By Luigi Benetton

Canadian federal, provincial, and municipal governments buy billions of dollars' worth of goods and services every year that they can’t make or perform in-house.

Freelance writing figures among those services, so in December I, along with a few other freelancers, attended three workshops offered by the Ontario Government. Each had a different focus, namely:

• How to Do Business with the Ontario Government
• Doing Business with the Government of Canada
• Using MERX to do Business with Governments

I've been to the event previously, but I found there was so much work involved in getting government work as a contractor that I didn't follow up. Indeed, seeking government work seems like a full-time job in itself.

Nobody meant this process to be so much more convoluted than that for getting work in the private sector. Considerations like ensuring equal opportunity to all vendors and respecting various international trade agreements (since the government can buy from non-Canadian vendors) ties the government’s hands.

So this time I went with the aforementioned small group of freelancers in the hope that we could make sense of our seminar notes, figure out the right followup questions to ask, and encourage one another in our quest to break into this market.

A road map for freelance writers?

Presenters did a fine job explaining the generalities of getting government work, but I’d like to develop the beginnings of an action plan for freelancers. Here are a few steps you need to take to start down this road.

Register as a supplier (federal)

Visit Buyandsell.gc.ca to make yourself accessible to all federal government buyers. Once registered, your business can appear in buyers’ search results.

Of special note is Professional Services (PS) Online, a procurement tool for professional services contracts worth up to $76,600. Visit the site or email Sharon Dent at rcnspenligne.ncrpsonline@tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca.

Learn how to use MERX

MERX is an e-tendering system used by the federal government and six provincial governments. Once you get your free account, the MERX representative suggests you start doing things like the following:

• Review MERX every day
• Review previously awarded contracts to determine pricing thresholds and potential business partners
• Use the Opportunity Matching Profile service to be automatically alerted to relevant opportunities
• Use the Document Request List (DRL) to see who else is bidding or to find partnering opportunities (in other words, learn which businesses win big contracts that require writers with your talents)

MERX is all over the web. Find out more about it:

• Twitter
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• YouTube
• MERX hosts live webinars too. Learn about them here.
• Email: merx@merx.com

Get security clearance early

It’s like a passport in that you seek security clearance before you need it to bid on a job. Why? One presenter claimed security clearance can take about a year and a half. I guess they do a pretty thorough job.

Contact the Canadian Industrial Security Directorate of Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC) here.

Look out for Requests for Qualifications

The Ontario government, recognizing how time-consuming it is to respond to requests for proposals, will issue requests for qualifications on commonly purchased items to short-list vendors who satisfy certain criteria. Keep an eye out for RfQs.

Become a "Vendor of Record"

In Ontario, you can sort of bypass the whole proposal thing if you become a Vendor of Record (VOR). In a nutshell, you’re preapproved for a certain period and according to a predetermined agreement to provide services to either one ministry, several ministries, or the entire Ontario government.

Ontario regularly refreshes VOR arrangements to both find new vendors and allow existing vendors to let the government know about any new services they offer.

Caveat: being a VOR doesn’t guarantee that you’ll get work from the government.

Get creative

Write a post for an erudite blog that details your learning of the process for securing government contracts, in the hopes of being noticed by government buyers.

Learn who you need to pitch

It helps if you make yourself known to people who can buy what you’re selling. As with any sales call you make, have your elevator pitch ready before you call–these folks are just as busy as your private-sector clients.

• departmental materials managers
• people who manage budgets
• people who use what you have to sell, i.e. the "operations people"

You can find information on these people in:

• the Government Electronic Directory Services (GEDS), an online address book of federal government employees
• InfoGo, the Ontario government personnel directory

Keep learning

One blog post won’t cover all the bases–there’s lots more to learn about pitching for government work. Notice that I didn’t address municipal government work, partly because it wasn’t covered during the seminar.

Check out these sources for more information:

Ontario government How to do business with the Ontario government

Federal government

• The Office of Small and Medium Enterprises (OSME): OSME seminar dates can be found here
• Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC)
• Ottawa-area freelance writer Marion Soublière wrote Getting Work with the Federal Government, a book on securing government contract work

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If you're interested in attending a similar session yourself, the Ministry of Government Services is offering two webinars (Jan. 25 and Feb. 28) and a seminar in Ottawa on March 1. Click here for more info and to register.

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