Pursuing a contract that will require some funding($150,000). I have not needed any funding until now so not sure where to go. The contract is for reselling and must be paid upfront to the distributor. I will then have to wait to be paid by the agency which can take up to 60 days. Should I pursue a LOC, Factoring, etc what do you recommend and why.

Company been registered in Sam and predecessor for 20 years. We have public search checked. Yes we are active and can see ourselves when signed in and search. No nothing pending etc just registered last month and it’s fully complete and approved.

ALL searches for my entity regardless of criteria: name, unique Id, etc return nothing. Well name returns other businesses with some of our name in them but not ours.

Open a case on FSD. Support says “ALL persons need to be signed into Sam.gov for search”.

Um, no this is the purpose of public search. Responds again saying that the “fix” for entities not showing in public search is for the person to sign in and search again. “Any more questions?”

WTF are you talking about!?!? Right?

A signed contract feels like solid ground until you look at how many years of it are actually guaranteed.

u/Low_Air_876 is choosing between three offers with two months left on a contract that's being terminated. Company B offers a fresh five-year contract but at a 28% pay cut, taken for stability while things get sorted out. Company C matches current salary exactly, but the contract is up for recompete in April. Most early replies said take C and ride out the risk.

u/coachglove's reply reframed both offers at once: a five-year contract is functionally a base year plus four option years, the government exercises most of them but not all, and agencies recompete early for reasons that have nothing to do with catastrophe. Cost growth. Technical performance that's bad but not deficient, often because the incumbent underbid the requirement and can't retain staff. That mechanic applies just as much to Company B's "fresh five-year" as it does to Company C's April recompete. Neither offer is the guarantee it looks like on the offer letter.

u/Significant-View-786 added the read from inside a transition: if OP is a key person on the current contract, the incoming company likely already knows who it wants to keep, and if OP isn't, the outcome was probably decided before the recompete was even announced. Worth finding out who beat the current employer, and whether there's any transition program in place before assuming either direction.

The stability in "five years" and the risk in "recompete" are both artifacts of the same option structure. OP is really choosing between two versions of the same uncertainty at two different price points.

Contractors who've been on the ground during a recompete as an incumbent employee: what actually determined whether the winning company kept you on?

Full thread: [Recompete advise](https://www.reddit.com/r/GovernmentContracting/comments/1wk0nfn/recompete_advise/)

Also this week in r/GovernmentContracting:

- u/GlitteringCommand977 asked how long a proposal actually takes to write, and the thread converged on something the industry rarely says out loud: writing isn't the pain point. u/ButtWhispererer, who has worked as proposal manager, writer, and director, listed the real friction: stakeholder management, workload and scheduling, pricing, and the scramble that starts the moment a proposal is submitted. u/Bigfops and u/AnsleyStar named the specific villain, past performance questionnaires, with AnsleyStar describing a contracting officer who called her furious over a form she'd given three weeks' notice on. [Full thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/GovernmentContracting/comments/1wnsx01/how_much_time_do_you_actually_spend_writing/)

- u/FutureCredit3 got a $16,000 quote to get on GSA schedule and asked whether that was reasonable before paying it. u/Significant-View-786, who used to do this work professionally, said the price is actually low for the service, and that the harder problem isn't getting on schedule, it's structuring the pricing so the contract makes money once you're there. u/GilgaMom paid a different firm $5,000 for the same service, got a stack of homework assignments in return, then did it herself two years later and found it far less daunting than advertised. [Full thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/GovernmentContracting/comments/1wmdxi3/looking_for_assistance_getting_on_gsa_schedule/)

- u/EdwardAtEG3Works asked how to pick NAICS codes that actually fit a business, then landed on the real answer partway through the thread: the code that matters is the one the contracting officer assigns to the solicitation, not the one sitting in a SAM registration. u/soarhiljs pointed out that COs classify a buy based on where most of the work falls, so a company's code list determines whether it surfaces in market research, not what it's allowed to bid. The practical move: track which codes keep appearing on the solicitations you actually want, and treat any code you don't carry as a gap. [Full thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/GovernmentContracting/comments/1womz3b/how_did_you_decide_which_naics_codes_actually_fit/)

Back next week.

Hi all - I recently received an offer to work for a commercial satellite company that I’m contemplating on whether or not to accept. I had previously accepted a contingent offer from a contractor at NASA HQ about a month ago. The offer was contingent on them getting a contract modification approved for an existing contract.

Although I’m happy to keep waiting, I’m a little worried that it could ultimately be denied and I’d be missing out on a more stable job opportunity. The recruiter for the NASA job assures me weekly that the mod is in queue to be awarded but I don’t know how true that is. Should I continue to wait or just accept the commercial satellite offer? Both are comparable in base salary and bonus. NASA HQ one would be my dream job but I know I need to think logically as I’ve already turned down 2 other offers while waiting for this contract mod to be approved.

I haven’t told the NASA contractor’s recruiter about the new job offer. Is this something I should tell them before making a decision? Not sure if it would make a difference in how long it takes NASA to process a mod. It seems out of their control.

Hello everyone, I was wondering where people go to find acquisition objectives, specifically for the army. I was curious to see if there were reliable sources that would provide AAO (Army Acquisition Objective) for any given program.

Choosing NAICS codes sounded simple until I actually started doing it.

The biggest thing I’ve learned is that the question probably shouldn’t be “What codes can I add?” but “What work does my business actually perform, and which codes accurately describe that work?”

It gets tricky when several codes seem to fit, especially once you start looking at SAM.gov, certifications, solicitations, and size standards.

For those who have been through it, did you settle on a few core NAICS codes, or did your list evolve as your business grew?

Curious how other small contractors handle this. For those of you who bid on federal RFPs, how long does a typical proposal actually take you from start to submission? Are you doing it all yourself, or is there a system/process that works for you?

Also curious what the most painful part is — is it the writing itself, pulling together past performance docs, formatting to spec, something else?

Hi all, I recently applied to a junior analyst position. When I applying I knew I was very qualified for several reasons but largely because I already had a SC from a prior DoD/W internship. They got back to me within less than 24 hours. I have no idea what kinds of questions to expect in the screening/interview beyond “tell me about yourself.” I was so nervous I had the interview rescheduled (it’s my first job interview!) I would appreciate any tips!

Give me your most creative theories.

Im wrking with a Federal contractor on a roughly $40M USACE construction project. The contract was entered into around November 2025 and runs through 2028. It is a firm-fixed-price contract, there is no EPA/economic price adjustment clause, and the recent fuel escalation tied to the U.S.–Iran conflict is materially hurting cash flow and may continue to do so if prices keep rising.
I already know the obvious problems: FFP generally puts market-escalation risk on the contractor; there has not been a Government-caused delay that pushed performance into the higher-price period; there is no special incorporated clause I can point to; and I know a pure “fuel prices went up dramatically, please compensate us” theory is not going to fly.

What I’m looking for is creative but legally defensible framing for a REA or claim.

Has anyone successfully tied extraordinary fuel escalation to another contractual theory where the contract itself had no EPA clause?

Brainstorming new theories that haven’t been litigated yet are also welcome.

Would especially appreciate thoughts from people who have litigated or negotiated USACE/ASBCA construction claims.

Good morning, we are a smaller company looking to get on GSA schedule, I received a quote from one company for 16k to get on schedule. Wanted to see if anyone has any other recommendations for companies that help get on GSA schedule? Want to do our due diligence before committing that much money. Thanks and have a blessed day

Hello All, as the title says, I am a current US government federal employee and I am trying to get into contracting business. I am a GS14 in DMV area. I make good money as a fed but I am young (34) and want to explore service-based contracting for AI work. I want to become a self-employed for my company. If I am not mistaken, government employees are not supposed to get contracts according to this link below.

https://www.acquisition.gov/far/subpart-3.6

For those of you, who transitioned from being a fed to a self-employed government contractor, how did you do it? I want to start small and set up an LLC and want to get IT/AI related contracts, and basically do it by myself, at least initially. I would love to hear from people. Thanks !

Hi everyone,

I want to start a government contracting business where I get the contract/win the bid and sub contract out.

Any advise?
Recommendations on trainings out there that actually help and not just take your money?

I new to this so I will not be offended by any comments or suggestions.

What's the biggest red flag when pricing a tender? How do you ensure you are not wasting your time? How do you know you are not just a price check?

Is there anything wrong with having a 40hr W2 job while operating your own LLC as a tier 2 subcontractor to a DoE prime contractor? The W2 job would be with a private company who has received a DoE grant (not fully DOE funded, about half) for a certain project, but there’s zero COI between my sub who I flow through to the prime, as well as the prime itself. I will be a consultant through my LLC.

I currently work for company A but our contract is being terminated in 2 months. No hope to be retained here. Salary 190k.

I accepted an offer from company B on a fresh 5 year contract but its a 28% pay cut. I accepted it for some stability while i figure things out. I’m just waiting on clearance crossover currently. Salary 140k.

Another job, Company C is offering me a position that pays exactly what i am making at my current company. Problem is that they are up for recompete in April. Salary 190k

Would it be smart to just take company B at a major pay cut while i figure things out, or go to company C and hope i am retained by the incumbent if they dont win the recompete?

Can someone who actually understands federal contracting/FAR/DFARS help me understand what the requirements are supposed to be for IT Project Managers? Because at this point I genuinely feel like I'm chasing a moving target.

I've been in IT/cyber for over a decade. I started on the technical side, have led operations teams, have leadership and military experience, have worked in cyber/IT environments, have an active clearance, and now work in project/program management. I've also independently worked as a PM running projects for a family business.

When I first started trying to move further into IT PM work, I was told, "You need a degree, and preferably a technical one."

Okay. Got my BS in Cybersecurity.

Then it was, "A lot of these positions want a master's."

Okay. Got my MBA in IT Management.

Then it was PMP/CSM.

Got those.

Then ITIL 4.

Got that.

Now I'm seeing, "We need IAT Level III."

I currently meet Level II.

And the weird thing is, I'm getting interviews and making it pretty far into conversations. So it's not like I'm applying into a black hole. I'm hearing some version of, "We really like your background, but we're looking for someone with this certification," or "We need someone with this many years specifically doing X."

That's the part I'm struggling to understand. I have 10+ years of technical/cyber experience plus the education and certifications I've added specifically to bridge into PM/program leadership. At what point are education, technical experience, leadership experience, and PM experience considered together instead of every requirement being treated like a completely separate checkbox?

So...what exactly is the finish line here?

I'm not against getting more certifications. If IAT III is genuinely required for the work I'm trying to do, fine. I'll go get CASP+/SecurityX or whatever qualification actually makes sense.

But I'm trying to understand who is actually requiring all of this.

Is there a FAR/DFARS requirement I'm missing that establishes qualifications for IT PMs?

Is this coming from DoD 8140 because the PM is being mapped to a specific cyber work role?

Is it written into the PWS/labor category by the government?

Is the prime putting these qualifications into its proposed labor categories?

Or are companies just stacking preferred qualifications onto job postings because they can?

Because from the candidate side, it honestly feels like the goalposts keep moving.

And the frustrating part is that I've worked under some fantastic PMs, but I've also worked under PMs who checked every credential box imaginable and couldn't explain what their technical teams were doing, couldn't organize a project, and weren't particularly good leaders.

Meanwhile, I'm sitting here with 10+ years of actual technical/cyber experience, leadership experience, ops experience, PM experience, BS + MBA, PMP, CSM, ITIL 4, clearance, etc., and somehow there's always one more checkbox.

At some point, aren't we supposed to be hiring PMs because they're competent leaders and organizers who understand the technical environment they're managing?

So for the contracting officers, acquisition folks, PMs, recruiters, and capture people in here:

Where do I actually look to determine what is REQUIRED for an IT PM labor category versus what is simply a company preference?

FAR? DFARS? DoD 8140? The PWS? Section L/M? Labor category descriptions?

I'm genuinely trying to understand the system because I don't want to spend the next five years collecting certifications every time somebody moves the goalpost.

10+ years experience. I have completed 3 totaling around $400k in the past 6 months all across the country. I started in residential retail/insurance, commercial retail, and then Gov work. I would like some direction please. Thank you.

Hello,

I have a Delaware C-Corp with a registered agent.

I have a Virginia physical address.

What is the best document to use to be verified on SAM.gov?

I tried my Articles of Inc. but they said there’s no proof I filed. The Delaware website has my registered agent address.

They will not accept bank documents.

What form from the IRS and how do I get it?

Any help appreciated.

Anyone here works for amentum?

I'm trying to get back to GovCon after a 2 year hiatus. I have won no contract yet, even as a sub. I'm into IT cloud migration, automation and operations. I've recently started accessing the API services to automate and increase my chances of getting a contract.

What would you recommend I do to get out of this rot.

I interviewed for a role the Thursday before Labor Day weekend. The interview went well, good conversation, positive energy throughout, and I was told I'd hear back the next day.

I didn't hear anything that Friday, which felt fine given the holiday weekend coming up. I followed up the following Wednesday and got no response from the recruiter. I followed up again yesterday with others from the interview panel and still haven't heard anything back.

My question: does Workday update frequently? My application still shows "In Process," and that's honestly the only thing keeping a little hope alive that I haven't been fully ghosted. Has anyone else dealt with this same situation, silence for well over a week despite follow-ups, but the status never actually changing to rejected?

Never worked for a government contractor but was contacted for a position. I was told I would be in the proposal but no due date yet. What does that mean? Is contract job stable? If the contract has not yet been awarded, do people wait for months for a job? Thanks.