I want to audit government buildings — courthouses, city halls, public works facilities. The error rate should be high because nobody is watching the utility bills. But I can't figure out how to get in the door. Every municipality I approach says I need to go through their procurement process, submit an RFP response, or get on an approved vendor list. Some of these procurement processes take 6-12 months. How do you make this work on contingency?
Government buildings — procurement headaches
Welcome to government work. The procurement hurdle is real but it's not as bad as it seems. Many municipalities have a small purchase threshold — typically $25,000-$50,000 — below which the department head can sign a contract without going through formal procurement. Since your contingency agreement doesn't require any upfront payment, you can often get signed under that threshold by framing it as a no-cost professional services agreement. I've gotten signed by three Georgia counties this way. The facilities director or county administrator signs it and you're auditing within a week.
Greg's approach works well. Another angle is to start with elected officials. A county commissioner or city council member who champions the idea of finding utility savings can fast-track your engagement through the approval process. Nobody on a city council is going to vote against a free audit that saves taxpayer money. I've seen auditors get approved at a single council meeting by presenting the concept as zero cost, zero risk, and a potential source of budget savings. Government buildings are absolutely worth pursuing — the error rates are consistently among the highest I've seen across any sector.
The small purchase threshold approach is genius. I just checked and my county has a $35,000 threshold. Since my agreement is contingency-based with no upfront cost, I should be able to get under that easily. Going to approach the county administrator this week.