We spent hours upon hours getting audited, filling out forms, being reviewed so we could be possibly approved to do work for a governmental agency. Fine with us since we have done considerable work for them over the decades. It's gone from getting a phone call and going out to do the job to formal estimates and approval for each job to the new process of being approved though the audits.
And we were approved (#1 meaning the first firm offered the job) and then an updated approval was granted this spring. This means that they can call and send us work without bids, estimates, ect. Although new projects have dried up because funding has dried up.?ÿ
Today I get a call to do some work, they want a bid and we will be bidding against at least three firms.?ÿ
So I send the agreement where we are on call, #1 firm for the area and we simply go do what's needed.?ÿ
That is a different department I'm told.?ÿ
Bang, bang, bang, my head hitting the desk.?ÿ
Thinking I'm not going to bother at this point. Unless I buy the job it's not going to happen.?ÿ
Screw'em
Life is too short to beat your head against a bureaucratic wall.
When we saw the $45,000 (my buy the job price) job get bid for $10,000 and $10,500 last fall I put the breaks on anymore governmental bids. Being the check mark for someone's bid list isn't my idea of a good business plan.
Why would I want to do any work for a governmental agency when I can do work for private clients at top dollar, no endless forms, and no audits. Seems a no brainer to me.
I remember a meeting at the large firm when one of the managers said he was going after a city survey contract. I pointed out that meant he would be competing with the low bidders, the fee included supervision, and Bill would be in his office at the end of every month looking for an explanation of why we lost money again.?ÿ
I’d resort to “mortgage surveys” before I’d go near a public offering. They almost always select the cheapest proposal anyway and end up with a half-assed product. ????
"I bang my head against the wall because it feels really good when I stop." - Abraham Lincoln
This is the same government that, prior to the paperwork reduction act, the elevation certificate was a 2 page form.?ÿ Now it is 5 minimum.
I think that it is healthy for a company to have at least a portion of their work be public sector. Make sure you charge for the time spent on the paperwork.?ÿ
Nevertheless, I would not bid on any public work. With public work, process comes before results. That process can eat up a lot of time.?ÿ ?ÿ ?ÿ
They almost always select the cheapest proposal anyway and end up with a half-assed product.
We have a few counties that pull the "it's land surveying, all of you are licensed land surveyors, so all of you are qualified and we're going to select solely on price" crap that I wont go near, but the consultant is selected in probably 90% (in dollar value) of the public sector work here prior to fee negotiation.?ÿ ?ÿ
Why would I want to do any work for a governmental agency when I can do work for private clients at top dollar, no endless forms, and no audits. Seems a no brainer to me.
I's a no brainer for you because you're solo.?ÿ
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When you have 10, or 25, or 50+ employees depending on you to bring in work so they can pay their mortgage and feed their kids, then the size and duration of public contracts let's you build backlog so you can sleep at night.?ÿ ?ÿ
@mightymoe Do they not have qualification based selections in your state for work by government municipalities of any sort? It's very prevalent around here and those that don't comply are reported. The PE or LS responding to a non-qualification based selection can get in trouble with the board as well.
I once submitted a proposal with fee estimate for a local small city job. Although fees were not supposed to be the deciding factor the successful bidder was also the lowest bidder. It was said that they "best understood the needs of the job".
Public agencies are my preferred clients.?ÿ They understand schedules and overhead, don't try to nickel-and-dime you, and they pay on time.
There are exceptions to the rule, however.?ÿ About 20 years ago a staffer from my home town sent out an RFQ (should have been an RFP, but some agencies still have a problem understanding that) for some monitoring well elevations.?ÿ The wells were spread out over a couple of thousand acres, and it was clear that she didn't understand the scope of work.?ÿ After some back-and-forth email exchanges, she asked if I could help her clarify the scope.?ÿ I spent an hour or two writing a draft scope, including accuracy specifications, that would allow responsive proposals; a day or so later she issued a revised RFQ to all firms originally contacted using my draft scope verbatim.?ÿ I then prepared my quote and sent it in:?ÿ $3,535.00 was the number I came up with.?ÿ A couple of weeks later I received the same letter sent to all the unsuccessful bidders notifying us that the contract had been awarded to my former employer, who had submitted a quote of $3,500.00.?ÿ The outcome was such a pitiful example of misplaced priorities that all I could do was laugh.
I think you took the words right off my keyboard.?ÿ I have typed nearly this exact post a couple of times and deleted it.?ÿ For the last 10 years my bread and butter has been large utility company work across the eastern US.?ÿ You go through the most complicated set of hoops per client, and they're totally different from one client to another.?ÿ Almost all have "agreed to" rates that are slightly different but strikingly similar.?ÿ -10% from corporate because you know you're going to get paid, plus volume (total $ amount) discounts and early invoice payment discounts.
Almost without fail there has been no downturn in overall workload, but 80% of them pretty much threw the rates out the window and put everything out for competitive bid...And wonder why they're not getting good deliverables...and are going through providers faster than I go through tires on a survey vehicle.?ÿ I've pretty much given up on it.?ÿ Relationships don't factor into it when the data is seen as a commodity.
In the worst examples the competitive bid winner is usually a small firm that didn't even go through the qualification process, and gets the job on a "waiver".?ÿ I don't mind the competition, some of them do good work - I just don't agree with being subjected to the scrutiny process (quality audit, safety audit, on and on and on) for nothing.
@james-fleming, exactly it's called cash flow. The reason why I'm solo. I'd love to hire but...as you say, I like to sleep at night.
