A Contract with the Federal Government

Doing research is crucial when it comes to being on the cutting edge to get a bid in for a contract with the federal government. Knowing the competition is crucial if the firm is trying to become advantageous in the bidding process. The only way a firm can continue to be competitive is by knowing who and what their competition is. Being ignorant of what is going on in the market can hurt a firm as well as not taking advantage of knowing what firms have the upper hand. Each firm should take the information of their competitors and build on the information in order to become a real threat in referencing proposals and bids. Research is an important way of self analyzing the company and to see how one firm stands up against another firm.

Create a set of five (5) best practices specific to your firm for conducting market research

Although Logistic Management Resources has been around for almost 18 years, the company still must use strategies in conducting research (https://www.lmr.inc.com).- New and thriving companies will continue to come around and try to become even more innovative than the ones who have broken the code on doing business with the government. So it doesn't matter how long a company has been around in the contract business, it is always important to try to stay ahead of the competition. The only way to stay ahead of the competition is by doing market research (Englebeck, 2002). Logistic Management Resources uses 5 various strategies to incite their market research. These research results are tried and true and are able to land the company with hundreds of contracts that support military installations across the United States throughout the year. One of their first strategies is to gather marketing intelligence/ setting goals and plans. According to Osborne, in order to stay competitive one must be intelligent about marketing (Osborne, 2011). LMR does this by setting goals that would line up with the customers they want to work with. They look at what the customer wants by knowing their "needs, fears, and desires" (Osborne, 2011). This means LMR does research on the company they want to work with and gather information on that company that would provide the necessary data that would make them a contender. So they have to stay a step ahead by maybe trying to get inside information with the customer (Osborne, 2011). Doing this strategy LMR has to lay out their goals and what they expect to achieve with the customer they are trying to do business with (Osborne, 2011). Another strategy that Logistic Management Inc. uses is seeking out their competitors. LMR look out for potential competitors that might catch the customer's eye. So they must seek how to stay one step ahead of the competition. LMR-inc. tries to find out if their potential customer is noticing anything from other competitors that would make their competition stand out more than theirs with the customer. (Osborne, 2011) Another strategy that Logistics Management Corporation tends to look at is the pricing to see if it is competitive amongst their competition. Pricing is important because the firm must understand if their labor rates and overhead along with the other cost is competitive enough for them to throw in a bid. If the pricing is not cost effective to Logistic Management Resources where they see an advantage, during their market research, they will pull out from that particular customer (Osborne, 2011). Logistic Management Resources-Inc also looks at the technical aspect during their market research. They want to make sure the personnel that are employed match the skill level that the customer is looking for. Also Logistics Management Resources-Inc. makes the decision early enough to employ the level of technical skills needed if those skills are lacking at the company (Osborne, 2011). Defining the target is another market strategy that Logistics Management uses. LMR-inc knows the type of customers that would benefit the company and those agencies and branches are the ones that Logistic Management Resources go after. Their primary customers are Army and Marines and so the corporation develops databases that would benefit those Armed Services. They go after the military branches that have the heavy combat brigades and sustainment brigades. So, they (LMR) develop databases that would help those units when they have convoy requests and procedures by allowing them to view and hear other convoys through Messaging and Movement Tracking Systems (MTS).

Determine what steps the firm could take in the immediate future to be more competitive in the federal acquisition market.

The firm must be able to view things strategically in order for them to be more competitive in the market place. Other firms gathered the information on how to break the code in getting government contracts so therefore, it is no longer a secret. LMR