Kurt Shintaku's Blog

I’m post something a little different today… this is for Microsoft professional services “partners”.

I’ve received a lot questions recently from professional services providers looking to engage State & Local Government customers. I’m by no means an expert on the topic so for those without any experience working in the US Public Sector, your first place for guidance should likely be your Microsoft Partner Development Manager.

GOVERNMENT CONTRACTING VEHICLES
Although one thing that I’m personally often challenged with is whether or not a potential services partner (traditionally used to working on commercial/enterprise services engagements) has any *government* contracting vehicles established. Typical vehicles include CMAS, NASPO, OASIS, etc.

Without having access to an organizational contracting vehicle that a government organization will accept, it’s a challenge to be able to work for & engage state & local government institutions as a Professional Services provider. I generally recommend investigating qualifying for State & Local Government contracting vehicles if public sector is an area you’d like to deliver services to. Here’s some examples of partners Microsoft commonly works with in the US Public Sector that have established government contracting vehicles across many states – along with the contracting vehicles they have established:

• Quisitive: https://quisitive.com/industries/public-sector/procurement/
• Speridian: https://www.speridian.com/public-sector/
• Presidio: http://presidio.com/industries/public-sector/contract-vehicle/
• Planet: https://go-planet.com/about-planet/contract-vehicles/
• Insight: https://ips.insight.com/en_US/shop/contracts/state-local-government.html

(Note: We have many other partners that deliver consulting services to US government entities however I’m using these as examples because, well, I know them, they’ve done work for my customers & they’ve all published the contracting vehicles they’ve qualified for on their web sites)

FUNDING PROGRAMS
For professional services providers that don’t have any contracting vehicles, it’s going to be hard to do business for municipal organizations. One way MAY be to pursue qualifying as an ECIF (End Customer Investment Funds) or AMMP (Azure Migrate & Modernize Program) qualified Microsoft partner.  Work through your Microsoft Partner Development Manager for guidance on the qualifications for these Microsoft programs and how to proceed. 

I recommend this as a potential avenue because *occasionally* (not always) some public sector customers will accept work from Microsoft partners paid by Microsoft ECIF/AMMP funding WITHOUT a public sector contracting vehicle if they can ‘sole source’ the engagement on the basis of simply stating, “Microsoft is paying for it, this is the partner/professional services organization they’ve chosen & it’s their money. Full stop.” 😊.  It’s one potential way to get to work with State & Local Government organizations even if you don’t have a contracting vehicle to work anywhere.

Again, information on this should be obtained directly from your PDM however, here’s some pointers to information that may be helpful:

• Azure Migrate and Modernize and Azure Innovate
• Mastering ECIF – Understanding Microsoft’s End Customer Investment Funds for FY25