Winning government contracts - Shoptalk - queries from readers - column

Home Office Computing, Feb, 1991 by Carol Milano

Meet Carol Milano, HOME-OFFICE COMPUTING's new ShopTalk columnist. Milano is president of Milano Marketing, a New York City business-consulting firm. She has received national attention as a writer, professor, and lecturer on the topic of launching and expanding a small business. HELP FROM UNCLE SAM Q. I'd like to market a 35-hour training course targeted to executives. I'll use my IBM compatible to manage the program and create training aids, completion certificates, and student guides. My goal is to copyright the material and get a government contract to provide training. What actions should I take to implement my plans?

MELVIN H. PROKITY

New York, New York A. To win a government contract, a business owner must identify government agencies that need his or her company's services. Because the government is unlikely to contract for a business to provide private-sector training, you may want to market your seminar to federal executives.

Identify likely defense or civilian offices by contacting a procurement specialist at the nearest U.S. Small Business Administration office. He or she can try to match you with agencies and provide contact names. Ask the SBA for the Bidders' Mailing List form. By submitting it, you'll receive announcements related to Requests for Proposals (RFPs) in your field. To bid for a contract, you must respond by letter to RFP announcements.

The Commerce Business Daily, a national newspaper, publishes all announcements of planned purchases by each government agency. (Call [202] 783-3238 to subscribe.)

Once you've created a training program and won a government contract, be aware that facts and ideas cannot be copyrighted. But you can copyright the written form of your presentation. For applications and a free government pamphlet, Copyright Basics, call the Federal Information Center at (800) 347-1997. Specify the type of work you want to copyright; the information officer will tell you which category it belongs in. Filing for each copyright costs $20. You may need two separate applications for training aids and student guides. For further information, contact the U. S. Copyright Office at (202) 479-0700. GETTNG WORK IN WHILE KEEPING CLIENTS OUT Q. How can I get work delivered to my new word-processing business without asking strangers into my home? Some customers, such as students, don't have access to a fax machine. Using a courier pickup and delivery service, I'll have to charge too much or work for less money. Also, because of the way my office is set up, I feel that having clients come to my home to do business is unprofessional.

MICHELLE CAPPONI

Mississauga, Ontario, Canada A. When customers call to ask your rates, be sure to let them know the fee does not include pickup or delivery charges. It's up to the client to choose the method-and pay for it. If you can't leave the house, recruit a teenager to pick up and deliver after school. (You charge the client, which will cover the student's salary.) As a backup, comparison-shop among local messenger services and large overnight delivery chains to work out a reasonable option for clients without a fax machine.

Some clients will prefer to come to your office-and many entrepreneurs share your concern about whether it's "professional" to see customers at home. Here are some alternatives: * Find a suitable restaurant in an accessible location. Many consultants have meetings in venerable bistros during quiet afternoon hours. * Rent an office by the hour, in midday, from a psychotherapist who sees patients in evenings and early mornings. * Meet clients in their offices. * Join a club in your town that offers meeting space during business hours. Look for an alumni club of a local university. * Check classified ads in the real estate and business sections of the daily newspaper, and in local professional publications, to see if any commercial facilities rent small conference rooms by the hour. IS TRANSLATION SOFTWARE OUT THERE? Q. I'm starting a computer consulting firm in Naples, Italy. My biggest problem is translating documents into Italian. I have seen advertisements for translation software that takes English text and converts it to a different language, such as Spanish. Where can I buy translation software?

C.J. KELL

Virginia Beach, Virginia A. With the '90s shaping up as the decade for international business, several readers have asked about language software. Dina Bennett, Vice President of international Language Engineering, a Colorado translation firm, says some translation programs exist, but unless you're fluent in the foreign language, you won't be able to use them well. They all require human intervention to make the text usable. Bennett finds that no program can replicate the way an individual uses the language.

As a small-business owner, your best bet may be to hire a freelance translator through the American Translation Association (109 Croton Ave., Ossining, NY 10562; [914] 941-1500). A member can do a basic translation for you on disk. Once you have a translation, text-editing programs are available from Polyglot Software (2540 Frontier Ave., Suite 200, Boulder, CO 80301). Try Jet:Spell, its spell-checking program, which comes in 11 languages; Hyphen, the hyphenation program, is available in 13 languages. But, as with translation software, you or someone in your office must be fluent in the language you're editing because if a correction is offered, you'll need to know the correct word to use.