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

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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?

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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.

What is a Business Plan for the Federal Government in Dallas Texas?

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May 10, 2012
Business Development Program, Marketing, Marketing Plan, Sales

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 get federal contract business opportunites (fedbizopps). The FMP can be especially good for new companies wanting 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 included 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 federal government is a good target market. 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 Assesment: a questionaire designed to help the company asses its own ability to perform sucessfully 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. The source of information is from the Federal Procurement Data System and Data.gov.
  4. GSA Schedule Contract History including SIN totals and other information required by the GSA MAS assessment. The source of this information is GSA.
  5. Current Bid Opportunities by Agency and NAICS. The source of information is Acquisition Central.
  6. Target Agency Acquisition Team Contact Marketing List: This marketing list contains 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 telphone 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.

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/

Federal Marketing Plan Conference

By
February 10, 2012
Classes, Education, Events, Getting Started, Marketing, Sales

The purpose of this Federal Marketing Plan: Intelligence Gathering seminar is to help participants gather enough infomration about federal procurement that will lead them to be successful in getting contracts from the United States government. The seminar is divided into two sessions with a workbook.

The key objective of the Federal Marketing Plan: Intelligence Gathering seminar is to help participantsobtain federal contracts before they are put on the street for public viewing.

To attend this class you must bring the following information:

  • Must be registered in Central Contractor Registration (CCR)
  • Know your NAICS codes
  • Class Code, Product Supply Class (PSC)

Session one is a review of procurement intelligence sources, methods used to prepare target marketing documents, agency procurement process and a company readiness assessment. Seminar participants will be given office/home work to prepare for session two. The instructor will review the office/homework and make recommendations on improving the office/homework assignment that.

Participants in this seminar will be able to:

  • Answer the following questions: Does the federal government buy my company’s products/services? Which contracting office buys my company’s products/services? Is the company ready to do federal contracting?
  • Interpret the raw data from the Federal Procurement Data Center and other procurement databases.
  • Develop a one page company capability statement. The eletronic “30 second” elevator speech.
  • Develop an Acquisition Team Contact (ATC) database. The ATC contains contact information on key procurement decision makers within targeted contracting offices, program management and agencies.
  • Develop a Warm Leads Report (WLR). This document is a summary of telephone and personal contacts made with individuals in the ATC.
  • Determine the company’s ability to successfully perform a federal contract.
  • Develop a strategic plan to get the company ready and project sales.

Session 1: April 11, 2012

  • Introduction: Federal Procurement Process, Company readiness assessment and accopanying notes, Key websites
  • Procurement Intelligence data gathering methods
  • Target market data preparation
  • Review office/homework assignment

Session 2: April 17, 2012

  • Review office/homework
  • Target market summary
  • Reivew ATC and WLR
  • Company capability statement
  • Score company readiness assessment
  • Strategic Action Plan

Call us at (972) 843 – 1265 or email: info@fedcontractintel.com to register for the classes.