality resources.

The specific course learning outcome associated with this assignment is:

• Examine the process of replying to a U.S. government solicitation relative to contract negotiations, customer value, and marketing methods.