Following the halting of the GSA Expo and other major government conferences due to tightening travel budgets in 2012, the government turned toward the virtual environment to get in touch with contractors across the country -- employing webinars and other online events to cut costs and reduce logistical concerns. These webinars could not replace the old expos as they were very one-sided and often not as well advertised. Communication between government buyer and vendor dwindled, small businesses began closing down as there was little outreach, and innovation suffered. In 2014, the digital services agency known as 18F -- having just resolved Healthcare.gov -- worked to bring a social media communication to government officials. This is the channel FedGov.News utilizes, known as the V*GEN.

While most news and other media outlets rely heavily on subscriber count, FedGov.News actually works with various government officials -- typically from the OSBDC. These officials, known colloquially as "conduit members" -- receive the information published through FedGov.News (project history, generally) and distribute it out to their networks through social media, email, et cetera. With currently around 150 "conduit members" -- representing every major agency and many of the largest prime contractors -- your company's message, brand, and project experience can easily go out to over 15,000 government buyers (around 3 times the size of the GSA Expo at its height). This technique, often referred to as "prearranged, word-of-mouth, viral distribution" can improve communication, enhance innovation, and generally increase a firm's bid-win ratio significantly, with many finding an increase of 30-80% additional contract wins.

Further, it can be targeted to a particular agency, a particular company, a particular contracting office, and even a particular purchasing agent -- ensuring specificity in your marketing approach to maximize your results.

V*GEN (and subsequently, FedGov.News) is completely funded by sponsorship dollars from major corporations and grant monies. We do NOT charge for our services in publishing and distributing out your project history articles. To repeat, there is NO charge for publishing articles throughout the year; a company can submit as many as it likes (though, we recommend not exceeding more than two per week).

The only fee involved does not actually go to FedGov.News or V*GEN. All information published and distributed MUST be verified for accuracy. Thus, all companies must be verified, and we use a background check report done by Dun&Bradstreet. This cost is $199, and we do it yearly. There are no other charges or hidden fees. As the cost is for a report (ie, FedGov.News and its parent company do not maintain the fee), there are no refunds on this payment allowed.

All companies that publish through FedGov.News and V*GEN must be a verified small business registered in SAM (go to sam.gov for more information). This is generally defined by your NAICS codes from the SBA. Special consideration may be taken into account for companies whose NAICS codes are especially restrictive (eg, if your NAICS codes are restricted to companies under $7 million in revenue a year), but it will be determined on a case-by-case basis. "Verified" in this sense means going through a Dun&Bradstreet (which includes a company background check) report that is initiated by the FedGov.News staff. This is REQUIRED to ensure all information published is accurate.

Although being a small business contractor is the only strict requirement, ideal candidates are companies with revenue between $250,000-$50 million, and are at least one of the following: FSS-holder, 8(a)-certified, and/or veteran-owned/service-disabled veteran-owned. Again, these are NOT requirements, but appreciated.

Easy 2-Step Application Process!