T & C Trust
Government Contract Readiness Advisory
Helping organizations step back and evaluate government opportunities before committing significant time and resources.
After decades inside federal operations, I’ve seen how often companies pursue opportunities without fully understanding the environment they are stepping into. This site exists to help organizations pause, evaluate the situation clearly, and decide whether government contracting actually makes sense before committing time and resources.
Choose the Right Starting Point
Organizations arrive at government contracting from different situations. Some are exploring the idea for the first time, while others already have a specific opportunity in front of them. The resources below are designed to help you begin in the right place.
Exploring Government Contracting
If you are new to government contracting, start with the Before You Bid guide. It explains common misconceptions and helps businesses understand what they are stepping into.
Evaluating a Specific Opportunity
If your company is already considering a contract opportunity, the Government Contract Fit & Readiness Review provides an objective assessment before committing resources.
Why Organizations Speak With T & C Trust
Government contracting advice is everywhere.
What’s rare is insight from someone who spent decades inside the system responsible for accountability, operations, and oversight.
Tom Rooney spent more than 40 years working in the federal government, including over 25 years in information technology and operational leadership at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
He served as Deputy Director of the VA Enterprise Command Center, where coordination, performance monitoring, and operational response were part of everyday work.
That background shapes the perspective offered through T & C Trust.
This is not theory about government contracting.
It’s an understanding of how decisions actually move through government organizations once a contract begins.
The goal is simple:
Help organizations evaluate opportunities clearly before committing time, resources, and reputation to a pursuit.
Why Government Contract Readiness Matters
Many organizations are introduced to government contracting through opportunity lists, webinars, or conversations with colleagues. What is often missing from those introductions is a clear explanation of how different the environment actually is.
Structure
Expectations
Commitment
Government contracting operates within formal processes and defined requirements that differ from typical commercial work.
Agencies expect consistency, documentation, and performance standards that many first-time contractors underestimate.
Pursuing the wrong opportunity can consume significant time, money, and internal capacity—often before a contract is ever awarded.
This is why many organizations seek an independent perspective before moving forward.
Government Contracting Is Not Like Typical Sales
Many organizations approach government opportunities the same way they approach commercial customers. The reality is different. Contracts are awarded through formal processes, requirements must be followed precisely, and decisions are often driven by evaluation criteria rather than persuasion.
Understanding these realities early can help organizations decide whether a particular opportunity is worth pursuing.
Structure
Commitment
Expectations
Government contracts operate within formal processes and defined requirements that differ from typical commercial sales.
Agencies expect consistency, documentation, and performance standards that many new contractors underestimate.
Pursuing the wrong opportunity can consume significant time and internal resources.
A Practical Perspective on Government Contracting
My perspective comes from more than three decades working inside federal operations, where decisions, coordination, and accountability directly affect how programs succeed or fail. During that time, I saw many organizations approach government work with strong capabilities but an incomplete understanding of the environment they were entering.
Government contracting can be rewarding, but it operates differently from most commercial markets. Agencies evaluate vendors through structured processes, expectations are defined carefully, and performance is measured in ways that are not always obvious from the outside. Understanding those realities early can save organizations significant time, effort, and expense.
The purpose of T & C Trust is not to encourage every company to pursue government work. It is to help organizations step back, examine an opportunity thoughtfully, and determine whether it truly aligns with their capabilities and goals before committing substantial resources.
What Businesses Often Miss
Where Independent Perspective Helps
Many companies approach government contracting expecting it to work like commercial sales. In reality, procurement timelines, documentation requirements, and evaluation criteria create a very different environment.
Without preparation, organizations often invest months pursuing opportunities that were never the right fit.
An outside review can help clarify:
• Whether the opportunity aligns with your capabilities
• Where operational risks may exist
• What agencies will realistically expect
• Whether the effort is worth pursuing
This type of evaluation is often most valuable before significant time and resources are committed.
Developing government contract readiness before bidding can dramatically improve outcomes.