During the Fourth Quarter of the Fiscal Year (Q4) federal agency contracting offices and the contracting officials who "make it happen" are working as diligently as they can to quickly but responsively contract for goods and/or services to meet the needs of their internal customers. The key here is to move the procurement process along as fast as possible without violating any acquisition regulations or other contracting regulatory guidance.  One great solution for the busy contracting official is to use existing GSA Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) contracts (often referred to as "schedules") to procure what they need.  And you want to take advantage of this opportunity.

The agency contracting official benefits several ways from using a GSA schedule to contract for goods and services, especially during the Q4 buying season, and it is important that you understand these benefits to the government so that you can position your company to benefit also.  Some of the benefits are:

• Technical qualification of the contractor already established
• Fully burdened rates and/or prices approved
• Discounting, especially for products, may already be known
• Solicitations can be done via the Request for Quotes (RFQ) process rather than the usually more complex and time consuming Request for Proposals (RFP) process
• In some cases GSA contracting officials actually carry out the acquisition process for the agency

So, how do you take advantage of this opportunity?  How do you make your company a known quantity to the government buyer?  You want a GSA MAS contract.  This will allow you to be a "player" in this particular aspect of the Q4 buying period.  Bottom line: if you aren't on schedule or able to team with a schedule holder you will be on the sidelines watching the Q4 game play out.

Now if you are on a GSA Schedule here are some of the strategic and tactical things you want to do to be prepared for this aspect of the Q4 buying season.

• Start early marketing your schedule to both current, past and potential customers.  Let them know (or remind them) that you have this existing contract vehicle available as a quick and easy way for them to acquire your services and/or products.
• Be prepared to educate your customer about GSA MAS use in general and how it can benefit them (see above).
• Make sure that all your business development, capture management, and contract management processes are finely tuned and ready to respond when the opportunity is presented.  A quick response is often required in answering RFQs and being able to do this will definitely give you a competitive edge.  For example:

• Is your GSA Advantage! web page up-to-date and a good sell tool for you?
• Are you prepared to track GSA eBuy postings?
• Is your accounting system ready to both accept customer payments and track your IFF payments to GSA?
• Does your proposal management process facilitate fast turn responses to RFQs? 

The important take away is that a very critical way to take advantage of the Q4 buying season is to be prepared by being on one or more GSA schedules.  This will allow you to match your company's capabilities with the government's desire to contract quickly and efficiently.  You will be in the game and in position to win contracts by "helping" the acquisition process as part of the Q4 solution.

Doña Storey is the American Express OPEN Advisor on Procurementand through her experiences as an active woman-owned small business contractor, she lends her expertise to help small businesses navigate the procurement maze and find success. 

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dona_Storey

During the fourth quarter of the federal fiscal year, which ends on September 30, government agencies are finalizing their acquisition for the year and assessing their remaining dollars to potentially check off a few items not purchased on this year's wish list. Many small business contractors find that they can pick up a few hundred thousand dollars or even a few million dollars from various government customers during this period. This is especially true for small businesses with special certifications. In some cases this may be your first chance to get in the door if you are prepared and satisfied to capture something on a smaller scale.

To read more….

Federal agencies try to ensure that they wisely use the funds budgeted for them during a fiscal year. This often leads to conserving funds until the fiscal year is almost over and then identifying requirements that could be funded by remaining budget dollars. This apparent rush to obligate funds to meet the needs of each agency's internal customer opens a window of opportunity for the prepared contractor. So how can your small business become the prepared contractor?

First and foremost, get your past performance documents ready so that you can successfully respond in the little time you will have available. Why is this so important?

Read more about the importance of past performance here…

There is a recent proposed rule for the bundling of task and/or delivery orders that could further address the issue and make changes that supplement or reinforce the legislation found in the Small Business Jobs Act (see below). Below is the "proposed" rule that you need to be aware of and understand how it could favorably impact your strategic marketing plan. Take special note of the due date for comments on proposed rule as you can make a positive statement in support of actions that are good for your business.

PROPOSED: Task and Delivery Order Contracts, Bundling, Consolidation (3245-AG20) This proposed regulation addresses task and delivery order set-asides under multiple-award contracts, multiple-award contract partial set-asides, and reserving multiple-award contracts when using full and open competition (See interim FAR rule 2011-024). The procurement authority must publish rationale for bundling on agency website and for consolidated contracts valued at greater than $2M it requires that a Senior Procurement Executive / Chief Acquisition Officer ensures that market research was conducted and that it was determined consolidation is necessary and justified. This was published on 5/16/2012 (77 FR 29130) and comments due 7/16/2012.

The bundling of contracts has always been an issue with contractors and especially with small businesses. The act of bundling is seen as a limit to competition and favors large businesses who have the assets to bid on and manage large complex single awards with multiple sub-contractors.

This bundling issue has been the subject of many complaints to SBA and testimony before Congress. Recently there have been efforts to address this through both legislation and regulation and you owe it to yourself to become familiar with what's going on that can open opportunities that previously were not available.

Small Business Jobs Act: Implementation of Conforming & Technical Amendments (3245- AG15). This establishes the requirement to publish a list and the rationale for any bundled contracts on the agency website within 30 days of data certification. This was published on 10/13/2011 (76 FR 63542) and was effective as of 11/28/2011.

The Obama administration has proposed combining the functions and staff of the Small Business Administration; the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative; the Export-Import Bank; the Overseas Private Investment Corporation; and the Trade and Development Agency.

This proposed restructuring is being pitched as a way to ease the regulatory burden on businesses and a savings $3 billion over 10 years is being claimed. That said, there are some trade groups who are concerned about the execution of the proposed restructuring and they are concerned that the move could strip resources from entrepreneurs rather than reinforce the needs of small businesses.

Such a massive reorganization will face difficulties getting approved in an election year and Congress may be less likely to approve the idea because several of the affected agencies currently report to different Congressional committees.

Many small business groups are concerned that the restructuring will take resources away from small-business programs. Several of the agencies in the proposed consolidation concern themselves primarily with large firms and although small businesses tend to be skeptical of government in general, they have a favorable impression of the SBA and don't want its influence diminished.

Personally I am worried that small contractors would be disoriented by the change. With fewer resources, the new agency might not be able to adequately educate small contractors on how to pursue government dollars. As I told the Washington Post, "If you change an entire agency, how are they going to put together the outreach? Where is that money? The confusion it's going to cause in the market place is my number one concern,"

To read more on the proposed government consolidation at the Washington Post click here

It is very important that federal contractors, especially those new to federal contracting, understand that only contracting officials (KO) can modify an existing contract. That means that only they can:

•    Change the scope of the work (approve additional or new work)

•    Change due dates or formats for deliverables

•    Authorize additional payments

•    Change the FAR clauses that are part of your contract (add or delete)

•    Change how you must invoice for payment

•    ANYTHING TO DO WITH YOUR CONTRACT!

The point is that your "customer/client/PM" can't do any of the above without going through the KO. Where businesses get in trouble is usually getting caught between wanting to provide outstanding customer service (the "rock") and the actual scope of work in the contract (the "hard place"). It is great to expand existing work on a contract but you also want to get paid for doing that work. If you do work without the proper KO authorization the government is not obligated to pay you.

So what should you do? If your customer wants to expand your work:

•    First, tell the customer that you are more than willing to do the work on the third floor and ask her to contact the KO responsible for your contract to request a modification.

•    Send an email to your customer verifying the conversation and the details of the proposed additional work.

•    Send an email to the KO to give them a "heads up" that the government customer should be contacting them to modify the contract for additional work.

•    The KO may require that you submit a price quote for the new work. If so, respond quickly.

•    When the KO issues the modification, acknowledge it and start working.

All communications should be in writing and/or verified in writing by email.

I was recently asked to provide my thoughts for a Washington Post article titled, Small federal contractors feeling the pinch of reduced government spending, concerning how contracting "batting averages" have declined for both primes and subcontractors. American Express Open provided data that showed that the success rates, or "batting averages" for prime contractors bidding on government work have declined in 2008-2010, from 2007-2009. The decline has been greater for subcontractors than for primes.

As all small businesses know, providing services for the federal government has always been hard work, and now it's getting even harder. Small business owners are having less success in securing federal government contracts even as they go after contracts more aggressively, according to data from a new report released this week by American Express OPEN, which polled 740 small business federal contractors in an online survey.

According to the survey, active small business contractors reported that they spent an average of $86,124 seeking federal contracts in 2009, but they spent $103,827 doing so in 2010 - an increase of 21 percent. The costs include both staff time and expenses such as travel, mail and meetings.

The success rate declined even more - by 27 percent - for subcontractors, who tend to be smaller. The AMEX OPEN research team thinks this might be because prime contractors are holding on to more of their work as government spending dries up, rather than doling it out to subcontractors. "Large primes are not opening up for as much subcontracting activity," an AMEX OPEN research advisor said. "Federal spending is down, and it's impacted big contractors, which then has a ripple effect on small businesses that are suppliers to the larger primes."

My point of view is that a small contractor should network with agencies and prime contractors, attend all industry trade shows and build a stellar Web site that showcases examples of past work.

My rule of thumb is that a contractor should "say 'no' more than they say 'yes' to decisions to bid" so as to ensure that they're not wasting resources on contracts they likely won't get. The AMEX OPEN survey found there are diminishing returns for those taking a scatter-shot approach. Bidding on more than six contracts in a three-year period actually caused a business's "batting average" to decrease suggesting companies are better off trying for just two or three contracts each year.

To read more about the AMEX OPEN study and the Washington Post article go to:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/on-small-business/small-federal-contractors-feeling-the-pinch-of-reduced-government-spending/2011/12/12/gIQACpcwrO_story.html

In May of 2006, President Bush signed into law the Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act (TIPRA) (Public Law No. 109-222). The measure was a combination of small tax provisions, including extension of capital gains tax rates, increased expensing provisions for small businesses and some alternative minimum tax relief. To offset these revenue-negative provisions it also contained sixteen "revenue offset" provisions to make the bill revenue neutral.

While most of the provisions of the bill were debated in both the House and Senate, there was a provision that emerged from the conference committee that had never been part of the original bills and never discussed in hearings on the chamber floors. Section 511 mandates that federal, state, and local governments withhold 3 percent of their payments for goods and services (the "government withholding regime") starting in 2013. Assumptions are that it was added into the bill to help reconcile the bill and make it "revenue neutral."

Implementation was delayed until 2013 largely due to the fear that many contractors would increase bids on projects to account for the delay in payment, increasing the overall cost of projects dramatically. An increase in project costs on a local level could have been devastating to communities that are struggling to finance projects while dealing with deep budget cuts.

Because the profit margin for many businesses working with local and state government is often less than three percent, the withholding tax would have created significant cash flow problems for day-to-day operations in addition to reducing capital that could be invested in job creation and business expansion. Many planning, architecture, landscape architecture, and engineering firms work extensively with government agencies and would have been negatively affected by this change.

This provision was repealed as a part of a larger bill (HR 674) that contained several elements of President Obama's jobs bill. Introduced by Reps. Wally Herger (R-Cal.) and Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), the bill was a bipartisan effort with 269 co-sponsors. It was passed unanimously. The Senate previously approved the bill on a 94-to-1 vote.

Learn more at www.govtips.biz

During tough and challenging business times your main goal becomes survival….staying alive! At this time there are three key areas of your business that you must examine and focus on in order to ensure your survival. These areas are:

• Make core competency your Brand
• Business Processes
• Marketing-go to Market Strategy…not just selling

Your core competency must be your brand and can be defined in the following areas. Intangibles… what are you known for? I hope one intangible is being known as an ethical business. Do your customers trust you and is your word your bond? What are you known for? On-time delivery or low cost, high quality? What do you and your customers get as their return on investing with you?

Another key to survival is to make sure that you have all your critical business processes defined and documented. You need to ensure that your business data is secure and that you are managing the knowledge that defines your business. The key processes that must be defined and documented are proposal management, contract management, and financial management. These three all have important elements of data that must be created, tracked and maintained to ensure that you are ready for opportunities that come your way.

During these tough times do you need to re-examine your go-to Market Strategy? How you have positioned your firm in the marketplace can be referred to as your go to market strategy. Are you a Sub or a prime contractor to the government? Do you have key customers you have served that no longer seem to hold potential? Have you teamed with a partner who seems to have changed direction and no longer includes you in their strategy? These may all be signs that you need to step back and re-examine how you survive and thrive in this economy. Your examination and the plan developed from that review should result in a strategy that allows you to turn around the circumstances and sue your strengths to re-position your small business for survival and possible even growth you had not considered in the past. In many instances this forced examination will result in a new beginning with surprisingly good results!

This is part of a presentation I made at the Virginia Beach Minority Business Council "Connect and Grow Your Business" conference and Expo. To learn more go to the link below.

http://govtips.biz/media/22803/vambc%20presentation.pdf

As more businesses, especially small, are looking for more opportunities in a shrinking economy the world of federal contracts are looking more and more appealing. The maze of small business certifications can be very confusing. When you add to the mix terminology that gets into the daily conversations that are incorrect, you have the perfect storm of confusion in a marketplace that can already be a challenge for the new comers. Make a point of understanding the difference between the uses of the term 'set aside' versus 'sole source' in federal procurement. People have the tendency to use the term set aside thinking and meaning sole source. A set-aside means that the government can determine that there are enough of one type of companies…let's say for example 'small' to be able to 'set aside' a requirement for only small businesses to compete for that work. It does not mean that a requirement will be 'sole sourced' or 'directed' or awarded to a firm without competition. It means that eligible small businesses can compete on a more level playing field to compete among themselves for a specific requirement. I have found this confusion in terminology even used by well intentioned and seasoned government employees.