While the opportunities with State and Local Governments for mobile apps is quite great, dealing with the administration and getting paid by State and Local Governments can be challenging. This IS a reality.
So I have previously consulted - through my own small business - with the IT departments of the Cities of San Francisco, Oakland, and LA County. The paperwork - especially the compliance paperwork if you are NOT an 8a business - is tremendous. For the City of Oakland alone it took me 80 hours to complete then they came back and suggested that I subcontract to a minority owned business (that was owned by the cousin of one of the Councilmen).
When it comes to getting paid, these organizations appear to also not respect the terms or timeline of agreed upon payments. My terms were simple - Net 10 days upon receipt and verification of the invoice. Now you can always take them to Court and then get a Court date in a year... or you can notify the City's Bond holding agency or rating organization of their non-payment. This can always get interesting...
In any event, if you have the patience to do business with State and Local Governments there are many opportunities; however, you need to be prepared to deal with the paperwork, the bureaucracy, and the idiosyncrasies of not only the agency but individual government itself. This IS a reality.
For those of you who do this, good luck and invest in aspirin and a good antacid.
