Governmental Clients

[joegti10]

A local politician contacted me today about doing a website for their board of trustees. Im supposed to have an informal meeting with them tomorrow.

All ive ever dealt with is small, privately owned businesses usually on a pretty tight budget so im kinda unsure how i should go about quoting them. Is this something i should be asking more than usual for being that its not for a private source?

Anything i should be concerned with doing a website for a governmental entity? Handicapped accessibility elements maybe?

Im proud of the work i do, confident in my abilities and obviously they liked what they saw, this is just a very new arena im about to enter and a little nervous.

Any/all advice is needed and appreciated.

[jessebhunt]

I generally price websites the same for local government agencies as I do for my business customers. However, I try not to deal with too many super low budget clients. Generally speaking, I price my services at a fair market value, and that's what I charge. Private business or local government, I aim to be paid what I'm worth.

All of that being said, I'm actually more likely to offer a slight discount for local government sites than I am for local business sites. My reasoning for this is that government websites can generally offer some good publicity, press releases, etc. I figure the publicity is worth a slight discount if it's necessary to get the job.

Hope that helps.

[Sagewing]

Government work tends to be slightly higher cost than private sector work, as it can also more more troublesome and tedious to execute. Every situation is different, though, and it sounds like you'll be dealing with a very small group.

[shadowbox]

Agree with both posts. Government sites are great for the portfolio, but can be a bit more heavy going. I've always quoted a higher rate for such jobs to allow for the extra meetings, endless red tape, and the inevitable compromises you'll have to make to your normal practices (e.g. possibly forgoing a deposit etc).

They also tend to have a rigid tendering process, and it would be wise to ask how many other vendors have been approached (which is a question I ask any potential client). The more companies approached, the lesser your chances of winning, so you'd have to weigh up the effort with respect to the projected value of the project.

[joegti10]

Thanks for the advice guys.

[Sagewing]

Agree with both posts. Government sites are great for the portfolio, but can be a bit more heavy going. I've always quoted a higher rate for such jobs to allow for the extra meetings, endless red tape, and the inevitable compromises you'll have to make to your normal practices (e.g. possibly forgoing a deposit etc).

They also tend to have a rigid tendering process, and it would be wise to ask how many other vendors have been approached (which is a question I ask any potential client). The more companies approached, the lesser your chances of winning, so you'd have to weigh up the effort with respect to the projected value of the project.

Well put!

In my experience, that rigid tendering process is tough at first but once you get familiar with it you can have a much easier time winning government work. I still make more money on public sector than anything else and after 10 years I can sail through a 6 month procurement process to win a job - it's excruciating but once you get the job you are in pretty good shape. Stable, and predictable.

I have yet to find a government client who will pay a deposit for a job (jobs worth, say, $100,000 and higher) and really I expect to wait at least 120 days to get paid. That doesn't really matter, though, because the cost of floating that money is nominal compared to the benefit of a reliable but slow-paying client.

I love my public sector gigs.