Negotiating with the government

This past summer I submitted a proposal to GSA to get on their Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) which allows government agencies to buy your services at pre-negotiated prices.

We submitted proposed bill rates for different LCATS and the GSA rep has responded, proposing some counter prices and a lower annual escalation rate.

What's interesting is that even though we are negotiating, the whole thing is very routine.

She asked that we just respond to her e-mail either accepting or proposing an alternative.

This seems pretty consistent with my experience with sub-contracting. Negotiation doesn't mean playing hardball in a conference room and threatening to walk away.

99% of the time, it's just an e-mail saying "we propose X" and then either accepting or proposing something else.

So no reason to be intimidated. Much of the work is done before hand with research, understanding the customer, etc.

The actual negotiation is a bit anti-climactic.

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