Seven Steps to Stimulus Money

July 12th, 2009 by admin

BuWiz.CoM:

Well, there is good news and bad news regarding ARRA, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. With nearly $800 billion in funding, there is always good news and bad news.First, let’s look at the bad news. If you have absolutely no experience selling to government at any level–federal, state or local–the likelihood that you’ll land any significant money is minimal.Now let’s look at the good news. First, notice I said “significant money.” In government terms, this is seven figures and up. If you have no experience, can you still be involved? Possibly, but it will take time, effort, homework and persistence.Ready?Where will the money go? According John Hood, president of MCH, a business-to-institution database and mailing list compiler, stimulus infrastructure spending can be broken down like this:

State Fiscal Stabilization Fund	$54 billion
Transportation	$48 billion
Energy	$44 billion
Infrastructure, water	$41 billion
Education: Special Ed & Title I	$25 billion
Healthcare IT	$17 billion
Housing	$13 billion
Other Projects	$7 billion

The bulk of this money has not yet been made available, as there are transparency and reporting requirements that have to be in place before the money is released. You are not yet late to the game, but you will need to start devoting significant time to studying where the money is going if you are going to win some.

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As most government contracting officers are already busy, the bulk of the money spent at each level of government will go through existing contracts. So here’s your action plan:

Stimulus and Contracting Resources