Building Relationships & Winning Government Contracts
Overview
A government agency required ongoing paralegal support services and the incumbent contractor’s term was coming to an end. Therefore, the customer issued a competitive RFP to explore all possible supplier options. Thanks to the skill and reputation of JURISolutions® Legal (dba JURIStaff) as a federal contractor, coupled with the CEO’s dedication to building relationships, JURISolutions® Legal (dba JURIStaff) was invited to participate in the RFP and was subsequently awarded the contract.
The Story
The digital age has allowed us to connect and share information with others from all over the world – more easily than ever before. Yet with all of these advances, it is easy to lose sight of the advantages that come with simply being somewhere. The digital age may have revolutionized the way in which we communicate, but it has also made the significance of a physical presence all the more substantial, and this is something that Cindy Towers, CEO and Co-Founder of JURISolutions® Legal (dba JURIStaff), truly understands.
JURISolutions® Legal (dba JURIStaff), like many other companies since the economic downturn of 2008-2009, underwent a rigorous but appropriate rebranding in order to adapt to the evolving legal marketplace. Part of this process included getting the legal services firm’s government division off the ground. Though it was a slow process initially, by the end of 2013, JURISolutions® Legal (dba JURIStaff)’s government contracting service line was making great strides and was starting to produce revenues that exceeded everyone’s expectations.
In November 2013, as CEO of the women-owned company, Cindy attended a Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) Forum event in Washington, DC. At the event, the Head of the Office of Minority and Women Inclusion (OMWI) at a government agency gave the group an overview of the agency and recommended that companies who wanted to do business with the agency keep a close watch on the agency’s forecast. He also recommended that companies take advantage of the workshops and educational programs being sponsored by his office. In essence, he really drove home the importance of business owners taking the initiative to follow-up and stay engaged with the government agencies that they would like to support. The message delivered by the Head of the OMWI really resonated with Cindy, a strong advocate for supplier diversity, who grew the commercial side of JURISolutions® Legal (dba JURIStaff) through trust and strong business relationships. Given what Cindy learned about the agency and its mission, she knew that her company’s specialization in providing attorneys, legal staff augmentation and legal search could provide tremendous value to the agency. From that moment on, Cindy knew that the agency was a prospect she needed to follow and get to know.
Cindy connected with the Head of the OMWI, expressed her interest in the agency’s mission, and made sure JURSolutions® Legal (dba JURIStaff) would be informed of any future agency events or programs. When one of these events eventually popped up, Cindy took the initiative. There was an option to conference-in to the event remotely, but Cindy decided that it was best to hop on a train to DC and speak with representatives of the agency in-person. While there, she was informed of an upcoming RFP opportunity for paralegal support services that was a fit for JURISolutions® Legal (dba JURIStaff)’s core competencies. Cindy then successfully lobbied for her company to be included in the bid invitation.
After submitting a proposal that demonstrated both the company’s unparalleled strength in identifying, recruiting and vetting legal talent and the company’s superior past performance in legal staffing and recruitment within the government space, JURISolutions® Legal (dba JURIStaff) was awarded the contract. At another diversity event shortly afterward, the agency spoke again about the importance of showing up and staying plugged in to what is coming down the pike at the agency. To drive home the point that a diverse small business can successfully compete for contracts at the agency, the agency told the group that JURISolutions® Legal (JURIStaff) had just been awarded the paralegal support services contract over an incumbent. If JURISolutions® Legal (dba JURIStaff) had not shown-up and stayed in close contact with the agency, it would not have known about the RFP nor would it have been invited to compete.
Fast forward to the present – the agency is still one of JURISolutions® Legal (dba JuriStaff)’s largest contracts, and much of JURISolutions® Legal (dba JuriStaff)’s success with the agency can be attributed to its internal team’s intimate relationship with the agency’s primary stakeholders. After Cindy opened the door to opportunity with the agency, her team went above and beyond to get to know their client, to truly understand their client’s needs, to offer goal-oriented solutions, and to build long-term relationships with both their client contacts and their contractors.
Technology has the ability to make so many things possible, especially things once believed to be impossible, and it can create opportunities to be efficient and to save money. However, simply being active and present still holds value – and, as our society continues along the ‘path of progression’ in the digital age, perhaps the importance of showing up and building tangible relationships is more important now than it ever has been before.