Every year the federal government procures $20 billion dollars of goods and services. While smaller companies often relish the idea of being awarded a government contract, they are also often intimidated by the challenge of using the government's complex and highly intricate procurement process.

Finding bidding opportunities is not particularly difficult, as sites like MERX can be browsed for free. The challenge comes in understanding things like how and when you should register in the Supplier Registration Information (SRI) service and related government-wide supplier databases.

It is a complex puzzle you could spend weeks sorting out. Or, you can buy and read Marion Soubliere's book, Getting Work with the Federal Government.

The history behind this book is that Marion, like many small business owners, set out to piece together the puzzle of how procurement works with the federal government. As a writer, she then decided to share the findings of her research in her self-published book.

The information in this book is excellent. I found that the overall layout sometimes distracted from the message and the book would have benefitted from a professional designer to help convey the message with more clarity. Nonetheless, the main point of this book is to help explain what a small business needs to know in order to do business with the federal government and it covers that topic quite well.