Every year, governments at all levels—local, regional, and national—spend millions on communications.

Some of this is handled by internal teams, but much of it is outsourced to agencies, writers, designers, photographers, and programmers.

The question is, how do you get some of that work?

Getting Government Work Isn’t Easy. That’s Good for You.

Getting government work is a process that requires patience. There’s no simple way to get in.

You have to make it onto their vendor list, and that’s where you’ll need patience. Here’s how to get on to government and corporate vendor lists.

Each government or government-related organization has its own way of managing vendors. So, you’ll have to do some research. Search for “vendor of record” or “procurement services” plus the name of your local, regional, or federal government.

For example, if you search “Vendor of Record Ontario” (my province in Canada), you’ll get “Doing business with the Government of Ontario”.

From there, you have to dig through it and find your way to a contact you can either email or phone. You want a shortcut to the person who manages the specific list you want, which is the one that deals with communications. (You don’t want the building bridges, paving roads list.)

You’ll soon see why many people don’t bother. It takes a bit of work. That means less competition if you do get on the list. And that’s good for you.

Use Networking to Get to the Right Person

In addition to going through government websites, you may find it more efficient to use social media to find the person you want. My choices would be LinkedIn or Twitter.

Doing a quick LinkedIn search, I found existing connections who are on the list for the Province of Ontario. It would be easy for me to contact them to get further details, right down to the name of the person I should contact.

You may also come across government employees who could point you in the right direction.

At my previous agency, I found the person in charge of the list through a connection. Once I contacted him, he explained how the list worked and what we’d have to do to qualify.

Why Do You Want Government Communications Work?

This type of work is not for everyone. But for some, it’s just perfect. It’s serious work, not fluffy or frivolous. However, it can still be fun.

The key is, government departments tend to be run by professionals who have adequate budgets to do the projects they have to deliver. They also have a lot of ongoing work. Once you’re in, you can often roll from one project to the next.

We found a great variety in the jobs we did for our provincial government. For example, we worked with the local science center to develop graphics and messages for interactive games they had created.

We created graphics for a major themed exhibit at a historical museum.

We became the agency of record for a government-related cancer research organization, where we produced reports, developed presentations, and created web copy and design.

For our federal government, we got on the list at Canada Post, designing postage stamps. We’d get one, sometimes two assignments a year. Old-school, but very interesting.

The other benefit of being a recognized vendor of record is that it gives you instant credibility with other governments and large corporations. You’ve already passed the test to get on that first list, and others will often come easier.

Governments Offer a Great Variety

You only have to look at the various departments or ministries to see the possibilities for the communications programs that they’re in charge of delivering. For example, Ontario has 25 ministries.

Here are 10 of them:

Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs
Children, Community and Social Services
College and Universities
Economic Development
Energy
Environment, Conservation, and Parks
Health
Heritage, Sport, Tourism, and Culture
Indigenous Affairs
Labour, Training and Skills Development

All have programs and initiatives that must be communicated to their stakeholders.

This is for Experienced Communicators

Working for governments is not the place to learn your craft. You need to be confident in what you’re doing, have processes in place, and deal with the required paperwork.

You soon learn to respect the hierarchies that are so important in government life.

You’ll also be up against all kinds of small and large agencies, design studios, and every flavor of consultancy vying for the projects. But once you’re in, assuming you’re doing good work, you could go from one project to the next.

More Details on Getting on Government Communications Lists

I wrote about getting on these vendor lists for big corporate and government clients here. Get all the details on questions you should ask, what they will ask of you, and how to handle your portfolio.

Learn more about creating new opportunities for yourself in my book, How to Start a Successful Creative Agency. It’s the essential business guide for graphic designers, copywriters, filmmakers, photographers, and programmers.

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How to Get on the List for Government Communications Work