The information below are some of the latest discussions in the GovCon field. Whether you are set to prove yourself as an expert in the field, network with like minded individuals or keeping an eye on trending topics this will help you be in the know. Feel free to share this information with those that may find it useful. This is not quite yet ready for public consumption. When ready, this will be a twice a week report provided via both inbox and on GovWin.com

Linkedin Discussions

Status: Ongoing/Moderate.

Question: Do tried and true typical sales techniques work for selling to government? Cold calling? RFP responses? Going to the top? Solution selling?

Context: Rick Wimberly of Galain Solutions was promoting their new book on selling to the government, and an interesting discussion has been going on that discusses the semantics of saying one is selling to the government opposed to working in business development. The original post date is old, but there is ongoing discussion.

Group: Doing Business with the Federal Government and Contractors (Open Group)

URL: http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Do-tried-true-typical-sales-1806631.S.48108783?qid=7f1849b3-13f1-473c-bed0-9f4ac1f3ae6e&goback=%2Egmp_1806631

Status: Buzzing!

Question: Has anyone ever protested an award? if yes, what would be the best approach to take to submit your disapproval of the awarded vendor?

Context: Tim Olden, BD manager at Interactive Solutions is seeking advice on protesting an award. There is a very lively discussion going on here.

Group: GSA & VA Schedule Contracting (Closed Group)

URL: http://www.linkedin.com/groupItem?view=&srchtype=discussedNews&gid=50020&item=48937909&type=member&trk=eml-anet_dig-b_pd-ttl-cn

Status: Ongoing/Moderate.

Question: How do I (a small LLC) go about renewing my clearance?

Context: Tim Fawcett, Founder at Pacific and Potomac is seeking advice on renewing his clearance.

Group: Federal Government Contractor Network (TFCN) (Open Group)

URL: http://www.linkedin.com/groupItem?view=&srchtype=discussedNews&gid=50020&item=48937909&type=member&trk=eml-anet_dig-b_pd-ttl-cn

Status: Ongoing/Moderate.

Question: Can anyone share with me the best way to identify subcontracting opportunities?

Context: William Knight, Program Manager. At XO Communications seeks information on subcontracting opps. This is an ongoing discussion with 53 replies. A lot of interesting information has been placed here.

Group: Federal Government Contractor Network (TFCN) (Open Group)

URL: http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Can-anyone-share-me-best-156213.S.44808841?qid=65ac8241-8ac4-47ca-87e1-8dc77001a8c2&goback=%2Egmp_156213

Status: Inactive

Question: We need a Facilities Clearance for a project starting in April. Are there any companies that help with obtaining the Facilities Clearance?

Context: Jaiya Rajan, President of JBR Solutions seeks information on obtaining a facility clearance.

Group: GSA & VA Schedule Contracting (Closed Group)

URL: http://www.linkedin.com/groupItem?view=&gid=50020&type=member&item=48138350&qid=7ab3533a-2f2f-4ddc-b6c0-5d4552d02aa6&goback=%2Egmp_50020

Status: Ongoing/Moderate.

Question: We need a Facilities Clearance for a project starting in April. Are there any companies that help with obtaining the Facilities Clearance?

Context: Mike Hackmer posted a promo for the April Executive Webinar. Those in the discussion were speaking on the topic of the webinar, “What do companies need to do to be competitive?”

Group: Doing Business with the Federal Government and Contractors (Open Group)

URL: http://www.linkedin.com/groupItem?view=&gid=1806631&type=member&item=49553873&commentID=36463701&qid=7f1849b3-13f1-473c-bed0-9f4ac1f3ae6e&goback=%2Egmp_1806631#commentID_36463701

Status: Ongoing/Moderate.

Question: Business case for investing in cloud?

Context: Martin Paev, CEO at Sortis Groups is seeking information from those experienced working with Cloud services for their data center.

Group: Cloud Computing, VMware, Virtualization and Enterprise 2.0 Group (Closed Group)

URL: http://www.linkedin.com/groupItem?view=&gid=45151&type=member&item=50018330&qid=e598f2c6-5eba-483b-90bb-b85244aca03d&goback=%2Egmp_45151

Status Key

Buzzing! – Strong discussion with many participants

Moderate – Quite a few participants, but not very active

Ongoing – Old original post, but new replies still coming in.

New – New discussion that may be of interest.

Inactive – Old post with no new replies. Usually contains useful information though.

GovWin Discussions

Topic: Discuss President Obama’s Deficit Reduction Speech

Context: President Obama has delivered a speech about how he plans to reduce the current deficit. Comments are open through Facebook or GovWin.

URL: http://govwin.com/mysbx-water-cooler-forum/discuss-president-obamas-deficit-reduction/115290

Topic: What do you consider to be your biggest business development challenge?

Context: Poll

URL: http://govwin.com/business-development-and-sales/biggest-business-development-challenge/114953

Topic: In what areas has your company been trying secure business with the government ?

Context: Poll

URL: http://govwin.com/mysbx-water-cooler-forum/areas-government-business/114948

Govloop Discussions

Topic: GovHelp: I Hate Filing Taxes…So How Do We Fix the Process?

Context: Govloop’s Andrew Krzmarzick asks how the tax filing process can be improved.

URL: http://www.govloop.com/forum/topics/govhelp-i-hate-filing-taxesso

Tweet Me (Currently GovWin centric, will not be in final version)

1. Lohfeld, Wakeman and @amtower discuss the @deltek acquisition of @fedsources http://bit.ly/fL0qcU #govwin
2. Government Shutdowns and Counting Coup via Ron Sherwin http://bit.ly/foJqDt #govwin @shutdown
3. What did you think of President Obama’s Deficit Reduction Speech http://bit.ly/ibP3q2 #budget #govwin

Social Networking Tip – If you put it online, just assume everyone can see it. Think before you tweet/post negative comments.

The FY 2012 Federal Budget from OMB is 1,364 pages long and takes up 13,000 KB of space so I have uploaded it to the Cloud for your sharing needs. Feel free to embedded this directly into any site you want or just reference to it as as a link. If you have any questions feel free to shoot me a message @e5v or @thejournalizer

You can embed it by clicking the link below and locating the share bar on the right side navigation.

Not loading? Click here – FY 2012 Federal Budget

FY2012 Defense Spending Request Briefing Book