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Federal Procurement Data System

Steps 1 & 2 discussed how important it is to know key government websites and register the company in the CCR and ORCA. Steps 3 and 4 include determining the company’s eligibility for the socio economic programs and the importance of the Federal Supply Classification Codes (FSC) and North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Codes. Understanding the certifications and classifications programs enhance a company’s ability to get government jobs through federal contracts. FCIS has developed marketing reports that help companies identify contracting officers that utilizes the socio economic programs for contracting and identify agency contracting offices by classification systems.

Step 3.  Determine if the company qualifies for one or more of the SBA and Veteran Administration Certification Programs.  The SBA currently has three socio economic certification programs: 8(a), HUBZone and Women-Owned Small Business Programs. The 8(a) Business Development program assists eligible small businesses to compete by providing them with business developmental assistance. The owner of a small business must be socio or economic disadvantaged. Economic disadvantage is based on personal income ($250,000 for initial eligibility, $350,000 for continued eligibility) and total assets ($4 million for initial eligibility, $6 million continued eligibility). Socially disadvantaged individuals are those who have been subjected to racial or ethnic prejudice or cultural bias because of their identity as members of a group. Social disadvantage must stem from circumstances beyond their control. Companies with the 8(a) certification are eligible for set aside contract opportunities.

The Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone) program entitles qualified firms to special bidding benefits in the federal contracting arena. To qualify for the program, a business (except tribally-owned concerns) must be a small business by SBA standards, must be owned and controlled at least 51% by U.S. citizens, or a Community Development Corporation, an agricultural cooperative, or an Indian tribe, the company principal office must be located within a “Historically Underutilized Business Zone,” which includes lands considered “Indian Country” and military facilities closed by the Base Realignment and Closure Act and At least 35% of its employees must reside in a HUBZone map area.

Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business Concerns (SDVOSBC) – (http://www.sba.gov/content/service-disabled-veteran-owned-small-business-concerns-sdvosbc) The Veterans Benefits Act of 2003  established a procurement program for Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses that allows contracting officers to restrict competition to SDVOSBCs and award a sole source or set-aside contract where certain criteria are met. In addition, the rule allows SDVOSB concerns to self-certify however the eligible veteran should get certified by VetBiz in order to withstand any certification challenges. In order to be eligible for the SDVOSBC, the Department of Veterans Affairs or Department of Defense must certify service disabled veteran has a service-connected disability, the Company must be small under the NAICS code assigned to the procurement, the Service disabled veteran must own 51% of the company unconditionally and control the management of daily operations and must hold the highest officer position in the company.

Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB)/Economically Disadvantaged Women-Owned Small Business (EDWOSB) Program– (http://www.sba.gov/content/contracting-opportunities-women-owned-small-businesses) The Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) Federal Contract program authorizes contracting officers to set aside certain federal contracts based on approved NAICS for eligible Women-owned small businesses (WOSBs) or Economically disadvantaged women-owned small businesses (EDWOSBs).  Those firms can self-certify their status. An SBA approved 3rd Party Certifier is recommended in order to withstand any challenges.

Step  4. The company must be able to match its products or services with the Federal Supply Classification Codes (FSC) and North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Codes. The NAICS and FSC codes should be included in the CCR and ORCA registration. NAICS and FSC codes are used by the government to establish business size standards (http://www.sba.gov/content/table-small-business-size-standards), identify potential vendors for government jobs, accumulate economic statistics and classify government contracts for the Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS).

The FY 2012 USG Procurement by NAICS_PSC report provides a breakdown of procurement by NAICS and PSC. The report indicates that four hundred and forty (440) Agency Contracting Offices completed 588,946 transactions with 69,014 vendors in the amount of $49 billion. These transactions were classified using 922 NAICS and 9,733 PSC. See report FY 2012 USG Procurement by NAICS_PSC Understanding the NAICS and PSC codes will lead to more government contracts. Small business can use these classifications to determine how much the USG buys and which agency contracting offices make the purchase. The FPDS is a good data set to build a federal marketing plan.

Thousands of government jobs are available to companies wanting to do business with government. The contract jobs are in Information Technology, Security, and all industries. Dealing with Federal Government can be frustrating. However, your efforts can be rewarded if you plan your work and work your plan. FCIS specializes helping companies market their products and services to get the government jobs by providing target markets reports and developing a Federal Marketing Plan.

Click here to download a free copy of a sample federal marketing plan.

See steps 1-2 below. Steps 3-9 will follow.

Step 1. Become familiar with the following websites for Government Contracting:

SBA Office of Government Contracting (GC): Title 13 of the Code of Federal Regulations (Part 125):Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR): Contracting News; and Information for Contractors.

The U.S. Small Business Administration is dedicated to providing a wide range of programs and assistance to small businesses wanting to do business with the government.  From the Contracting Section under Contracting Opportunities: (http://www.sba.gov/category/navigation-structure/contracting/contracting-opportunities) contain you web links to additional procurement-related programs and assistance such as; Subcontracting, Federal Business Opportunities, GSA Schedules, Green Contracting Opportunities, Federal Procurement Database Systems – Next Generation, USA Spends, Contracting of Manufacturing, Contracting Opportunities for Energy Efficient Businesses. Government Agency Acquisition Forecasts contain upcoming government contract opportunities:

Step 2. Obtain a Data Universal Number System (DUNS) number, register in the Central Contractor Registration (CCR) (System and Online Representations and Certifications Application (ORCA). Contact Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) at  to obtain a number if you do not have one. The DUNS number is free. All companies must be registered in CCR to be awarded a federal contract and to receive payment by the Government. Once you have obtained your DUNS number, your next step is to register in the Central Contractors Registration (CCR) database. The CCR requires the company to match its goods and or services with the  the Federal Supply Classification Codes (FSC) and North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). Be sure to select a primary NAICS and PSC codes. You can add supplementary classification codes but limit them to three each. Many contracting officers look at the CCR and its important noe to confuse them on what the company does.

Once the registration in the CCR is complete, click on  “SBA Register or Update your SBA Profile”. The next registration sysytem is the Small Business Administration?s Dynamic Small Business Search (DSBS). The company should complete information which is accessible by contracting staff under the SBA – Dynamic Small Business Search

The remaining steps 3-9 will be discussed in later posts.

Federal Contract Intelligence Service is a data mining company that specializes in tracking current and historical United States Government (USG) procurement statistics. We provide up-to-the-date marketing list/reports to companies that want to do business with the federal government. Our clients use these list/reports to position itself in front of decision makers before a requirement becomes an open bid solicitation.

Our marketing list/reports are tailored for the company’s products/services and matched with the decision makers within specific targeted agency contracting offices. We use state of the art data mining software and have access to data from fee-based subscription services as well as current data sets from Data.gov, Federal Procurement Data System, USA Spending and other data provided and updated by the USG. Please see the samples of our reports.

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.

Small business owners can improve their ability to get federal contracts if they understand the nature and use of the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) and Product and Service Codes.  The purposes of these codes are to collect, analyze and publish statistical data on economic activity in the United States, Mexico and Canada. The Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS) uses these codes to track federal procurement history

NAICS is a two through six-digit hierarchical classification code system offering five levels of detail. The first two digits designate the economic sector, the third digit designates the subsector, the fourth digit designates the industry group, the fifth digit designates the NAICS industry, and the sixth digit designates the national industry. The Product and Service Codes (PSC) are a four digit code system to further describe products, services and research and development purchases by the USG

The report below describes the FY 2012 USG Procurement by NAICS_PSC at the economic sector level. Further breakdown of procurement by NAICS and PSC is available from the FPDS data set located at data.gov.  Four hundred and forty (440) Agency Contracting Offices completed 588,946 transactions with 69,014 vendors in the amount of $49 billion. These transactions were classified using 922 NAICS and 9,733 PSC.

Small business can use these classifications to determine how much the USG buys and which agency contracting offices make the purchase. The FPDS is a good data set to build a federal marketing plan.

FY 2012 USG Procurement by NAICS_PSC

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

 

 

 

 

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%

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.