Don’t Compete with the Big Guys, Government Set-Asides

Quite often companies don’t consider doing business with the government because they don’t think that they have the capabilities to compete with the large businesses getting all the work. I’m here to tell you that isn’t true. The government has a mandated goal that 23% of business is set-aside for small businesses. This means that only small businesses can competitively bid on these contracts and win

            In addition to the small business set-aside there are several other set-asides that are guaranteed a percentage of the total business.

8a- This set-aside is for economically and socially disadvantaged business and can be awarded sole source contracts without any competition. This is a certification issued by the Small Business Administration.

Veteran Owned- This is a self-certification for former or current military members who own at least 51% of their business.

Small Disadvantaged Business- This is for companies owned 51% or more by African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Pacific Americans, Subcontinent Asian Americans and Native Americans. This is a self-certifying designation through your SAM registration.

HUBZone- This designation is for companies who’s employees and business is located in a high unemployment, low income area. This is an application process and 3% of business is set-aside for these companies. In addition to this companies may receive a 10% price preference on bids.

Woman Owned Business- this is a self-certifying designation through SAM with a contracting goal of 5%.

Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business- This set-aside is for former military members injured in the line of duty that own 51% or greater of their business. The government wide contracting goal on this category is 3%.

Are you registered in SAM (System for Award Management)?

SAM, or System for Award Management, is the combined U.S. Government system of CCR/FedReg, ORCA, and EPLS. SAM is completely free of charge for registrants and users. Current and potential government vendors are required to register in SAM if they wish to have a contract with the government. If your organization is applying for the GSA must be fully registered in SAM in order to be awarded

The registration can take anywhere from 15 minutes to one hour, depending on if the information requested is readily available. A vendor must provide basic information relevant to procurement and financial transactions. A SAM registration is good for one year and must be updated annually.

Before registering for SAM a company must have the following:

·         DUNS or D-U-N-S Number

o    Data Universal Numbering System

o    A proprietary system developed and regulated by Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) that assigns a unique numeric identifier to a single business entity

·         TIN

o    Taxpayer Identification Number and then name associated with that TIN

·         CAGE CODE

o    Commercial and Government Entity code is a five-character ID number that is used extensively within the federal government.

o    If the organization is migrating over from any old systems (CCR, ORCA, etc.) than it will already have this code. If not the organization will be assigned one once you are fully registered in SAM

·         EFT Information

o    Electronic Funds Transfer information such as the ABA Routing Number and bank account number

SAM also allows Government agencies and contractors to search for your organizations based on your ability, size, location, experience, and more. Since SAM incorporated the ORCA system agencies and other companies can see if a firm meets certain Federal requirements (ex: complies with equal opportunity legislation).

Government Contract Services specializes in SAM registrations and updates. Please look for the Government Contract Services SAM eBook which will contain helpful step by step instructions on how to efficiently and successfully register your company in SAM. 

Congrats to Stormpulse!

A big congratulations to Stormpulse, Inc (dba Riskpulse) on their recent Schedule 70 GSA contract! Stormpulse specializes in elite weather tracking, risk management software architect, and information technology solutions.  Stormpulse’s innovative risk management software can rapidly assess risk and create a common operating picture of whatever needs to be tracked.

With this new contract vehicle, Stormpulse can further increase their penetration of the government market and work more closely with current clients and contacts.  The wrong call made by the government in a risky situation can lead to devastating circumstances- both in human lives and fiscally. Stormpulse can help with long-range planning and daily decision making by providing real time information to help with decision making processes.

We are very excited to have worked with Stormpulse on putting their GSA offer together and are looking forward to our continual collaboration. As they roll out new services and configurations for their amazing software, GCS will be supporting them along the way.

Feel free to check out their website: www.riskpulse.com

-Sonya Nudel

GSA Offer Best Practices, Volume 3

Let’s talk Government. They’re in a league of their own, right? It’s true! They have their own way of organizing things, classifying things, and interpreting things. To sell to the Government you have to understand how they operate. It’s very different from dealing with other commercial entities.

Now, let’s relate this to GSA Schedules. To make your offer successful you have to know what Schedule and Special Item Numbers are applicable to your business. The “scope” of your products and services is one of the most important things the GSA will look into when you submit your offer. If the offer is out of scope you’ll be rejected right away – they won’t even look at the rest of the content. Do yourself a favor and look into all the potential Schedules your business may fall under. Then select which one is the best fit.

Here’s an example. You offer instructor led-training and your courses are designed to teach the average employee how to engineer and operate a Smart Building System. You have a few options here:

1. Instructor Led Training (Schedule 874)
2. Engineering and Integration (Schedule 871)
3. Smart Building Operations (Schedule 03 FAC)

We will start by breaking down each schedule and seeing what the services really entail. Instructor Led Training doesn’t include any training that can be offered under the scope of any other Schedule. So, if there is training available under other Schedules that is more relevant to what you’re actually teaching – then you can’t use Schedule 874. Schedule 871 doesn’t quite fit because you’re not really doing the engineering work, just training on that. Schedule 03 FAC allows for training in direct relation to what you’re teaching. Schedule 03 FAC it is!

As a reminder – don’t just take the descriptions of the Schedules at face value. Look at your competitors and research what they’re offering under Schedule. Don’t have specific competitors to look for? Performing market research on the different vendors awarded under each Schedule will benefit you tremendously.

When in doubt – give me a call!

Stephanie Gowin

What's new in government procurement?

This week's blog post we want to focus on what is going on in the world of government procurement. Staying on top of recent developments can help when looking at what agencies your company wants to work with, what products the government is focusing on, and many more advantages.

So what's new?

Well, I am sure many of you have heard about the conflict between the Department of Defense and the GSA. A few articles have been written recently highlighting the issues between the two agencies as new developments when really there is nothing new. The DoD has their own methods of procurement and have not been big proponents of the GSA right out of the gate. If you're looking at dealing with either agency don't let this shy you away.

A few noteworthy things have been going on in the world of IT this week.
 GSA's CIO, Sonny Hashmi took to the internet with a question ans answer session. He touches base on cloud-based services, shift to modular contracts and a few other topics. Take a look at the session here: https://github.com/govfresh/gitchat/issues/3
The DoD is also expanding its use of IT Dashboard, the agency has reported more than $2.5 billion in ongoing IT projects that have been introduced since the last fiscal year. Take a look at the full article here: http://fcw.com/articles/2014/04/11/dod-it-dashboard.aspx

Are you in the telecommunications industry? You may be interested in the RFI that the GSA has released for Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions. This will replace the Networx vehicle. Comments are due by May 5th and the GSA plans to solicit bids in FY 2015.  Check out the full article here: http://fcw.com/articles/2014/04/14/ns2020-rfi.aspx

Good news for anyone in the construction industry was recently released. The Government announced new flexibility for federal construction standards. It allows for contractors to focus on the end product and not the method to getting there. Take a look at the full article for an example: http://www.fiercegovernment.com/story/new-flexibility-federal-construction-standards/2014-03-18

When people think of things the government buys they think military, but if you think about it the government is just like any other company. They purchase everyday items too. The latest strategic sourcing the GSA is exploring is furniture. The goal is be able to offer agencies better deals and easier access to furniture product and services.

These are just a few of the noteworthy stories our team has come across recently. If you find anything that is not listed here and believe people should be aware of feel free to send them our way. We appreciate all feedback.

-Cristi Kaib

Whats Next? Steps to maximize your GSA Schedule

Making sure that you are maximizing the use of your GSA contract isn’t always the easiest thing. There’s so much work that comes with maintaining a healthy GSA Schedule that we all sometimes need a review of what we should be doing. We want every contractor to be getting the best Return on Investment for their schedule; you put in the work and hours to get a contract and you need to put in the hours to maintain it as well.

Hop on to you Youtube and take a look at our most recent webinar about maximizing your GSA schedule contract. We discuss everything that companies need to do to make sure that their GSA schedule, whatever industry they might be in, stays healthy and profitable. Here’s a couple of topics covered in this webinar:

·         Contract administration- are you on top of all your reporting to government? Is your contract up to date with the latest pricing and point of contact information?

·         Opportunities- are you searching in the right places for the right opportunities? Are you proposals up to par with you competition?

·         Teaming- are you taking advantage of opportunities to work with other companies who can create more diversity in the type of work your company can do?

·         Research- do you know what’s happening in your industry in the government sector? Are sales stagnant, increasing or decreasing? What’s your competition doing?

Those are just a few focus points that every company needs to consider when it comes to making your GSA schedule a success. Hitting the required target sales goal isn’t always the easiest thing for smaller companies however making sure your focusing your energy on the right points for your business can ensure success!

And if you aren’t hitting all those points, don’t worry- not all of them are relevant to every company or industry. Some strategies work for everyone and some are only for particular companies and industries.  However, if you think that you are at risk for losing your contract due to low sales, not reporting sales, or some other contract problem, let us help! Let’s untangle any problem that you might have and get your GSA schedule back on track. 

As always, get in touch with us about any questions that you may have about your GSA schedule! Let’s see if can increase you bottom line and make GSA even more profitable for your company

Webinar Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvcD7axOoHI&feature=youtu.be

GSA Offer Best Practices, Volume 2

If you’re like me, you thrive on organization. How can you keep track of your business – or your life, for that matter – without having “a place for everything and everything in its place”? Whether you back up your information electronically, save it in binders, store it in hanging folders, or throw things in a loose pile on the corner of your desk, when information is important you’re going to hang on to it.

Preparing an offer for the GSA is no different. You should have an organizational system that considers all aspects of your offer, potential revisions, and post-award documentation.

Step 1: Create a folder for printed documents. Most of your files should be electronic – but you’ll surely have to print something along the way.

Step 2: Create a folder on your computer to store information that you use for reference when compiling your GSA offer. This includes solicitation documents and offer response documents.

Step 3: Make sure everything is labeled correctly. Don’t be that person that needs to open every file to see what it is. They have names for a reason!

Step 4: As you revise documents, save them with a different file name than the original. Don’t replace original copies, ever.

Step 5: Once the offer is awarded you need to keep track of sales orders, invoices, receipts, etc. Create a system that works for you. All information regarding your GSA offer should be kept in a neat, easy-to-access place.

As a GSA Contract holder, you will be expected to keep all GSA related documents on hand for as long as you have the contract. Most GSA Contracts last for 20 years.

If you think your filing cabinets are full now, just wait! When the GSA comes knocking – yes, they will literally knock on your door at some point during the life of the contract – you better be ready to show them what the definition of “organization” really is.

-Steph Gowin