Research

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.

What steps are involved in doing business with the Federal Government in Washington D.C.?

By Gregory James

May 16, 2012

9 steps, Business Development Program, Education, Federal Acquisition Regulation, Federal Procurement Data System, Getting Started, Marketing, Research

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.

Data.gov and Federal Contracts: An Overview

By Gregory James

April 10, 2012

Research

The key questions asked by small business owners who want to market their business to the United States Government (USG) are 1) Does the federal government buy my company’s products/services? 2) WHO in the agency contracting office buys? 3) How did they make the purchase? And 4) What are my competitors doing? The answers to these questions provide the first step in the path to obtaining federal contracts. The USG spends over $500 billion a year buying goods and services from commercial entities. The data sets contained in Data.gov can help small business find business opportunities and market to targeted agency contracting offices

There are over 14 data sets in Data.gov that report USG procurement. The key data sets include e-buy Awards for Fiscal Year 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006 and 2007; GSA elibrary Schedule and Contracts; Schedule Sales Query Report Generation System, Schedule Sales Query Raw Data; North American Industry Classification System; NAICS Matrix for Active GSA Schedules and GSA GWAC’s; PSC Matrix for Active GSA Schedules and GSA GWAC’s; Federal Business Opportunity Data; USA Spending Contracts and Purchases and the Federal Procurement Data System. The challenge for small business is getting the information from these data sets into actionable formats or reports. This requires expertise on mining data and understanding how this data works to their benefit.

Federal Contract Intelligence Service has taken some of the data from the above data sets and created three sample reports designed to help small businesses market their products/service to agency contracting offices. Please see sample reports (http://fedcontractintel.com/sample-reports-for-101-and-301/ ) .

The data sets in Data.gov provide a tremendous amount of data for commercial use. The challenge is mining the data to create actionable reports for small business. This is the first blog in a series on the benefit of using Data.gov to help small business get federal contracts. Other blogs will explore the North American Industrial Classification System and Federal Procurement Data System. Stay tune.

What is a Business Plan for the Federal Government?

By Willis Hunt

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.