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Monthly Archives: March 2012

How to get an 8a Contract.

By
March 30, 2012
8(a), Education, Marketing

The Code of Federal Regulations title 13 part 124.502 requires a contracting officer to submit a written offer letter to the SBA if he or she intends to award a procurement requirement as an 8(a) contract to an 8(a) Contractor. The Contracting Officer must submit the offer letter to the SBA District Office for competitive 8(a) and sole source requirements. The offering letter must contain a description of the work to be performed, the NAICS code that applies to the principal nature of the requirement, estimated period of performance, the estimated dollar value of the requirement, any special restrictions or geographical limitations, any special capabilities or disciplines needed, the contract type, past contractor performance and contact information, a special statement, name of the specific 8(a) contractor being nominated for the award, bonding requirements, and any other information required in Title 13: 124.502. The key words in the statute are requirement and name of 8(a) contractor.

It is incumbent upon the 8(a) contractor to find the requirement in the agency contracting office and the user department in order to start the offering letter process. It’s important for the 8(a) contractor to market its products and or services to targeted contracting offices and their user management. It about building relationships before the requirement becomes a contract.

USG FY 2010 Contract History by Contract Type

By
March 25, 2012
Federal Procurement Data System, Uncategorized

Listed below is a breakdown of FY 2010 Procurement by Contract Type for FY 2010.

 

Contract Types

$
Firm Fixed Price

$290,942,402,932
Cost Plus Award Fee

$64,653,623,072
Cost Plus Fixed Fee

$60,925,517,904
Cost Plus Incentive

$27,711,212,775
Fixed Price Incentive

$15,046,523,476
Time and Materials

$21,654,584,121
Labor Hours

$7,202,243,155
Fixed Price with   Economic Price Adjustment

$25,214,987,630
Cost No Fee

$9,575,382,136
Order Dependent (IDV   only)

$500,124,822
Fixed Price Award Fee

$2,653,823,649
 –

$2,483,165,872
Other (none of the   above)

$848,324,646
Combination (two or   more)

$7,470,423,495
Fixed Price Level of   Effort

$1,122,781,663
Fixed Price   Redetermination

$663,609,786
Cost Sharing

$442,409,347

 

 

 

 

USG 2010 FY Procurement by NAICS

By
March 25, 2012
Federal Procurement Data System, Uncategorized
NAICS Category   (Description) Total Dollars % Total Dollars
33 (MANUFACTURING (METALS, MACHINERY,   COMPUTER, ELECTRONICS ELECTRICAL TRANSPORTATION EQUIPMENT, FURNITURE,   MISCELLANEOUS)) $164,416,994,509 30.92%
54 (PROFESSIONAL, SCIENTIFIC, AND   TECHNICAL SERVICES) $145,694,534,688 27.40%
23 (CONSTRUCTION) $48,960,503,742 9.21%
56 (ADMINISTRATIVE AND SUPPORT AND WASTE   MANAGEMENT AND REMEDIATION SERVICES) $41,239,483,477 7.76%
42 (WHOLESALE TRADE) $25,238,686,425 4.75%
32 (MANUFACTURING (PAPER, PRINTING,   PETROLEUM, COAL, CHEMICAL, PLASTICS, RUBBER, NONMETALIC MINERAL)) $17,057,710,839 3.21%
52 (FINANCE AND INSURANCE) $14,316,288,368 2.69%
48 (TRANSPORTATION) $13,529,721,542 2.54%
51 (INFORMATION) $12,579,840,589 2.37%
31 (MANUFACTURING (FOOD, TEXTILE,   APPAREL, LEATHER)) $8,590,261,710 1.62%
62 (HEALTH CARE AND SOCIAL ASSISTANCE) $6,459,800,482 1.21%
53 (REAL ESTATE AND RENTAL AND LEASING) $5,988,462,761 1.13%
NO NAICS CATEGORY SPECIFIED $5,779,646,424 1.09%
61 (EDUCATIONAL SERVICES) $5,592,917,103 1.05%
44 (RETAIL TRADE (MOTOR VEHICLE,   FURNITURE, ELECTRONICS, BUILDING MATERIAL, FOOD, HEALTH, GASOLINE, CLOTHING)) $3,972,589,481 0.75%
81 (OTHER SERVICES (EXCEPT PUBLIC   ADMINISTRATION)) $3,363,320,158 0.63%
22 (UTILITIES) $2,838,864,877 0.53%
92 (PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION) $2,321,734,802 0.44%
72 (ACCOMMODATION AND FOOD SERVICES) $1,449,805,219 0.27%
49 (POSTAL SERVICE, COURIER/MESSANGER,   WAREHOUSING) $1,078,190,262 0.20%
11 (AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY, FISHING AND   HUNTING) $444,016,582 0.08%
45 (RETAIL TRADE (SPORTING GOODS GENERAL   MERCHANDISE, MISCELLANEOUS)) $438,471,690 0.08%
21 (MINING) $313,739,993 0.06%
71 (ARTS, ENTERTAINMENT, AND RECREATION) $90,502,612 0.02%
55 (MANAGEMENT OF COMPANIES AND   ENTERPRISES) $2,262,452 0.00%
Total $531,758,350,785 100.00%

What is a Business Plan for the Federal Government?

By
March 24, 2012
Business Development Program, Marketing, Research

The example of a business plan for the federal government is the Federal Marketing Plan (FMP) prepared by the Federal Contract intelligence Service. The FMP describes where in federal contracting a company can find federal contract business opportunities (fedbizopps).

The FMP can be especially good for new companies wanted to do business with the federal government but not knowing where to go or what to do. Government contractors were awarded more than $500 billion in federal contracts by the government last fiscal year. The types of contracts used to award federal contracts including purchase orders, credit cards, delivery orders, blanket purchase agreements, the GSA schedule and other federal contract vehicles. The FMP should spell out how to target a market in the government and especially in the federal government.

The FMP helps companies target market their goods and services to the right agency contracting office location. The FMP should create a path that gets the company in front of contracting officers before a requirement becomes a solicitation for public bidding.

The FMP will answer the following questions:
• Does the federal government buy my company’s products/services?
• WHO is the marketing target in the agency contracting office?
• Is the company ready to do federal contracting?

The FMP includes the following elements:

1. Company Readiness Assessment: a questionnaire designed to help the company asses its own ability to perform successfully on a federal contract. Compliance with the federal contract terms and conditions is very important.
2. Company Capability Statement: a 30 second description about a company’s capabilities.
3. Federal Government Contract Histories for the company’s primary NAICS and PSC codes. The information is provided by the Federal Procurement Data System and other federal data sets from Data.gov. Reports include USG Contract History Total, USG & Totals by Contracting Method, and USG $ Totals by Vendor.
4. GSA Schedule Contract History including SIN totals and other information required by the GSA MAS assessment
5. Current Bid Opportunities by Agency and NAICS.
6. Target Agency Acquisition Team Contact Marketing List: The information includes Contact information on key procurement decision makers, program managers, contracting officers, small business liaison and other persons within all the contracting offices you wish to do business.
7. Call Report: a detail description of telephone marketing activities.

The Federal Marketing Plan is designed to position the company in front of key decision makers before the requirement becomes a federal contract bid opportunity.

Click here to download our sample Federal Marketing Plan.

Why use Data Mining Techniques?

By
March 15, 2012
Uncategorized

The use of data mining techniques in USG procurement helps companies identify predetermined groups, logical relationships, associations and anticipated behavior patterns. For example, a company could mine agency procurement data to determine the type of contracts used to purchase their goods or services. This information could be used to determine if the company should get a contract vehicle. The contract vehicles could include GSA Schedules, Government Wide Acquisition Contracts or many other “Interagency Contracts. Please see blog “Interagency Contracting”

  • Identifying logical relationships or contracting preferences. For example, USG contracting data can be mined to identify set aside contracts for socio economic groups and the contracting officers that favor this form of procurement. Small business with this status can market directly to these contracting officers.
  • Identifying associations. For example, USG contracting data can be mined to see if certain contracting vehicles are used more that others to purchase computer hardware
  • Anticipate behavior patterns and trends. For example, a manufacture of military weaponry can mined contract history and correlate with geo political events to plan raw material purchases and production schedules.

 

GSA Schedule Matched with Product Supply Codes

By
March 14, 2012
GSA

In addition to the matching of NAICS codes to each GSA schedule, we now have the Product Supply Codes. The PSC is a four diget code that decribes products purchased buy the United States Government. The NAICS is a 2 to 6 diget code that describes an industry. The NAICS is used by the United Nations to track economic statistics world wide. Open the link below to see the codes and GSA schedules.

Download PSC Matrix for Active GSA Schedules and GSA GWACs Report Sample

GSA Schedule Match with NAICS

By
March 10, 2012
GSA

GSA has matched NAICS codes with their Schedules. It is now much easier to find the right schedule for your company. The GSA Schedule is the most widly used contract vehicle in the United States Government. Many state governments also use these contract vehicles. The addition of a GSA Schedule to the company’s tool box is a very effective way to get federal contracts. In most cases, the contracting officer only needs two telephone quotes to award a contract.

Download a copy of NAICS-FSS Master sample report

Interagency Contracting

By
March 9, 2012
Federal Procurement Data System, Federal Supply Schedules Program, Governmentwide Acquisition Contracts, Interagency Contracting

Interagency contracting has been recognized as one of the fastest growing fields in federal acquisition. In Fiscal Year 2006, the two leading programs, the Federal Supply Schedules Program and the GSA’s Government-wide Acquisition Contracts (“GWACs”) provided over $46 billion of supplies and services to federal agencies (GSA-managed Schedules: $35.1 billion; VA-managed Schedules: projected to be well over $8 billion [FY 2005 sales were $7.9 billion]; GSA GWACs: $3.0 billion). These and other interagency contract vehicles, offered by other federal agencies under GWAC or multi-agency contract authorities, have been gaining increasing popularity due to the ease of use associated with streamlined ordering and the apparent value afforded by volume purchasing. Federal Procurement Data System – Next Generation (“FPDS-NG”), in its first year of reporting the spending under interagency contract vehicles, shows that 40 percent of total fiscal year 2004 obligations, or $142 billion, was spent on these vehicles.

Click here to download Interagency Contracting sample report.

No Order of Precedence Among the Small Business Socioeconomic Contracting Programs

By
March 8, 2012
8(a), Business Development Program, DOD, Federal Acquisition Regulation, GSA, NASA, Service Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business, Women-Owned Small Business

DoD, GSA, and NASA have adopted as final, with changes, the interim rule amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to implement a section of the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 that clarifies that there is no order of precedence among the small business socioeconomic contracting programs. Accordingly, this final rule amends the FAR to clarify the existence of socioeconomic parity and that contracting officers may exercise discretion when determining whether an acquisition will be restricted to small businesses participating in the 8(a) Business Development Program (8(a)), Historically Underutilized Business Zones (HUBZone) Program, Service Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) Program, or the Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB)

Click here to download Federal Register/Vol. 77. No. 42/Friday, March 2, 2012/Rules and Regulations

How do I get my company a United States Government (USG) Contract?

By
March 2, 2012
Education, Getting Started, Marketing, Sales

1. Register company in the Central Contractor Registration database.
https://www.bpn.gov/CCR/default.aspx

2. Register company in the Online Representations and Certifications Application (ORCA) database.
https://orca.bpn.gov/

3. Get the company approved for a USG small business certification if applicable.
http://www.sba.gov/content/small-business-certification-0
http://www.vetbiz.gov/

4. Purchase Federal Contract Intelligence Service products that will answer the following questions:
• How much money did the USG spent on purchasing the company’s products/services from other companies?

• Who (agency contracting office) buys my company’s products/services?

• Does the company have a one page Company Capability Statement

5. Hire Federal Contract Intelligence Service to marketing company to targeted federal contracting agencies via the telephone. See Services.

6. Respond to federal business opportunities on FedBizOpps or other bid notification services.
https://www.fbo.gov/