There are many businesses that can land a government contract whether they are making electronics or even weapons. If you happen to be one of those businesses, then you will undoubtedly have a steady stream of profit, and you may even attract larger contracts. If that is the case however, there are three things that you absolutely must do if you are to stay in business, and more importantly, out of prison.
1. Be Honest on all Government Documents
Honesty should be a no brainer, especially when it comes to government contracts, but this is not always the case. Because you are working for a government agency, you will be under pressure to produce a certain quantity of product within what could seem to be a very limited time frame. Whether or not their demands are realistic will be up for debate, but there may be a month wherein you cannot meet their demands. It may be appealing for you to simply fib on the paperwork, but you must be honest at all times. Not only will dishonesty lose the contract, it could also result in prosecution depending on the letter of the contract. This is of course one example of honesty, but working under a government contract, you will find that there are several others. Honesty will protect you and the reputation of your company.
2. Protect All Sensitive Information
If you are working with top secret or even classified materials, then you will need to make sure you protect all sensitive information. This goes for anything you may (or may not) be developing for the government, and this is with good reason. While the item you are developing may not seem terribly important for you, it could be extremely important to someone in the field, and if the inner workings of a sensitive piece of equipment happens to get out, you could face charges, or worse, someone could die.
3. Perform Good Quality Work
It is important to remember that you are doing work for the government. That being the case, you should try to ensure that the work you do is of high quality. Not only will this help to ensure quality, it will also allow you to keep your job for a bit longer. There are a number of weapons manufacturers out there, and they can afford to make mistakes. This is evidenced by the M-16 A2 rifles issued to soldiers in basic training. If you are not a weapons manufacturer, or simply want to keep people alive, then make sure you do good quality work.
Mandy H. Smith is an IT security auditor and had performed a number of NIST compliance audits for major corporations. When she's not making sure that companies are NIST compliant she is biking and reading books.
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