Government car auctions are held in various locations and at different times of the year. In most cases though, it is regularly held at various intervals – such as annual or quarterly basis. It is often a go-to event for those interested to purchase second-hand vehicles in good running condition for a bargain price. In fact, those who manage to look around the showcased vehicles at the auction well enough get to enjoy some major steal.

But what is it about government car auctions that auto consumers flock them? It is an auction that showcases nearly all types of vehicles imaginable, whether you want to get an SUV, sedan, minivan, pickup truck, or convertibles. These vehicles are repossessed by the government due to various reasons such as tax evasion, failure to pay installments, or vehicles involved in serious crimes. Although these automobiles that are featured in government auctions are pre-owned, you can also find ones that have been used for a short period of time and are there as good as new.

There are two types of government car auctions that consumers can check out: live and online auctions. In a live auction, you must attend a specific venue where the auction is held and you can physically examine the vehicles you want. Online auctions have only been introduced by the government recently to enable more people to access the vehicles they want. However, if the auction is held close to where you live, then it is recommended that you join the live auction so you can see the actual vehicle you are about to purchase.

Anyone aged 18 years and above with a valid driver's license are qualified to buy vehicles at the auction. One benefit to attending government car auctions is that consumers are not charged with registration or buyers' fee. The only cost involved here is the payment for the vehicle you have purchased at the auction.

Another common dilemma for those who are interested to partake in these auctions is the lack of knowledge when it comes to locating them. You can perform manual search by contacting each of the individual offices for the local government to get the information you need. You can also perform research online via auction directory services to see if any auctions are listed in your area. There are certain charges that apply when conducting search for these directories but if you want to save time and money in the long term it should be worth it.

Make sure you have scanned through your options well at government car auctions before agreeing to buy or bid. If possible, determine a budget before you even arrive at the venue since you can get overwhelmed with the number of vehicles on display.

In business management classes across the country MBA students study business ethics. In fact, there are now MBA degrees available that are called Ethics MBAs. But in the real world how ethical is the business community? How ethical is our own government?

How many business travelers for their corporations charge personal items to their credit cards of their corporations? Corporations watch this very closely to make sure everyone follows the rules. Not everyone follows the rules and often there are people who go to extreme lengths to hide their misdeeds.

From a business ethics standpoint corporations and their workers are much more honest and forthright than those who work in government. In fact government credit card abuse at all levels of government is at an all-time high. It is so bad that the federal government actually had to make another law to try to curb the abuse of government credit cards. Has this new law helped?

Actually it looks as if it has on paper audits but in reality those fine folks in government still abuse their government credit cards, which is taxpayers money. The problem is so severe and the punishment so little that nothing is really being done. That is to say the problem is running rampant still.

Simply instituting controls and checks and balances on government credit cards does not alleviate the fraud. Dishonesty in government is the norm and although many people believe that those who work in government are of less IQ they are still clever enough to beat the system and steal taxpayers money.

From an MBA standpoint of fiscal management this is a good case study. A piece of corporate credit cards or government credit cards must be followed up on. It is essential to make sure that the purchase is made by government employees are indeed for a facial government business and not personal pleasure; such as gentlemen's clubs, personal car washes or a dinner for a family of four for personal use.

It appears we cannot trust those fine folks in government and it is about time that we enforced the letter of the law on to the government and the workers who think they are above it. Consider this in 2006.

Fratricide is recognized as the taking down of members of your own group. Leaders in the Federal Government have committed and gotten away with several forms of fratricide over the last few decades. Federal leaders have taken detrimental actions against their own employees for following expressed organizational goals and missions. Although many employees have sought assistance in combating the offensive actions of their leaders, those employees have often been re-offended by the people to whom they complained (eg, mediators, lawyers, and judges).

Liz, a Secretary working for the Federal Government, reported several instances of time card fraud. Liz witnessed employees working far less than the 40 hours per week they claimed on their time cards. Liz's revelation had been quietly discussed by her co-workers years before she recognized the violations. Liz's leaders ignored her complaints and left Liz in a position where she had to either ignore the violations and continue to certify the fraudulent time cards or seek assistance from higher-level Government leaders. Liz chose to report her findings to US Army leaders in Washington DC The Army leaders ordered an investigation and sent an Army Captain to collect evidence and report the findings. The final report revealed nearly 20% of roughly 500 of Liz's co-workers were claiming work hours they never actually worked. Liz's leaders read the Captain's report and simply issued a rebuttal statement informing that the equipment used at entrances to track when employees entered the compound malfunctioned. Liz, as a result of her whistleblowing activities, was punished by her leaders.

Henry, a civilian Engineer, served on several teams where companies submitted bids for Federal Government contracts. After witnessing several instances where companies were pre-selected to win contracts and selection criteria were changed to assist preferred companies in winning contracts, Henry reported the illegal practices to his Supervisors. Henry was subsequently removed from teams, given low performance reviews, and passed-over for promotions. Henry sought help from other Federal organizations like the Merit Systems Protection Board and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission but was not successful in gaining assistance in stopping the illegal actions of his teammates and leaders. Henry, as a result of his whistleblowing activities, was professionally ostracized and threatened with removal from federal service.

Colonel Timothy led a department of workers until a few of his female employees reported that he harassed them on numerous occasions. One employee reported that the Colonel took under-the-table photos of her during meetings where she wore skirts. Rather than punish the Colonel in accordance with military law, Colonel Timothy's commanding (General) officer removed him from his supervisory position over the women he victimized and placed the Colonel on a "special assignment". The women were forced to continue carrying out their duties knowing Colonel Timothy could walk up to them at any moment. The usual stress that results from reporting sexual harassment with no meaningful results undoubtedly consumes Colonel Timothy's female victims.

In all of the cases mentioned in this article, the familiar theme is the lack of integrity and true leadership. Leaders must model the behavior they expect from their employees. When leaders decide against intervening to stop (and punish) wrongdoers, they send the message that it is acceptable to commit wrongs-even violations of law. Leaders' inactions in cases of known harassment and illegal activity are often detrimental to their employees and to the morale of their organizations. Many employees never recover from the harassment they were forced to endure and some, as a result of their leader's decision not to act, sink to low mental and spiritual levels-arguably, a form of fratricide. Leaders at multiple levels choose to bury their heads in the sand rather than react properly to the complaints of their employees. In some cases, as evidenced by the fact that Liz, Henry, and Colonel Timothy work at the same organization, leaders repeatedly refuse to act with integrity in response to employee complaints. As a result, offenders are often emboldened to continue their unlawful acts. How do they get away with it? Their "leaders" let them.

What is FPDS?

The Federal Procurement Data System – Next Generation or FPDS is a government website that gives unprecedented real-time access to government spending patterns. The system is free to access and only requires you to create an account. The beauty of a system like this is that it allows contractors to look at past contract actions to determine the propensity and viability of doing business with the government. A quick search can tell you if the government is spending money on what you sell, how much they are spending on it, who the top agencies are that are buying what you sell, and who your competition and best teaming partners are.

What gets reported to FPDS?

Government contracts, BPA’s, IDIQ’s, etc. that have an estimated value of $3,000 or more as well as every modification to the contract. Keep this in mind when you are searching the system because you will often find multiple “actions” on a particular contract. This does not mean a new contract has been issued. It simply means that some sort of contract “action” has occurred. Contracting actions are updated on a daily basis to FPDS.

FPDS does not track or have report data available for the following: Grants, FEDSTRIP’s, MILSTRIP’s, GSA stock and GSA consolidated purchase programs, and government purchase card purchases under the micro-purchase threshold.

3 Ways FPDS can help you win government contracts.

1. Determine if government contracting is a viable option for your company. If you are already in government contracting, this point is not for you. But if you are thinking of pursuing government contracts, this is the most important point for you. Before you spend months pursuing government programs, certifications, or getting a GSA schedule, you need to do some research. The first thing you need to research is the market viability of selling what you offer to the government. Many times people just assume that the government does or does not want what they have to sell. The only way to know this is to pull the reports from FPDS. You will first need NAICS codes. NAICS codes are the North American Industry Classification System codes for every industry and service. These are standard codes that the government uses to look up vendors who sell what you sell. If you don’t know your NAICS code/s you can Google the word NAICS code and the term you want a code for. Once you pull the report in FPDS, you will quickly be able to identify if the government is buying what you sell and how much they are spending on it annually. This will give you a lot of insight into whether you should pursue government contracting or not.

2. Use FPDS to identify all agencies that are buying what you sell. One of the easiest ways to search data in the system is by NAICS code. This allows you to target your specific product or service and to pull detailed reports by what you sell. Once you do a search on your NAICS code, you can download this data into an Excel spreadsheet and sort the data. Once you have the data, you will want to look at the “Contracting Agency” field. This is the list of agencies that are buying what you sell. Once you identify who is buying what you sell, you can now develop a strategy for how you are going to approach them as well as start to target them on sites like Fed Biz Ops and other government procurement websites.

3. Formulate your strategy. Once you have all of the information in items 1-4, you can start to form your strategy. At RSM Federal, we recommend that you have an overall strategy for how you will approach the government in general and then micro strategies for how you approach different agencies. Understand that not all agencies buy the same way and that there are many opportunities that you need to be aware of. For example, the Defense Logistics Agency or DLA, has a system called DIBBS that it uses for many purchases under 100K. These opportunities only show up on the DIBBS system and are very important to watch for anyone who is servicing logistics type items such as fasteners, cabling, tools, etc. They also have MRO contracts. These are Maintenance, Repair and Operations contracts that are awarded by region periodically and something you will want to watch for if DLA is your target customer. Watching for specific contracts and bid opportunities like this would fall under your micro strategy.

Whether you are working on your main strategy or micro strategies, the FPDS system can be a valuable tool for you to use to gather market intelligence. We recommend checking FPDS every 3 to 6 months depending on your industry. This will allow you to stay on top of trends and allow you to make changes to your strategy on an ongoing basis.

A word of caution. Various government watchdog groups and consulting firms have suggested that FPDS can be off by as much as a billion dollars at any given time. What you really need to know is that human beings are entering the data and from time to time make mistakes. The reports that you pull are only as good as the data that was entered so just understand that the data can be off at any given time. That is one of the main reasons we suggest you check the site frequently.

Also beware that many government systems and bi-matching services pull their data from FPDS. In many cases, consultants charge thousands of dollars for the same data that you can access for free via FPDS. So buyer beware…

To create an account or learn more about FPDS, check out https://www.fpds.gov.

This is meant to be informative only. This is not to be taken as legal advice.

Very surprisingly, only a small percentage of the U.S.A. population takes advantage of the wealth of informative material provided by the world’s largest publisher – the U.S. Government Printing Office.

Here is a source of priceless, accurate and official information which is reported and written by experts. Almost every conceivable subject has been reported upon in detail in some government publication – topics such as energy, employment, health, business, investments, science and technology, education, careers, transportation, veterans and personal benefits, consumer advice, foreign trade, law, space, food and diet, astronomy, gardening, medical, maintenance, housing, money management, equipment, hobbies, travel – the list goes on and on.

These publications are available to you upon request. In fact, you indirectly helped pay for them. A part of your tax contribution is allocated to operate the government printing office.

Many of these publications feature business sand personal matters that may directly help you make or save money. This report, however, will outline the most simple and ideal method to reap a huge financial gain from these publications – selling this information by mail.

You undoubtedly have noted ads offering reports on government surplus, oil lotteries, land acquisitions, energy, etc. These ads appear in many national magazines monthly. year after year. Such reports contain information extracted from government publications. Often they are copied word for word. The “insiders” know how and where to get this valuable information free, or at low cost, then use this material to earn huge profits for themselves.

Few people realize that government publications are not copyrighted. Anyone has the authority to use this material for his own personal benefit. That includes copying it word-for-word if desired, reproducing it, and selling the information in the form of books, manuals or reports.

From this vast source of published material are many thousands of ideas you can adopt to prepare an informative publication which can be profitably sold by mail.

The first step, obviously, is to find out which publications are available, what subjects they cover and where they can be obtained. The second step is to select topics which would inform, appeal to and attract a large number of people who would be willing to buy your information by mail. The third step, is to compile this information into a book, manual or report, get it printed, then go about the business of marketing it profitably.

Step 1

Besides a huge volume of official documents, the government printing office issues about 25,000 other booklets and reports with topics that concern and interest the general pubic. The government also publishes guides which lists and describes new issues when they become available.

Write to the Consumer Information Center, Pueblo, CO 81009. Request to be placed on their mailing list to receive the “Consumer Information Catalog” which is issued periodically during each year. Also request to receive “Selected U.S. Government Publications” from: Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402.

Many public libraries stock these catalogs and some government publications. You can check for titles of current and back issues and order anything that interests you or copy any information you need. You may also find copies at other U.S. and State agency offices and perhaps at your local chamber of commerce office.

Publications may also be obtained from government offices such as the U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Department of Agriculture, etc. These agencies offer many publications pertinent to matters in their field. For example, the Department of Commerce can provide data and information assistance in various business matters, foreign trade, etc.

The ruling powers in Washington are cutting funds to many agencies. It is likely that in future not as many free publications will be available as were printed in the past. The low cost of any government publication, however, is still a tremendous bargain. Never hesitate to pay a small amount for valuable information that could be the source of financial benefits for you.

Step 2

Which topics to consider for your publication? What type of printed information will the public buy? Basically, to sell successfully by mail, your product must fill a strong need or desire. It must offer a specific appeal factor that will make the public want to obtain the product. Some of the strongest appeals are found in products which promise to help people:

Make Money Be Safe & Secure Have Fun & Enjoyment Save Money Eliminate Problems Find Out Where to Get Save Time & Effort Be Popular Something Beneficial Enjoy Comfort Do Things Better Something Useful Enjoy Health Gain Success

Thus, your publication should deal with the “How To” and “Where To” type of subjects. This is the main information the buying public seeks and will buy. The stronger information appeal your publication offers, the larger number of people will be attracted to you offer. This factor will translate into a greater sales volume and ultimately higher profits.

Emphasized again, the subject matter of your publication must interest and appeal to a large number of prospects. Among large group categories are: households, blue collar and white collar workers, opportunity seekers, investors, dieters, recipe fanciers, gardeners, teenagers, senior citizens, mail order aspirants, health and exercise enthusiasts, fix-it-uppers, hobbyists, sportsmen and many other specific classes of people seeking helpful information to fulfill their desires and needs.

Step 3

When you decide upon a suitable subject or subject or subjects, you next step is to compile the information into your own publication. You can copy word-for-word from the government literature, extract portions of the copy, express the ideas in your own words, or add some of your own ideas and thoughts to enhance the subject and provide the reader with additional information.

The size of your publication will depend upon how many words are necessary to fully cover the subject. Provide every essential and important detail so the reader will completely understand and benefit from the information. Don’t skimp, but don’t include anything that is superfluous or inappropriate to the subject. Give the customer at least what he expects – more if possible. A happy, satisfied customer is a confident prospect for your future offers.

For example, a publication entitled “Second Opportunities”, explaining a large number of money-making activities, might require a booklet form of many pages. A publication entitled “How to Grow Prize-Winning Roses” might be a report of just a few pages.

As stated previously, you can reproduce any government printing, even page for page, if that size would fit the style of your publication. to test your offer, you can get initial copies mimeographed, but the best-looking reproduction can be provided by an offset printer. He can reproduce printed copy. Type your own copy on a machine with carbon ribbon. It will provide clear, dark copy which the printer can reproduce with sharp results.

Adopt a title for your publication that will create attention. The title in a descriptive circular, or stated in a classified or space ad, can affect sales. The title should explain the subject matter in as few words as possible. Bring out as many of the appeals listed in Step 2. Yet, keep the title short without sacrificing any word or phrase that might keep a reader form becoming a customer. Look through magazines for titles of books and reports sold by mail. You will get ideas for preparing titles to attract the mail order buyer.

What price to charge for your publication? Only testing can determine the right price. The right price is the selling price that brings in the most profit Not total sales necessarily, but profit… the bottom line in any business activity. Set a price initially based on the suggestions in the following paragraph. Later tests may determine that you can make more profit by charging more and selling less. Or, tests may prove that by lowering the price and selling more units, you earn more total profits. Often the introduction of a new mail order product requires testing… and testing again… until the most effective sales copy and the right selling price is established to provide the most profit from each promotion.

To make big money selling information by mail, consider pricing your publication at least 10 times its cost. And, that’s just the norm for a multi-paged publication. A report of just a few pages must be sold for 15 to 20 times its cost to realize adequate profits from promotions. To start, get just a few copies printed. but, don’t base your selling price on this cost. Request the printer to quote you on 1,000 and higher quantities. This will be the volume you will be purchasing if your publication is successful and that cost should be the basis for initially pricing your publication.

To promote sales of your publication, use one or all of the usual mail order methods… classified ads, space ads and direct mail.

Classified ads are seldom productive if the advertiser solicits orders for items priced over $3.00 directly from the ad. Classified ads are mainly used to obtain inquiries for higher-priced items. So what can you do with a publication that must sell for $5.00 or $6.00? You should promote this publication through space ads or include the publication in a descriptive circular or catalog featuring this publication among other offers of your own or that of other publishers.

Space ads are what the terms implies; they feature more space than a classified ad. This greater space allows for bold headlines, more details about the offer and inducements for the reader to send in an order. If space permits, an order form is included in the ad.

Direct mail consists of sending your offer to a list of names. These names could be your customer list or names obtained from a list broker. Use only name lists that will be responsive to your offer. For example, an offer for a gardening publication should not be sent to a list of auto mechanics. Such a mailing would stand little chance for success. Also, it would hardly pay to send out a mailing for a $5.00 or $6.00 offer. Use direct mail to promote $10.00 or higher items, or send circulars or catalogs featuring several publications to receive orders for multiple items and higher dollar average per sale.

Selling information by mail profitably, requires application of the basic methods used by other successful mail order operators. This report, of course, cannot provide a complete course in mail order techniques. Obtain some books which explain how to operate a mail order business efficiently.

To summarize, check over the list of government publications that might provide suitable material for your own book or report. Then send for it. Determine if the contents can be the basis for a publication with strong appeal to a large group of prospects. Compile this information into an interesting book or report. Promote your offer slowly and carefully at the start. If promotional tests are favorable you can increase your advertising and promotion efforts, sell larger volumes of your publication and earn larger profits.

Follow these procedures faithfully and you could be on you way to earning a fortune – making your start with free government publications.

Copyright 2004 by DeAnna Spencer

Note to editors:

To show my appreciation to the editors that use my articles, I offer a free solo ad. Simply send an email to me by using the form on the contact me page on my website to tell me the url the article was used on or send me a copy of the ezine it was used in.

Where did my paycheck go? Have you ever stopped and asked yourself that question? I wish I could use that excuse when I can't pay a credit card bill and they call me at dinner time. "I'm sorry I can't pay that this month the government ate my paycheck!" Have you ever looked at your W2 and wondered where your money went? From income tax, gas tax, meals tax, sales tax, excise tax and in some states a tobacco tax, the list goes on. It's no wonder the disposable income of many Americans is dwindling. I looked at an average salary of an accountant, living in a suburb in New England, with an average life just to see where your money goes.

Lets take a single individual making $ 94,000

The tax breakdown would look like this:

• Social Security Tax ($ 3948) Lets hope social security will still be around to see this.
• Medicare Tax ($ 1363)
• Federal Tax (assuming average deductions) ($ 13537) This is likely to go up in the future
• State Tax ($ 4982)

The Government Ate My Paycheck! This leaves disposable income at $ 70170. BUT WAIT !!!!! It doesn't stop there!

Now lets look at all the other taxes that the government likes to stick to us:

So "Average CPA" buys an "average" car for $ 20,000 Sales Tax is ($ 1300). Excise tax on this vehicle ($ 400). It costs Average CPA $ 40 a week to fill this car for his commute to work. Gas Tax both Federal and State ($ 464 / yr). Your disposable income has dwindled to $ 68006. Add in a Road Toll Tax and you are down to $ 66966. God help him if he has to renew his license ($ 60) … leaving Average CPA with $ 66906. YIKES !!!!! The Government Ate My Paycheck!

Are things starting to look a little bleak? It gets better. Average CPA owns a small townhouse. He pays $ 4200 for property tax. His taxes on cable, telephone surcharges, universal surcharges, electric delivery tax, dog permits etc … Have you ever looked at your phone bill and wondered what the heck a governmental surcharge is or a usage surcharge? All these little unknown and often "hidden" taxes may run you ($ 540 + / Yr.) Lets not forget the water tax and sewer tax ($ 820). The government wants a piece of the action every time you flush the toilet! Disposable income: $ 61346.

I feel my pockets getting smaller and smaller. Now let's get into the micromanagement of taxes as I like to call it. Taxes on stupid stuff. Average CPA has a couple of bad habits and smokes a pack of cigarettes a day. Cigarette tax runs him ($ 1281) a year !!! Maybe he should try to quit! But there is a tax on Nicorette Gum as well. Once in a while Average CPA likes to have a cocktail ($ 211). The occasional beer or glass of wine ($ 100). Lets not forget that Average CPA loves to go out to eat sometimes ($ 488). This Average CPA's paycheck was almost cut in half … leaving a total of $ 59266 in disposable money or $ 4938. This does not even take into consideration a mortgage, car payment, student loan, credit card payments etc … My point is that almost half of this scenario resulted in taxes. $ 34734 !!!!!! of basic government taxes that we pay day in and day out and often not even knowing we do it. The Government Ate My Paycheck!

So you can see and understand the arguments around tax reform and tax increases. Since the rollback of the payroll tax people's paychecks have taken a hit. 40% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck and many seniors are on a fixed income. Therefore, ANY tax increases or new taxes create and have a burden for the American people. To take it a little further this article does not cover the new taxes that have come about with ObamaCare and the excise tax that will begin around health insurance or lack there of. Yes we all enjoy the luxuries of paved roads and other federal and state benefits. But, with governments frivolous spending when is enough, enough? I believe if people began to see an increase in their disposable income then maybe the economy will grow and move forward. Taxing the American people over and over again, adding new taxes and increasing others will only create an angry and unappealing America.

The UK government has recently announced that there will be a £2 million fund spent on initiatives aimed at reducing the gender pay gap between males and females. The funding will be spent on training, events, and monitoring programmes to help females move from low paid and low skilled work into jobs that are higher paid and higher skilled.

The measures will also hopefully help female employees in the event that they need to hold their company or employers to account over equal pay, or the lack thereof.

Currently the overall, average pay gap is 19.7%, and though this figure has been reduced from 25% in the last ten years, it still reflects unfair treatment of workers – in particular elderly and part-time employees. One reason for the gap is that there are more women, on average, in low paid jobs. The scheme will be looking to offer the necessary training to aim to help them move into the higher paid positions, careers and professions.

The initiative is to be carried out the by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills and will target women working in the science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM), retail and hospitality management, and agricultural sectors in particular.

The government will also:

• Publish guidance that will help women to compare their pay rate to their male counterparts.

• Invest £50,000 into further guidance to enable female employees to hold their companies to account in the event that they feel that they’ve been underpaid or paid incorrectly.

• Create and launch free pay analysis software to be made available to all companies and businesses so that they can calculate their gender pay gap.

• Implement extra measures to reinforce the existing Think, Act, Report initiative.

The minister for Women and Equalities, Nicky Morgan, stated that: “The measures we’re announcing today will help to tackle the pay gap head-on. We will support women to move out of low paid, low skilled work, into high paid, high skilled work, through providing better training and mentoring.” She added that: “We will also give both women and employers the tools to assess and address unfair pay.”

The measure will hopefully make it far easier for female employees, as well as the employers themselves, to identify pay gaps and issues with pay within their company, and also it will make it easier for them to bring the issue up with their bosses.

There are primarily two types of grants. We have private grants, or foundation grants, and then we have another type which is the public, or federal grant. In one sense, these private foundation grants are foundations that have been established that are required to give a certain percentage as required by law to be a foundation. The percentage is about 5% of their monies that they have to give away every year. As a result the foundation receives a tax break. Each of these foundations are set up and they have a specific focus: children's program, youth program, maybe AIDS crisis program, drug prevention programs.

Then the other grants are the federal grants. These federal grants are sometimes sent to the state level, then to the cities, then the cities issue out the grants. Or, sometimes it comes straight from the federal government. There are different types of ways to get federal grants. Who are the donors to the federal grant? You and I! We all issue out the grants for the government with our tax dollars.

Here's are the branches of government, there is the judicial branch, but it does not give out grants. The other two have a controlling factor with giving out money. There is the executive branch as well as the legislative branch. The legislative branch makes laws, and they appropriate funds for the areas for which they will give money. Then the executive branch begins to manage those funds and they keep a list of all of the government grants. All the government grants are housed in what is known as the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance.

Let's take a look at private foundations. Here are some of the characteristics of private foundations. These may be foundations that stem from corporations. For example, Wal-mart has a lot of money, so they may give out the funding through their foundation and get a tax break.

Private grants will most often only give out money to 501 (c) (3) organizations. This status comes from the IRS, and the IRS gives you the approval to become a 501 (c) (3). Most foundations will not give money to a nonprofit organization that does not have this status, and typically, most of these foundations will want to make sure that the 501 (c) (3) has been in existence for at least 2 years. Most of the grants that are given out from the States will want to see some history because they want to see that this is not a nonprofit that's a fly-by-night. Don't waste your time unless you have the status.

In these days of slashed Government budgets, price is even more a factor now then it has been ever before. Whether the procurement specifies best value or low price technically acceptable (LPTA), doing your homework and sharpening your pencil to get the most competitive price is likely to spell the difference between a win and losing an important competitive procurement.

Many companies have great technical solutions, but winning a competitive procurement requires a winning price as well as a great technical proposal. In today's environment of lean budgets and low cost awards, Price Matters more than ever. The winning price may or may not necessarily be the low price. But more often these days, it is the low price. We seem to get involved in the mechanics of filling out the forms and spreadsheets without much of a thought to what constitutes a winning price. It takes getting information ahead of time, doing the analysis, and looking at you in the price mirror objectively.

What makes price matter so much these days is that you can win technically but lose on price. We hear this so often these days. What makes the difference? Not hoping you guess what the price ought to be. Hope doesn't get you a win but finding out about your customer, your company and your competition will get you closer. You've got to make it a priority to find out what your target price range ought to be.

What most companies still do today is build up cost, slap a reasonable (or competitive) fee on the cost and submit the price. Most of the time pricing gets accomplished at the last minute with very little thought to what it takes to win. There are three parts of Price Matters – data gathering, analysis, and real decision-making about price. This process is ongoing throughout the proposal process (pre-requirement stage, proposal stage and post-proposal but before final proposal revision) and, most importantly, the process begins earlier than you think. Developing and implementing a pricing strategy as part of the win strategy is critical to a win – it can't be accomplished at the last minute.

Most people believe that the only way to get the pricing "right" is to perform a price to win (PWIN) that will generate a target price. Let's set the record straight here – PWIN creates a winning range rather than an exact number that translates to the winning price. PWIN activities are intended to get you to create a range of winning targets along with thoughtful actions to assess risk and capabilities – it is not an exact science or number. It's a myth that PWIN is an exact magical number that can be calculated and used as the winning price. You weigh the prices you develop against the company capabilities and the risks your company are willing to take. The components of winning price are determined from objective data and subjective data (objective examples: current labor data, customer budget or government-generated independent cost estimate, D&B reports on competitors, past & current contracts, competition databases and subjective examples: internet searches, investigations, projections of competitor indirect & labor rates, interviews with current & former employees, your assessment of your company, your assessment of your competitor's strengths & weaknesses).

While PWIN is not about developing an exact number, and should be viewed as a compulsory activity to developing a winning pricing strategy, it's a process that gives you direction to consider variables such as rates, risk, capabilities and creative pricing techniques. When you "pick" a rate rather than constructing a target range you are playing darts – you might not get near the target nor will you consider the variables that will make your price a winning price. Wrap rates are not the only driver in costing; consider need for technically compliant labor rates, escalation / de-escalation, and fee. Your best homework and analysis will consider price along with many other variables. Be serious about the process.

To develop a PWIN process that gives the data you need, you must obtain knowledge of your customer, your company, and of your competitors. Without all three knowledge bases, you will be missing all you need to develop a winning pricing strategy. Most people only focus on the competitive analysis and skip the other two steps. So you would be dealing with partial information and likely incomplete results.

1. Knowledge of customer. Customer information "must haves" include synopses, draft and final RFP, anticipated RFP release date and contract start date, contract duration, prior buying history, authorized program funding, deductions from funding for Government program support, customer staff, & reserves, and customer independent cost estimate. Other questions might be: Are they experiencing budget pressure? What is their award history? Who are their favorites? Are they single item price-sensitive? Are they price-oriented or performance oriented? Is the customer interested in more than the requirement like a lower risk approach? Are they interested in the relative value of added value features? Are the gee-wiz-bang things you are going to add high value or low value for the customer? How much would they be willing to pay for them in a best-value procurement?

2. Knowledge of your company. Be realistic about your direct and indirect rates. What you did in history isn't something that you must repeat. Break the habit of saying "this is the way we've always done it". Do an honest self assessment: of how do others see you including your customers, other companies, and outside consultants. Know your history of wins and losses and why. Resist the temptation to over emphasize your strengths but be realistic about your weaknesses. Do a top down view by knowing your competitors' past pricing behavior & current market conditions. Find out what is the target range. Perform a bottom up analysis so that you know what your costs are really. Challenge those cost areas that don't reach the target. Keep in mind that a bottom up analysis usually results in higher projections than the target range. That's because the estimators put in everything they can think of. Give the estimators guidelines so that you don't spend a great deal of time having to cut where a clear schedule and resource definition would help. In developing bid strategies include creative or new cost centers, consider de-escalation, seek quotes through competitive bidding of lowest supplier costs, design tradeoffs, and seek corporate investments in order to show your commitment to the program. Teammate pricing can get you in trouble. Know ahead what they are likely to bid since their pricing can drive up the bid.

3. Knowledge of competitors. Most often a PWIN only focuses on a competitor analysis. This is short sighted and only gives you part of the information you need. GSA Advantage, D&B, Internet searches and FOIA requests will give you information about the competing companies and their contracts. Find out who their teammates are and how they will likely bid. Gather intelligence about what corporate investments competitors are likely to make in the project and what their probable approaches are to bidding. Find the little tricks the competitors have used in the past to get lower pricing and their bid aggressiveness. Do they intend to use a new work location to get to lower costs or infuse their workforce with productivity enhanced tools? Companies tend to do the same things over time. Consider if they are the incumbent because incumbents tend to take fewer risks and think less 'outside the box'. Consider using search services such as GovWin (fusion of Input, FedSources, and Deltek), and Tech America. Remember competitive intelligence is 80% data collection, 15% creative digging & 5% instinct or luck.

The following are the keys points to consider in developing a winning pricing strategy:
1. PWIN is not a exact number but rather a process to derive price + capabilities + risk
2. Costs do not set price – market does
3. Get knowledge of customer
4. Competitor's likely price includes history & bid aggressiveness
5. Get creative!
6. Timely decision making on price strategies
7. Work your own costs early
8. Resist technical temptation to over scope
9. It's not just about wrap rates
10. Are there any certain prices that matter more – what's the customer's focus button?
11. Teammates can mess up your price
12. Get externally focused – Price Matters!

When you set out to price a project to win, developing your strategy encompassing ALL of the factors will get you closer to making your bids winning bids. That means taking into consideration your customer, your company information and your competitor's information. Without all three reviewed continuously throughout the process, you will likely be guessing, rather that riveting your attention on the range of price you need. Consider whether lowest price is a factor and if your added value items mean that much to your customer.

Look around you. The state of our country is more unstable than it has been in decades. Our Government can't function, taxes are at an all-time high, and natural disasters are crippling many parts of the country. It's not if there will be a need to be self-reliant, but when there will be a need. That time is coming sooner rather than later.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), estimates that 60% of American adults have not practiced what to do in the event of a natural disaster. Furthermore, only 39% have developed a contingency plan in the event of a natural disaster, or other emergency. Over 80% of these people live within a County that has been impacted by a weather-related incident.

The average city has approximately three days supply of food and water for its citizens. The average home has approximately a week's supply of food, and in many cases, no supply of backup drinking water. When the shit hits the fan (SHTF), emergency responders and law enforcement become overwhelmed very quickly. Government response is inherently slow. It falls onto you to keep your family safe. It's you that must get your family to safer ground, or out of harms way. Ask yourself, if you were placed in a situation today, could you protect, and take care of your family?

There are a lot of TV reality shows and websites about Preppers, and Survivalist. Many people think of the folks that have chosen to be off the grid, self-reliant, and a bit paranoid of the Government to be just a little off. But are they really? I don't think so. They are the 1-3% of the population that will be able to survive a total melt down of government, a major natural disaster, or whatever is thrown at them from society.

If the electrical grid was taken out by terrorist or natural disasters, it would take months or even years to repair it, and get it back up and running. How long do you think it will take for the 97% Americans not prepared to start turning on each other in order to survive? About 7-14 days would be my guess, since this is about all the rations the average household has. And where do you think those people are going to look for what they need? They are going to target whomever has supplies.

Preppers go the extra distance to not only be prepared, but to also defend what they have worked hard to accomplish. Many have remote Bug Out shelters. These are often hidden away places that are very difficult to locate, or penetrate by the outside world. It is here that many keep months or even years of emergency supplies on hand. Bug Out shelters can be simple or very elaborate. When an emergency requires them to leave their homes, and proceed to their Bug Out shelter, they simply grab their Bug Out Bag (BOB), and execute their predesigned and practiced emergency evacuation plan.

While it varies from person to person, I recommend, and have, a seven-day Bug Out Bag (BOB) for each member of my family. Under normal conditions, I can be at my Bug Out Shelter within six hours. During an emergency, it may take a couple of days. My Bug Out Bag (BOB) has everything I need to survive till I can get to my shelter.

Bottom line … the more people that are prepared, the less strain on national resources during times of need. There are many good websites dedicated to survival and self-sufficiency. If you are reading this, I encourage you to spend some time researching, and preparing, so that you and your family remain safe when the time does come to act.