Name: Making the Move to SLED
Uploaded: 2026-08-27T19:30:44.460Z
Duration: 1 h 32 s
Description: Making the Move to SLED

Transcript for "Making the Move to SLED": Hello, everyone, and welcome. Thank you for joining us today for Making the Move to SLED, which is being presented with our partner over at Red Team Consulting. My name is Sherry Calvendra. I'm a senior manager of research at Deltek for GovWinIQ, and I'm gonna be your moderator today, as we take a look at the state, local, and education or SLED market as a potential opportunity to kind of broaden your footprint, especially for those that are currently operating, in the federal contracting space. Before we get started though, let's go over a few administrative things. So first of all, please make sure that you're using either Google Chrome or Firefox so that you can have a good webinar experience. If you do have any questions, you can submit them through the q and a tab. And if for some reason we're not able to get to all of them today, we'll make sure that red team has your info so that they can get back to you directly. Yes. You're gonna receive today's recording through email, within twenty four hours. And if you're looking for the slides, you can download those from the documents tab. Alright? So you'll have all the materials as a reference, reference, if you need them, which I know you're gonna want them because this is a very informative webinar that we have for you today. K. So, you know, we've seen federal spending and priority shifts. And with that, some of you all may be eyeing SLED as your next growth play, and that makes sense. But you can't simply look at SLED as, like, your backup plan because what's worked in federal isn't always gonna translate successfully over into SLED. But by the time that we wrap up our webinar today, you're gonna have a better read on SLED and hopefully that's gonna help you consider if diversifying makes sense for your business. So let's get to it. Let me introduce our expert, Tris Carpenter. Tris is the managing director of strategy and growth at, Red Team. He has over thirty years of experience in growth strategy and advisory consulting. Tris is a recognized expert in the federal contracting space, and his areas of specialty span both the buy and sell sides of M and A along with mission planning, market diversification, and competitive positioning as well as pipeline development and teaming. So thank you, Trish, for sharing your, experience with us today. And I'm gonna go ahead and hand it off to you to get us started. Well, thanks, Sherry. Thanks, Alex, and thanks to the Deltek team for the invitation to speak today. You know, some of you may be here because, maybe somebody on your leadership team said the word sled and didn't mean the kind that you slide down the hill, you know, snow covered hill in. Right? You You know, somebody might have said that out loud in the last six months, and now your team is deciding whether, hey. Is this a good idea or not? So for those who may not be familiar, SLED stands for state, local, and education. So that's basically the 50 states plus the counties, cities, school districts, campuses, and special districts beneath them. So a number of thousands, literally thousands of entities. So let me give you an answer upfront. Let's spend the hour kinda showing you the work. SLED is a distinct market from federal. Four specific risks really deserve deliberate planning, and each is something you can put a price on before you commit. The strongest results really come from companies that choose a focus path rather than registering in 30 states then before they have a plan. So the purpose today is not to leave with a market overview. It's really to hopefully lead with a method. So as Sherry mentioned, I'm Trish Carpenter, managing director for strategy and growth at Red Team. Really focused on the front end of the business development life cycle. So our large part of our work is market entry, and really helping firms decide whether an adjacent market is really worth the investment and then build a plan if the answer is yes. So why don't we dive on in? So, really, you may say, you know, why this hour? Why now? And what we've put together really are six signals that SLED may fit your company. I'm not going to read through each of the six cards in detail, but if any one of them describes you, then this is the session for you. I will add to the first. A number of you may already your firms may already hold a GSA or general service administration schedule. If you hold the right item number on that contract, state and local buyers can already reach you today with no new competition. Most contractors who hold that authority perhaps may not know that they hold it. The second, most states close their fiscal year on June 30. So that's a second year end, not a busier September. So if your delivery organization is built around one annual surge, potentially there's a second bite at the same capacity. The other four are on the slides, you know, a thinning federal pipeline, a regional delivery footprint, a need for volume rather than, say, one large win, and, perhaps a capability that has a direct SLED analog. So kind of what we'll cover today is is really addressed in three pillars. First, the environment and why it's generally different. Second, the on ramps, how you actually get in, including the one you may already own. Third, deciding whether to move, what transfers, what it costs, and how to how to pick where you go. And then, of course, we'll leave time for questions at the end. You know, I will, definitely try to handle several questions today. If we can't answer them live, you know, please submit them, and we'll make sure that we can, answer those, offline at a later time. So remember, you know, with 50 states involved in SLED, the honest answer, you may hear is often that, well, it depends on the state. But, you know, here's how to kinda how to find out. So, clearly, the environment is different. So let me start with the part that kinda deserves more careful attention. This is a distinct environment, not a smaller version of the federal environment that you know. In four specific places, it really requires more deliberate planning, and each is something you can price before you commit. So I'll name those, in the subsequent, slides here. So you see scale of the addressable market straight from the source Deltek, State and local IT market alone, 155,000,000,000 projected to reach upwards to 200,000,000,000 in the next few years. And that's really spread across thousands of agencies that have their own rules. So when we look at the macro environment, right, budgets are tight, you know, not shrinking necessarily. So we want to start with the money because the useful view sits between the two extremes. The title is the argument. Right? Budgets are tight. The market is not uniformly shrinking. For FY '27, governors recommended budgets show median general fund spending up about 0.6%. Yet, we see about 22 states are making targeted cuts, including 14 eliminating vacant positions. So some of these cuts are selective. We're seeing new starts getting cut first while recompetes and renewals tend to hold a little better. So really aim at, funded renewals rather than, a blanket, say, budgets are down story. On reserves, rainy day fund dollars are mostly holding or rising while total balances are declining as states spend down prior year surpluses. The cushion remains, so optional projects perhaps just need stronger justification than funded mandates. And now you add the local pitch local picture because that should also be a part of your model. We look at city general fund revenue, projected down about 2%, and only 45% of finance officers expected to meet f y twenty six needs more easily. So it's important to think about screening the city and not just the state. So when somebody says, you know, state and local budgets are tight, they're usually picturing a state, and the local picture could be better, could be worse. So, again, you know, look at the city and not just the state. The fourth row is the turn, and it's the reason this hours is probably, you know, valuable. Mandated work gets funded whichever way budgets move. An example is the Medicaid community engagement requirements under PL one nineteen dash two one, beginning of January of next year or earlier, state option. You know, be precise on scope. CMS says, 43 states in DC cover affected populations. Territories are not subject to that. So the rule applies to certain adults ages 19 to 64 who are not on Medicare with exemptions. So one qualifier, a fed a funder sorry. A funded federal mandate is not automatically an open door. Incumbents may already hold the eligibility and verification work. So it's important to find out who holds it and when it recompetes. So, potentially, this is diversification with a dated compliance driver, not necessarily a promise of of automatic growth. So what are some of the what are the state CIOs prioritizing? So you may have heard of an organization called NASHIO, which is the National Association of State Chief Information Officers. Every year, they survey the state CIOs and publish the top 10 priority list. So this is their list for twenty twenty six from 51 state and territory CIOs. Number one, as you might expect, is artificial intel intelligence or AI, generative and agentic AI and machine learning, primarily. That is the first for the first time after twelve straight years being cybersecurity in the top slot. Number two now is cybersecurity and risk. Might wanna note the named element inside of it, whole of state approaches. In practice, that often means the state contracts on behalf of its local governments, which changes who you may be able to sell to. Number three is budget and cost control. Fiscal management, we're seeing actually now outranking modernization. So might a read might be a bias toward what is already funded rather than what is more, say, aspiration. So that's that's our reading, not necessarily Naschio's finding. You know, so just wanted to point that out. Number four is modernization. So legacy replacement and application renovation, that's where federal modernization past performance really translates most directly. Number five is digital government, citizen facing service delivery. Worth noting that accessibility is enforced on vendors through contract terms in nine out of 10 states. But, you know, here's the payoff, and it's the single most probably important thing on this slide. Four of the top five are things of federal information technology or IT professional services contractor already does today. Yeah. The buyer changes and the capability travels. So I wanna be careful with that line because it might be easy to overhear. You know, the technical capability does travel. The governance, the funding, the privacy and accessibility obligations, and the stakeholder the stakeholder map do not. So we'll spend some time on, exactly those areas in the next section. So when we say, okay, what do they want, and what are some restrictions? So clearly, AI is the top priority, it's but it's also the newest compliance area. So, you know, that discipline review really matters. One state in detail and more like it, as you can see called out here, California, through their state administrative manual, notes that every IT and telecom solicitation now carries a generative AI notification clause. So you disclose generative AI, you deliver, and generative AI used to build a deliverable if it materially affects state systems risk or contract performance. New York and Texas actually go a little further but in different directions, and you can see those lined out on the slide. So here's kind of the so what. About 41% of the state CIOs Nasheo surveyed report having generative AI procurement tie procurement terms at all. So that gap is your window in building the disclosure posture before solicitation forces, forces it is far cheaper than retrofitting it during a proposal. So one quick clarification. Most of this is a compliance representation you sign, on ordinary work versus, say, a specific, AI project. So when we look at one rule set versus, 50 plus, really two columns here. Left is, okay, as a federal contractor, what you know, and right is, right column is what you meet. So, federally, of course, you have one FAR, federal acquisition regulation, one appeal path, and one interpreted community even in the middle of what's going on with the revolutionary FAR overhaul. You have the best value trade off. You have discussions and clarifications and debriefings as a matter of course in the the general government accountability officer GAO as a forum with an automatic step. On the SLED side, you need to meet 50 different state procurement codes and then charter ordinance purchasing policy and board policy underneath those procurement codes. Now on method, just wanna be precise here because this gets could get overstated in both directions. Sealed bidding sealed bidding is the statutory default. The model code most states drew on says contracts shall be awarded by competitive sealed bidding except as otherwise provided. But that's the architecture rather than kind of what you'll meet. Reaching a RP or request for proposal, usually takes a written determination that sealed bidding is is not practical, practicable, or not advantageous. And for professional services, several states remove the choice in the other direction. For example, Virginia requires professional services to be procured by competitive negotiation. Professional services use competitive negotiation rather than low bid. On the commodity side, you probably should expect low bid. For professional services, expect more of a scored evaluation. So the practical lever is helping the buyer document that a price only specification is impossible to write or a bad idea. Use capability briefings and request for information, to support that written determination. So, you know, NASHIO's line is on the slide. If you've seen one state, you've seen one state. Right? Just to put stop that, you know, each one is different. So the practical response perhaps is to learn two states properly and build the screen that tells you which to. That screen is really, the the final thing I'll give you today. So how do decisions get made on the SLED side? Really, this might be the slide with the biggest shift for a federal audience, so I wanna spend some time on it. So who scores? Typically, three to five voting evaluators are involved. The buyer, meaning the procurement official, chairs the process but usually doesn't score it. Evaluators sign nondisclosure agreements before they see anything. So we might want to sit with that for a second. The relationship you have been building may belong to somebody who does not have a vote. But once evaluators are seated and have signed nondisclosure agreements, then your access closes. So the formal committee process then takes over. Anything not said before the solicitation is unavailable. So, you know, what changes, you know, clarifications may be limited, and some solicitations have no discussion phase or competitive range. This really varies by jurisdiction, so don't assume a weak proposal gets a second conversation. Third, how price enters, later and separately. So cost is scored apart from technical. It's frequently withheld from the evaluators until the technical scoring closes, which can be a real protection for you because a strong technical score can't be talked down by a lower number. Reverse auctions are authorized in 26 states. In those categories, you can defend your pricing for floor publicly and in real time. So here's the so what in roughly two sentences. You know? So in a in an RP, award is railing on price alone, but the scoring sheet was written before you ever saw the solicitation. And the seal bid prices the award full stop. So that changes the response. Compliance and structure really carry more weight than, narrative voice. So I mentioned the two bites of the apple, metaphor, I guess, earlier. So the the fiscal calendar is not the one you know. So, really, this one is operational, and it may be one of the easier things to act on soon. So you kinda see where we are now. We are eight weeks into state fiscal '27 for most states, which began July 1. Federal year end is, of course, September 30. Most state year ends are June 30. Four states do run a different year entirely, so there are some exemptions. Two consequences. First, capacity, spring pressure and sled lands while you're kinda in the middle of your federal cycle. So that could be kind of a hidden cost of entry that you might wanna consider working into your pricing. It's not really a proposal cost. It's more of a delivery and bid team capacity cost that hits a pretty key time. Second, budget adoption and bond authorization typically happen months before the solicitation appears, so that can be a signal. If you're watching for posted solicitation, watching you're watching the last step of the process that has been probably ongoing and visible for about a year. So one exception worth naming since this session really covers also covers education, Kindergarten through twelfth grade districts and higher education institutions, track the school calendar and their grant periods of performance. So an education pursuit follows the institution's calendar rather than, the state's fiscal year. So important question. Right? Where does the money come from? So I'm gonna compress this one to a single idea. In federal work, is it funded is usually a simple question. In SLED, it's a little bit more challenging, and it belongs in qualification rather than capture. So this slide lists five sources, general fund, dedicated and special fund funds, bond proceeds, federal pass through, and time limited federal streams. The one that surprises people is bond proceeds. So bond funded work is capital work on a multiyear clock, and it's spendable independent of the annual budget fight. So match the offering to the money rather than to the agency. And federal pass through means federal clauses can reach perhaps a county purchase order, which is worth knowing, before you sign on. So what are some risks to consider, to price before you bid? So, you know, here are the four that I kinda promised you at the top. Indemnification, so in state venue and refusal to indemnify are frequently written into statute, which means, the official across the table cannot change them no matter how reasonable your your red line. Protests and disputes, the protests and review mechanisms, differ from federal practice. Right? There is no direct GAO equivalent or automatic stay, as as you would know, on the federal side. Forum timeline, standing, and cost can vary and all vary by jurisdiction. For open records, state public records laws are frequently broader than the fret federal Freedom of Information Act. So assume a competitor can read what you submitted and mark proprietary material at submission rather than afterward. And in state price preference, which is the fourth one here, some states apply a percentage haircut to your price for being from out of state. So every one of those is a pricing input, not necessarily a legal footnote. Important to price them before the bid because in a sealed bid, especially, none of them can be negotiated after opening. Also solicitations carry specific insurance limits and coverages often above federal minimums plus bid or performance security. And state bonding statutes are often construction scope like the federal Miller Act, for services and IT, it's important to, of course, read the solicitation for the requirement. And a missing bid bond is a response to responsiveness defect in the seal bid. It's rejected at opening and and can't be can't be cured. So when we talk about on ramps into SLED, you know, basically, what I just described is more the environment. So now this is more of the practical part, which is how you may potentially get in. We've kind of narrowed it down to three doors, and one of them you may already own. Own. So when we talk about three doors into SLED, really three doors ranked by time to revenue. So door one is cooperative purchasing off the GSA schedule you may already hold. The authority is, you know, United States code section five zero two c. There are 61 eligible special item numbers or SINs, and you must hold an eligible primary one. Another point, the shorthand says that IT and security, or it says IT and security, but the eligible list spans seven categories because the older classification groups no longer map cleanly to kind of the modern category. So we would recommend checking the list, to be sure. So you can test the store even without winning a new vehicle. Maybe set a twenty four hour intake rule, and we'll talk about the clock next. But a GSA schedule creates potential access, not universal access. So whether a buyer may use it is decided by that buyer's procurement code, and some states do restrict it. Availability is really federal authority is local. So the fee fee and sales reporting requirements still apply, and orders kind of follow schedule and buyer procedures. Door two there, a state master contract. So that can be one solicitation, one procurement code, one administering authority. Think local governments, school districts, and public universities in that state can often ride the award, but the reach really remains limited to that state. Door three is a national cooperative, NASPO, ValuePoint, Omnia Partners, Sourcewell, and and TIPS. You win once, then you activate kinda state by state. So on NASPO, a signed participating addendum is required before you can use the contract as a sales sales vehicle. So two catches, really, the administrative fee sits inside your price, and the cooperative's legal form determines who may use the award. Some states may not honor awards from private organizations. So one one qualifier so you can kind of size this channel correctly. It's growing in volume and narrowing and permitted scope. And 2026 gave us two real examples in New Jersey and New York on public works. A cooperative award is not a permanent asset, and one of those four is an education cooperative, which is not incidental. TIPS is a Texas regional education service center, and K through 12 grade districts are about 23% of reported cooperative purchases, kind of level with, state government at 26%. So what is the DSA clause that changes your operating model? And this this may be a slide people really relate to, remember, because it translates the rule into an operating responsibility. So the clause itself is GSAR and a lot of numbers, as you can see there, in the in the general service administration acquisition regulation or GSAR. It is prescribed in every GSA schedule contract. So if you can follow along across the sequence there, an order arrives from an eligible state or local entity. Typically, you have five business days to reject it. For any reason, You don't need a justification. If it arrives on a government purchase card, you have twenty four hours. So here's the part with direct operating impact. No response constitutes acceptance. So from a practical perspective, a state purchase order that sits unanswered past the fifth business day can be a binding contract. On a purchase card order, you have twenty four hours. So, really, three consequences worth taking away today. First, participation is voluntary, but it's voluntary at the order level rather than the contract level. There is no contract level election. You typically can't call your contracting officer and opt out of the program, so you manage it order by order on a clock. Second, on acceptance, a separate contract forms between you and that state or local entity. So, you know, The United States is not liable per for performance. So you collect without recourse to the federal government. If the school district doesn't pay you, that's between you and the school district. Third, these are still scheduled sales. The industrial funding fee applies, and sales reporting also applies. So the operational question, if a nonfederal order arrives in your organization tomorrow, who sees it, and can they reject it inside of twenty four hours? So the practical question is whether a shared inbox can route an order to an owner over a weekend, a defined intake owner, and twenty four hour review rule are achievable, and if they are achievable near term controls. So before I leave this section, one chain to kinda take away, an awarded vehicle, then an eligible buyer, then an eligible primary item number or product, then an order path their own law permits, then a margin that survives the fee. Break any link in that chain, and the word could just be, decoration. So the next pillar is deciding, whether to move. So everything so far that I've talked about has been about their side of the table, the sled side of the table. This section is about yours, and it's built for somebody who hasn't decided yet. So you ask the question, what trans what transfers and what what do you rebuild? So this slide, you know, when you look at it and wanna you know, really delivering it plainly, the left column, what transfers largely intact? So your technical capability and your delivery discipline, do transfer your program and project management rigor, your security posture, and we'll come back to that one a little bit, and your GSA schedule if you hold an eligible SIN. So you spend years kind of building that federal foundation, and it's definitely worth something as you as your foundation per SLED. On the security side, several states do have FedRAMP analogs with their own requirements. For example, Texas accepts FedRAMP moderate into their TX ramp level two on request, but that reciprocity is not automatic the vendor has to file for. On the right side, what do you need to rebuild from scratch potentially, past performance as an evaluator sees it? You know, there is no contractor performance assessment reporting system or CPARS, and references are typically collected by hand. The certification side, no state is obliged to recognize your federal status. They run their own programs, though a few do lean on federal determinations. From a proposal process, you mentioned sealed bid, Responsiveness, freezes at opening, and it's not curable. In an RFP, you may get discussions if the solicitation allows them. And your BD process or motion. Smaller awards are expected more of them, and relationships are really built at board and council level rather than, say, a program office. And here it's kind of a pivot or an honest framing of of this. Most federal contractors pass the capability test. The cost of entry is really process, paperwork, and any in state price preference applied to out of state bids. NASHU's recent corporate member survey, estimates a single state RFP response of 20 to 30 k or more, across about 55% of of the respondents. So you may say, okay. Does my past performance count? Yes. But not the way it counts federally necessarily. And this may be a surprise for several of you listening. What the state evaluator will will need to see, right, is there is no CPARS. So a few states run their own vendor performance databases, but nothing crosses state lines. So a reference check usually means a public employee picking up the phone and calling a named person you listed often against the standard questionnaire. So not a database query, you know, really more person to person contact. Some solicitations do restrict references by geography or by entity type or award points for them. The federal reference does not satisfy, typically that state specific proof point. And buyers are told to require public sector references. So that that guidance comes from, the procurement profession's own training body. So, something to look out for. You know, NASHIO, again, reports that states will typically not serve as references for vendors. So the market demands a class of reference that the market itself declines to supply, and the only way out is to build the first one deliberately. So how does it actually get used in a sealed low bid? Past performance is typically a pass or fail responsibility determination on the apparent low bidder, usually not a score factor. Earns points only when the jurisdiction issues or RFP and says so in the solicitation. So a couple of things a couple instructions to keep in mind. First, consider rewriting the record for a SLED evaluator. Describe the same work against their scale. So a county evaluator might understand populations served more readily than federal contract value. Second, consider harvesting named and reachable references now, then build the first, SLED reference deliberately, treating a small award as an evaluation endpoint. Typically, your first SLED award may be likelier to be a sub 100 k district or campus order than a state program, but that's often the most efficient way to build a reference the next bid requires. Education puts the elements together. For example, a recent Amarillo, Texas solicitation used NIGP codes, which are similar to NAICS codes on the federal side. Preferred Texas district preferences, resident bidder cert certification, and federal grant certification. So that Texas preference is stated rather than absolute. So a federal reference is not disqualifying, but it may not earn preference. The California requirement is absolute. So we'd look at, how lead buyers can find you. One idea, you know, from this slide may be less glamorous and it quietly costs teams the most. Your, North American industry classification system code or NAICS code and your product service code or PSC do not travel. SLED buyers don't search on them. They use NIGP codes, from the National Institute of Governmental Purchasing, adopted by 46 states and the UNSPSC or the United Nations Standard Products and Services. So the federal instinct here may be backwards. Right? NAICS identifies one primary activity per establishment. These systems allow many codes per vendor. So you're building a list, not choosing an identity, and every code you leave off is a search you don't appear in. So, you know, really, it's important to check which system your target states are using, register under both where both are used, and verify each translation against live solicitations because the crosswalks are either licensed or need validating. So, you know, if you have a capability nobody can search for, you know, it's not in the pipeline. So what are some questions that may help you decide? So really three questions kinda ordered, least expensive and fastest first, and kinda walk down until you get a yes. Question one, do you hold an eligible primary special item number on your multiple award schedule and not just order level materials? If yes, you're wave one, set an internal twenty four hour rule for deciding on incoming orders, then market the authority to eligible buyers. No new competition required and could be the least expensive revenue in this market. Question two, if no, is your delivery footprint concentrated or one or two states? If yes, you are wave two. So pursue that state's master contract first. Once the solicitation, one log, one administering authority, and usually the fastest completed prime award that could be available to you. Question three, if no, are you building for scale across many jurisdictions? If yes, you are wave three. Track the national cooperative solicitation calendar and then, compete when a portfolio re solicits. And budget for the state by state activation that follows the award, because that's the cost people often forget. A no at all three is also a legitimate answer. It gives you a clear basis for the next decision. And it's not the end of the conversation, which kind of leads us to the next slide. So what would a federal contractor's first ninety days look like? So we thought it would be helpful if we put this all, you know, put all of that on one company, because the framework is easier to argue with than to apply. Again, this is illustrative. It's not a client. 200 people, federal cybersecurity and IT services. They have a GSA schedule with an eligible primary special item number, strong federal past performance, no SLED references, and delivery staff in two states. So you see three options kind of across the top. You take the reference row across because that's where the answer lives. Using the schedule, references are not required because there is no competition to be scored in. Pursuing a state contract references are blocking, federal only past performance scores, one out of three on the screen we just looked at. Subcontracting is the, only one of the three where it references the output rather than the entry requirement. The cost row kinda shows the trade off, you know, near zero, twenty to 30 k, or the business development time. So, you know, the recommendation is all three and kinda in this order, you know, activate the schedule and take this month because it's nearly free and because eligible buyers can already place orders against the schedule, in this example, that the schedules of the company holds. The clause doesn't obligate you to accept anything. What it does is make silence and acceptance. So every order needs a decision inside the window. Subcontract second to buy the reference because references are, typically the binding constraint and no vehicle can really fix that. Then pursue one state master contract next cycle once the reference exists. So this sequencing could matter. Doing the state contract first uses, you know, say, approximately 30 k before the reference position is validated. The sequence above lets you learn that earlier and add a lower cost. So the next thirty day actions are on the slide. Important not to skip the middle one and set a twenty four hour incoming order rule and, you know, name the owner. So if the answer is no at at all three, what do you do? What do you do? So for a lot of you, this may be, the first move rather than the fallback. Look at subcontracting. This is a practical way to build the reference you need. SLED past performance is a public employee telephoning a named person about a work at comparable scale. A federal reference doesn't substitute for it, and a federal contract alone doesn't create it. So what you can do is deliver part of somebody else's SLED contract and come out the other side with a public sector reference who can take that call. Also think about treating the first several as an evaluation investment, build the reference, and pursue prime work once you hold it. Now on the right column, three elements that that should remain in in your own name. First is cooperative eligibility, and this one is really more regulation, versus opinion. You know, the GSAM reference there, eligible non federal entities eligibility cannot be transferred to a third party or to a successor. So you can't ride a partner's cooperative purchasing eligibility, and a subcontractor can't ride the buyers. So, door one is your plan, then you need to have your own eligible SIN. The second is state minority, and women owned businesses credit. That goal is measured against the state's own, excuse me, uncertified vendor list. So federal JV or mental protege agreement earns you really nothing towards that. I can tell you how the federal structures work and what they do not and that they don't carry over. The specific structuring for a given state's program is a question for counsel of lice, you know, counsel license there. Third is a reference. The evaluator calls about work you perform, not work you're prime perform, so make sure your scope is separable and documented in your own name. And before picking a partner, think about approaching whoever holds the work you want. They hold the relationship and reference, and without a re procurement date, kinda treat that effort as relationship building, not necessarily, a qualified pursuit. So when we look at, you know, which two states, right, we mentioned earlier focusing on two states, really, there are seven factors, to consider. Three of them decided. Factor one, buyer authority. Can buyers in that state actually order against the vehicle you already hold? Zero here removes the state and whatever else is true. Factor two, citable past performance, you know, public sector reference at comparable scale who take the phone call. Factor three, delivery footprint, staff already working in that state on current contract contracts. It's often, more, like, the least expensive discriminator you own, and evaluators do notice it. And you know, really three rules, for reading this, you know, rank the states, do not total the scores, a zero on buyer authority is out regardless of the total. If your top three come out close together, that means factor one is unfinished and you need to go back and do the authority, research properly. So this, the score helps to rank candidates. Qualification, of course, remains, you know, a separate research step. So what does it cost to find out? Four numbers, to share with you. NASHIO survey puts a single state RFP response, as I mentioned earlier, 20 to 30 k or more for about 55% of respondents. So coming up with a figure to budget of your pursuit is is a good idea. Word size, an analysis of AI related SLED awards found an average about 2,100,000, while 42% were under a $100,000. So that proxy is kinda heavily skewed and has no median. So plan from your target state and category distribution. Payment really doesn't have a uniform state analog to the federal thirty day rule. Texas, Florida, New York, for example, use different timelines and coverage. So model your payment terms kind of for each of your target jurisdictions. Capacity, a second fiscal year end arriving in spring while you're still mid federal cycle. Right? This is not necessarily a direct proposal cost. It's more of a delivery of bid team capacity cost. And is a common reason the first slip pursuit may lose money. And now kind of the call out box, you know, gross margin and time to first award our our company and category specific. They turn cost into paybacks, so build the entry decision from your own margin capacity and and cycle time inputs. So what would the first ninety days really demand? You know, ninety days, three waves, four work streams, and I'll kind of walk across the spine of it real quick. Really read it down the columns rather than across because the four work streams run-in parallel and they have different owners. The contract is your house, the send check, the intake clock. Targeting is two states, their vehicles, incumbents, and reprocurement dates. Registration, kind of showing on day 16, because, you know, external queues take time. Pipeline requires more disciplined qualification. So days one to 15, focused on qualifying, looking at, you know, whether you hold the right SIN, you have the processes set up, pick your two states, next wave, registering for vendor status, certifications, confirming eligibility before the solicitation drops. Day 61 to 90, kind of really building it out, naming the incumbent, reprocurement date, tracking budgets and bond authorization if applicable, qualifying on funding resource versus requirements fit alone. And, you know, as in federal, the most useful discipline is deciding what not to pursue. You know, if you register too broadly without a qualified target list, it really creates an activity without a pipeline. So, you know, just kinda wrapping up here. You can't capture what you can't see. You know, there is no single sam.gov style system for Sled. No one, portal, tens of thousands of entities potentially, each with their own, portal. Really useful signals upstream, budget budget adoption, bond authorization, board agendas, grant awards, etcetera. And incumbency and expiration data is a real filter, at this stage. So first strategic question is, do you know when the contracts you want are up for re procurement? You know? And the box on the right is shares one tool example, for your reference and and, you know, really, understanding that and also a call out to what Deltek reports about, its own flood coverage. So you say, okay. What comes next? Six things on the slide, you know, look at four. Again, pull your GSA schedule, find out whether you hold cooperative purchasing eligible special item number, fix the intake clock, you know, what do you do to meet the response cycles that we talked about on the state bid, focusing on two states, or localities, depending on, where you're looking, then registering under the NIGP and UNSPSC code systems. And a fourth item, which which, doesn't cost anything directly, look at Apex Accelerators, used to be called PTACs. You know, they are congressionally authorized, free, and their counseling does cover state and local registration, in addition to federal. So that's what I had. This slide just shares a little bit more about red team, but we definitely wanted to save a few minutes for any, questions from the group. I know there's a lot of information to cover very quickly, but, Sherry, do you have any, top one or two that you. see? Yeah. First of all, thank you, Tris. Thanks. It was an excellent informative session. But let me jump into a couple of these questions that I actually feel like you proactively answered some of these. But so here's one. You mentioned that posted solicitations often mean the contractor is already late. What are the best upstream signals you recommend monitoring? Budgets, board agendas, bond authorizations, incumbent, expiration dates, or is there something else? All the ones you just listed are, definitely things to look at. Yeah. Yeah. And I think I mentioned that a little bit earlier. But, you know, the the process of deal shaping isn't a whole lot different than federal. You know, it's it's understanding your customer, understanding their pain points, challenges, where they have upcoming needs, where is the money coming from, what's the anticipated timing, who's the incumbent. You know? So a lot of what you typically would do in a federal capture process is apply at state. It's just really more of the mechanisms, that are different. K. Yeah. And I appreciate you speaking to those things that you can consider, you know, the different procurement practices, the dynamics, and those practical tips as well to consider. So, how do you recommend identifying the incumbent and the re procurement date, when the SLED market doesn't have a single sam.gov style system? I know you gave a shout out to Deltek. because I was gonna plug. GovWinIQ as well. Yeah. That's a. perfect a perfect, reason to access GovWinIQ because we can we can help you with that. Yep. Yeah. That is true. I mean, Gov one IQ does offer state and local or SLED module, which does provide a centralized way of, seeing a lot of that information and you know, so it's definitely a top tool to to consider if you don't already have it. Yep. You know? But also looking on the specific portals for your target, whether it's a state, a county, a city, municipality, university. Right? Yep. Depending on how granular you get with it, they also maintain their own sites. And a lot of times, they have, bid information and open deals and things like that. Yep. Like, Virginia has, their own system for that. Correct. Alright. I'm looking at the time, and it looks like we've using up most of our time today. If you do have any following questions, please get them in now, and we'll make sure that we send them over to red team, and they will, follow-up with you. And, thank you all for joining us today. Just a reminder, you are gonna get today's recording by email, within twenty four hours. Please come back and join us. For more events like this on government contracting, visit deltech.com. Thank you again, Tris, and thank you all. Take you. care. Bye.