I've bid and maintained contracts for government work. Look into the
www.ccr.gov or
www.fedbizopps.gov. There’s a good start, you will have to fill out some paper work and read a lot to understand the procurements.
There is numbers to call to get your ?'s answered.
I took me half a year before I had a contract.
Being Native American, in a hub zone, stuff like that help. I don’t think they take being women owned into consideration any more because everyone was having there wife as 51% owner and the government caught on lol. They still ask if a woman owns the company but from my understanding they changed the rule a few years back.
When I look for jobs I look on fedbizzopp’s web page and narrow my search for small business only and I look every week almost everyday to see the new bids out there.
I always look to see what I would like to bid on.
Know a roofer… bid on a roofing project with him and take a percent of the profit. Risky by the way.
Hope this helps.
Dan