Government Contracting 101 for Small & Mid-Sized Businesses

How to Start Winning Government Work Without Becoming a Procurement Expert First

Presented by The Contra Costa County Employer Advisory Council (CCCEAC)

This session is designed to help business owners better understand how government agencies purchase goods and services and how to successfully compete for public-sector opportunities.

Topics Include:

• RFQs and RFPs
• Procurement portals and vendor onboarding
• Proposal evaluation processes
• Government purchasing strategies
• AI’s growing role in government contracting

Guest Speaker

Michael Noffsinger | Vice President at LotusPetalAI

Michael Noffsinger specializes in the intersection of artificial intelligence and government contracting, helping organizations turn complex procurement systems into competitive advantage. He is the founder of BidData and currently serves as Vice President at LotusPetalAI, where he helps lead strategy and market growth for AI-driven proposal and procurement intelligence platforms focused on reducing proposal workload by up to 70% while increasing proposal output by as much as 3x.

Having previously worked for the City of Santa Clara, San Jose State University, and the County of Santa Clara, his background spans public-sector procurement, contracts, investigations, sourcing, compliance, and AI strategy. Michael works extensively with agentic AI systems across go-to-market strategy, proposal generation, procurement intelligence, and AI-assisted research workflows. He holds a Master’s degree in Economics and brings a systems-oriented perspective to government purchasing, incentives, and competitive strategy.

Michael believes the next generation of market leaders will not simply have better technology, but a deeper understanding of how that technology is evaluated, purchased, and operationalized inside complex organizations.

About CCCEAC

The Contra Costa County Employer Advisory Council (CCCEAC) is composed of employer volunteers representing a cross section of business and industry. The organization’s mission is to support employers with the tools they need for professional and successful partnerships with their employees and clients.