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How can the Open Ratings Report Help Get Federal Contracts?

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May 24, 2012
Dunn and Bradstreet, GSA, Open Ratings, Report, Sample

The Open Ratings Report is a summary of a survey of the company’s customers conducted by Dunn and Bradstreet. The Open Ratings Report is part of the application process for a GSA schedule. GSA requires this survey from a minium of 4 to maxium of 20 customer references. The results of the Open Ratings survey indicate where the company’s overall performance falls in comparison to related industry groups. The report provides a breakdown of survey responses rated on a 0-10 scale for each question. A customer reference is  a person or company that has purchased products or services from the company. Vendor references are excluded from the survey. Dunn and Bradstreet sends a questionaire to the company referencesasking them to rate the company’s past performance. The survey covers overall performance, reliabilirt, cost, order accuracy, delivery/timeless, quality, business relations, personnel, customer support and responsiveness. GSA will only select the companies with a score of 9.0 and above.

The Open Rating Report should be part of the company’s marketing tool box. Depending on the score, the company should let all customer prospects see the report. Federal contracting officers are very interested in a company’s past performance and the the Open Ratings Report provides a snap shot. Companies interested in doing business with government should consider using this Dunn and Bradshreet tool regardless of applying for the GSA schedule.

Click here to download a sample Open Ratings report.

What are steps 3 & 4 for doing business with the Federal Government in Washington D.C.?

By
May 18, 2012
8(a), 9 steps, Base Realignment and Closure Act, Business Development Program, Certification Programs, Classes, Federal Procurement Data System, HUBZone, NAICS, PSC, Report, Research, Sales, Sample, Service Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business, VetBiz, Veteran Administration, Women-Owned Small Business

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.

Why your company needs a Federal Marketing Plan?

By
May 16, 2012
8(a), CCR, Education, GSA, Interagency Contracting, Marketing, Marketing Plan, Multiple Award Schedule, Report, Sales, Sample, Service Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business, Women-Owned Small Business

The most common questions we hear from entrepreneurs who want to do business with the federal government are, “Do I really need a federal marketing plan? Is writing a federal marketing plan really the best use of my time?” Our answer to these questions is almost always, “Yes.”

In reality, federal marketing plans do take a long time to write, require that you have a tremendous amount of data at your fingertips, depend in part on projections, and often are responsible for creating a long list of research you still need to conduct and other work you need to complete.

But despite all of that, federal marketing plans are one of the most effective tools for the business owner/operator who is starting or growing their business with the federal government.

Here is what we consider the most important reasons for having a federal marketing plan:

• A Federal Marketing Plan is Simply a Must-Have for Some Businesses
• A Federal Marketing Plan Helps You Make Decisions
• A Federal Marketing Plan Can Be a Reality Check
• A Federal Marketing Plan Can Give You New Ideas
• A Federal Marketing Plan Creates an Action Plan

Your company should have a Federal Marketing Plan (FMP) if your company is doing business or planning to do business with the Federal Government. Our FMP helps companies target market their goods and services to the right agency contracting office location after first answering the basic question of does the federal government even buy your company’s products and/or services. Your Federal Marketing Plan will be a unique and customized resultants-driven solution for your company to make effective and successful communication to profitably market your products/services to the federal government.

Because of our ability to make the complex easy to understand; you’ll have the information you need to make effective, successful and measurable direct government marketing decisions. Your FMP will have current data from disparate data sources like government contract histories and other federal data sets that would identify predetermined groups, logical relationships, associations and anticipated behavior patterns that would determine the type of contracts used to purchase your goods or services. With that information you’d be able to create your own unique key performance indicators of marketing success and execute a profit-driven government marketing campaign. In the end, we deliver current and relevant insights – rather than just producing tables and graphs. We analyze the massive $500BN government contract data specifically for our clients’ to target a market in the government. And because everyone uses their results in different ways, we design our reports specifically for each client’s particular needs.

Click here to download our sample Federal Marketing Plan.

We work with you as a partner and encourage your feedback during every step; from goal setting, through methods selection, to the final reports and marketing plan. We are effective and comfortable working with business owners, senior executives, marketing departments, non-profit committees, advertising, public relations and marketing firms or any other stakeholder in the project/company.

Call us at 469-814–8457 x100 for a free initial consultation and assessment. Please have your company’s NAICS and PSC codes available when you call.

Click here to download our sample Federal Marketing Plan.

Growth of Interagency Contracting

By
May 9, 2012
Federal Procurement Data System, Governmentwide Acquisition Contracts, GSA, Interagency Contracting, Multiple Award Schedule, Report, Sample

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.