How to get federal contract money: an overview of the formal process in DHEW

The U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (DHEW) spends millions of dollars annually on contracts to deliver services to State and local areas and to the Federal Government itself. The process through which competitive contracts are awarded is little understood outside the bureaucracy and a relatively small group of organizations which gain most of the funds. The purpose of this article is to describe the formal process which takes place, and to thereby make the process more understandable to the taxpayers whose money is being spent, to recipients of contract services, and to potential competitors for awards.