"I'll just do government contracting on the side."  Famous last words from business owners who burn out in 3 months.  Government contracting isn't a side project. It's a business development strategy requiring significant time investment.  The Time Reality  Minimum weekly time commitment during active pursuit:  Opportunity Search: 10-15 hours/week Monitoring federal, state, local portals. Tracking opportunities. Filtering relevant from irrelevant across hundreds of sites.  O