SAN FRANCISCO — The biggest federal public works project since World War II offers tantalizing possibilities for the struggling tech market. 

President Obama’s staggering $787 billion economic stimulus package, passed in February, could be a financial oasis — especially for an industry facing a precipitous drop in tech spending by economically ravaged corporations and consumers.

It allocates tens of billions of dollars for tech upgrades to energy ($4.5 billion for smart grids), health care ($20 billion for electronic medical records), broadband deployment and education.

The dizzying amounts have tech giants jockeying to land government contracts, the first expected to be awarded in the next few weeks. IBM, General Electric, Cisco Systems, Intel and some well-positioned start-ups are among suitors poised to capitalize.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime deal,” says Sean Maloney, chief sales and marketing officer at Intel, which is working on broadband projects with governments in the U.S., Japan, Vietnam and others. “This dwarfs the Marshall Plan and the New Deal. It is unimaginably large, and will never happen again. It is incumbent on us to spend it wisely.”

Technology firms are far from the only companies that will be looking for every viable means to access the $787 billion in Stimulus money that is just beginning to flow to government buyers nationwide.  At a time when belts are tightening around the world, an unprecedented amount of money is going to be infused into the public sector.

In the past, many suppliers of all sizes have ignored government business simply because of the costs and uncertainty associated with bidding in the public sector.  In the sealed paper bidding environment, suppliers spend hours putting together a bid response package dozens or even hundreds of pages long, and at the end of the process, suppliers have the opportunity to enter only one price.  Suppliers have no idea about their standing until all prices have been submitted and no more bids can be placed.

A supplier can be $50 behind first place on a $500,000 project and not have the chance to compete further for the buyers business.  It is also a common occurrence to overestimate the competition and leave thousands of dollars on the table simply because a supplier has by far the best price.

The combination of the current economic times and the passage of the Stimulus package has made it impossible for suppliers of any size to ignore business in the public sector any longer, and whether a supplier is experienced or not in dealing with public buyers, BidBridge facilitates the process doing business with government buyers.

First, by registering with BidBridge, suppliers become a part of a pool of 3,000 suppliers nationwide.  When a new bid comes to BidBridge, our operations team combs our database for suppliers qualified to compete for the contract.  Suppliers are automatically notified of opportunities of interest.  This helps to minimize the sales acquisition costs of tracking down government business.  BidBridge has worked with over 400 public sector buyers nationwide, so any supplier that registers will be exposed to a large footprint of government business.

BidBridge’s dynamic bidding environment also affords suppliers the opportunity to compete for a buyer’s business in real time.  In contrast with the static, one price response of the paper bidding process, BidBridge’s platform allows suppliers to see how they stand in regards to competition and place multiple bids under sealed cover in an effort to earn the contract.  Gone are the days of leaving money on the table by bidding too low or losing contracts by a fraction of a percent because only one price can be submitted.

BidBridge buyers are already planning Stimulus projects, so register as a BidBridge supplier today to access a tool that will help you capture as much Stimulus business as possible.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER