Disties Paving the Way To Uncle Sam

The days of summer wane in our nation's capital. The kids are trudging back to school. The nights are growing ever crisper. And if you listen closely, you can hear the sound of thousands of solution providers cranking out proposals and rushing to fulfill deals before the government buying cycle closes for another year.

While many things about selling to the public sector are as predictable as the seasons, shifting regulations, budget cuts, technology upheaval and new IT initiatives can make the government channel a dynamic--and often frightening--place to do business.

As GovernmentVAR takes stock of the top distributors in the public-sector space this year, it's clear that it's becoming more important than ever for the distributors to help VARs navigate government engagements. From catering to arcane configuration requirements to dealing with elongated sales cycles, today's successful government-distribution program needs to be specialized and government-savvy.

"Given the long sales cycles in the government market, a VAR must be able to count on the distributor to step up and offer price, delivery and other value-added services," says Alan Bechara, president of PC Mall Gov in Chantilly, Va.

And Bechara should know. His firm recently inked a blanket-purchase-agreement deal with the GSA to provide IT products through the federal government's Global Supply's Expanded Directory Delivery Program, which provides federal agencies with a central depot for one-off purchasing requirements. Through the blanket deal, Bechara's business stands to generate $100 million in government sales over three years.

Bechara has a laundry list of expectations for distributors to help resellers win in the public-sector channel, including assistance with initial bids for government work.

"[And] with the increased focus on Buy American Act/Trade Agreement Act compliance in government contracts, a VAR needs to be sure that the information they receive from their distributor is reliable," Bechara adds.

In response to such concerns from their partners, most broadline distributors, such as Synnex and D&H Distributing, have rolled out focused government programs that provide specialized technical and logistical support for VARs serving public clients. At Ingram Micro in Santa Ana, Calif., the distributor's GovEd Alliance program provides what executives there say is a comprehensive set of services aimed at government VARs.

"The support that a VAR needs from a distributor in the public-sector business is a lot more than just pure pick, pack and ship," says Bob Laclede, vice president and general manager of Ingram's government and education division. "When a solution provider is looking at government and education opportunities, they will typically need a number of additional services and programs to win the business and be profitable."

Among the additional services Ingram offers, according to Laclede, are "special financing programs that range from longer terms, special leasing arrangements and an ability for the smaller VAR to win the larger deals that their normal credit terms would not facilitate.

"There is normally special pricing involved, and we help the VAR obtain that pricing from the vendors," Laclede adds. "But even before the VAR gets to the point of doing the deal, we help them with business-development resources that help identify the right opportunity, [teach] them how to close it [through grant-request assistance] and educate them on the particular issues on the technology or end-user segment that they're dealing with."

NEXT: Meanwhile, over at Tech Data...

ALSO: 17 distributors that serve the government market.

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