I was going to say something similar but this pretty much sums it up. I read the postmortem written by the Sunlight Foundation guys; while they were well-meani

I was going to say something similar but this pretty much sums it up. I read the postmortem written by the Sunlight Foundation guys; while they were well-meaning and I don't want to knock their effort, they didn't stand a chance. Getting Federal work isn't anything like working in the private sector. There's all the paperwork to go through, putting together a proposal and writing all the contracts (which is a huge amount of work and is basically done at-risk), and that's just to avoid getting your proposal thrown out. To actually win, you need connections. A "good" government contracting officer can basically use the FAR to their agency's benefit, and in effect steer the contract to whomever they want to win. If you're not that person, you're done for. I'm not even implying anything illegal, just that the FAR is so complicated and has so much room for subjective judgment, it's pretty much guaranteed in my experience that contracts will be awarded to whomever the agency feels most comfortable working with. It is not a system that is kind to outsiders. If you don't have a staff full of proposal writers and lots of experienced people with personal networks to draw on and extensive resumes, your best -- and IMO only -- bet is to cozy up to one of the big players and work as a subcontractor for a while.