Post: #1

Who here has ever sold or is continuing to sell products/services to the government ? Specifically commodities but also open to hearing about anything else.

I am interested in obviously the US government, Canadian government and the Chinese government.

I would like to know how you got started.

With my new job trading for a commodity firm we have employed some strategies for basis trading and we also have a huge export department for physical commodities. One thing I have noticed is we don't have any government contracts even though we are one of the biggest traders and often have physical commodities on hand at way below market value. Not only that but we have a great team of Asian, Indian and ME traders and basically can trade worldwide.

Also for guys who might have a great product or idea my firm has the infrastructure in place to both export and import products worldwide and my President is a wild man and if we can make money doing it, he is game and will invest in the idea.

I would like to learn as much as I can so I can get the ball rolling before I even breathe a word of this to my President and PM. I do love the guys in my office already but that said they are shrewd mother fuckers and they would cut me out in a heartbeat if I brought forth the idea but had no substance behind it.

Post: #2

To sell to the US Govt you need a contract vehicle. There are Govt -wide contract vehicles such as the GSA schedule. There are also Dept/Agency specific vehicles. Generally, services and products are sold using separate vehicles. It's a long, involved process and requires an accounting system that meets govt procurements regulations.

Your best bet is to team up with a company that already sells to the US govt and learn how they do it.

Post: #3

For agricultural commodities look at the Middle Eastern countries, especially in the Gulf, where a lot of them have lots of money, a hungry population, but very limited ability to produce food. they are buying up and leasing land in Africa to produce food, but this isn't sufficient yet.