How to Secure Coveted Government Contracts

William Goad pats the pockets on his faded jeans looking for his cellphone. He checks the time (it’s 5 a.m.) and nods. “I like getting on the base early,” he says.

“That way, I can get to the job before anyone is even on the road.” Goad is off to Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Hampton, Virginia, to drop off supplies.The 70-year-old master electrician at Abbott General Construction Inc. in Hampton, Virginia, slides behind the wheel of his white work van.

The back is full of electrical wires, conduits and decades’ worth of bits and bobs from countless government contracting jobs.Over the course of his career, Goad estimates he’s been involved with dozens of government construction contracts. “There have been so many I’ve lost count,” he says.

Whether it’s estimating materials costs or installing electrical wiring and control equipment, he sums up his decades of experience with government contracts in one sentence: “They’re competitive and hard to get, but there’s good money in them.”