Government agencies and entities are rapidly making the move to VoIP tools and technologies. VoIP adoption can be seen across a number of government sectors, as evidenced by recent aggregated data from government business intelligence organization Onvia (News - Alert): 24 percent of K-12 schools, 20 percent of federal agencies, 17 percent of cities, 14 percent of counties, and 13 percent of states are investing or considering investing in VoIP. Furthermore, nearly 30,000 government budget documents between 2014 and 2018 will mention “telecom projects.”

The numbers above suggest that the question isn’t whether government agencies are investing in VoIP, but rather how companies can strategically sell to this profitable sector.

To help answer this question was Michael Price, founder and manager at MarketUS, LLC., a provider of General Services Administration (GSA (News - Alert)) assistance for companies, who presented during an Asterisk World session this morning, “How do You Penetrate the Government to Further Expand VoIP?” Asterisk (News - Alert) World is one of many collocated events happening at ITEXPO 2015, happening now in Miami, Florida.

In order to conduct business with the government, vendors need a contract vehicle. The situation is equivalent to trying to lease a car without a credit card, for instance—without this “contract vehicle” (a.k.a GSA contract), companies will experience significant challenges and barriers to market.

The fastest way to start generating government business, according to Price, is to acquire a GSA contract, or what the GSA defines as “A negotiated contract with terms, conditions, and pricing of services and/or products approached by GSA for use by any government agency.”

A GSA contract is the easiest way to penetrate the government market, providing companies with an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract available to all federal departments, agencies and other entities, Price explained, which enables a vendor to provide an indefinite number of services during a fixed period of time. Furthermore, a GSA contract has no order limitations, meaning that companies can do whatever is agreed upon by the agency. Other benefits of a GSA contract, according to Price, include pre-negotiated pricing and terms and streamlined acquisition processes, among many other competitive benefits.

So, now for the most important piece of the puzzle: how can companies get started? In an effort to help get the ball rolling, Price provided answers to two commonly asked questions among his client base:

Q: How long do I have to be in business?

A: Depends on the contracting offer, you don’t have to be in business for a certain period of time

Q: How do you legally comply with this requirement?

A: Prove that you have been doing this type of work as an independent or subcontractor for more than two years, Price advises.

It might be the last day of ITEXPO (News - Alert) 2015 but there are still plenty of exciting panel sessions, a packed exhibition floor and a grand prize giveaway of $15,000! Stay tuned here for more updates.