With six weeks left in 2018 more and more federal workers will be taking “use it or lose it” annual leave.  This makes both planning and executing meetings with federal prospects increasingly difficult.  There will certainly be feds around, just witness GSA’s Innovation Day set for December 12^th, but you’re likely to get more and more “out of office” notes the closer we get to Christmas.  That makes this a great time of year to reach out to both existing and new industry partners.  Partners can help you get business you might not otherwise know about or that you don’t have the bandwidth to land on your own.  They can also be a boon to large businesses that need small subs to make their own contracting goals.  Most companies, especially newer market entries, think they should spend all of their time talking to federal agencies.  That’s wrong.  Business-to-business discussions are essential to federal market success and this is perhaps one of the best times of year to make sure your relationships with other contractors are working for you.   Make sure you have more than just a pumpkin pie, though, to get things going.  Talking turkey, in this case specific deals with specific agencies, is essential.  Make sure you’re prepared to answer questions like:  What are you bringing to the table?  How can the partner help?  When is this deal forecast to close?  Face time with feds is a given in this market.  Successful contractors know, though, that the same goes for relationships with industry partners.