Posts Tagged: small-business

3 Ways to Cultivate Small Businesses in the Federal Space

Developing and cultivating relationships with the small business community and supporting their goals to grow their business are important in the federal space. How can larger private companies help their smaller counterparts? By developing a program that supports these small businesses through the development, engagement, and enablement of an ecosystem of companies.

Small Businesses: Let Gov Help You!

There are loads of benefits to supporting small businesses. They can be friendlier, more transparent, more accessible, and less hierarchical. Plus, they can provide the government with great services – just as good as larger businesses who engage in acquisitions with the U.S. government. The only caveat is that small businesses need a little bitRead… Read more »

Will VA certifications of SDVOSB go away? We in the Veteran’s community can only hope so

Recent contracting missteps, as reported by the Washington Business Journal (WBJ) and Microtech by the Washington Post, seem to have endangered the Veteran’s Affairs (VA) programs for certifying firms as either Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) or Veteran Owned Small Business (VOSB). Although the current certification process is challenging enough, this recent issueRead… Read more »

Small Businesses as Primes: Beware the Scorpion

As the 2012 Fiscal Year comes to a close, procurement shops are in full gear awarding contracts in the shadow of sequestration. Many large firms are also trying to close business after months of business development, only to see last minute decisions to make their solicitation a small business set-aside. This creates another potential avenueRead… Read more »

DHS Rule Protects Small Business? Think Again.

Federal Computer Week reported on a proposed change to the Homeland Security Acquisition Regulation, the supplement to the Federal Acquisition Regulation by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), in order to help small businesses fend off rapacious primes contractors from “windfall” payments on Time and Materials contracts. “Help” like this is not desired by smallRead… Read more »

Contractors and Procurement Officials: Customer Service Is A Two Way Street

There seems to be a development that is coming more and more to the forefront: the case of the out-of-control Contracting Officer (KO). There are usually two paths to interactions with a KO, one being the KO who is overwhelmed with the workload, doing the best they can to handle it, and simply have veryRead… Read more »

Avoiding Business Development Budgeting Pitfalls and Proposal Cost Cutting Blunders

As a proposal manager getting a proposal plan approved, I always found it difficult to get my management to approve a budget that was based on 40-hour weeks for employees and 50, 60, or even 70-hour weeks for consultants. It just didn’t look good: a consultant often cost more per hour than an employee, andRead… Read more »