“Expanding Your Market”
Helping Good
Businesses
Become Better
• Procurement Technical Assistance Centers (PTACs) –
98 Programs throughout the United States with over
300 local offices.
• A nationwide network of procurement professionals
working to help local businesses compete
successfully in the government marketplace –
authorized by Congress in 1985.
NBDC, which serves as a Procurement Technical
Assistance Center (PTAC), is funded in part through a
cooperative agreement from the Department of
Defense (DoD) through a program that is administered
by the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA). The content of
any written materials or verbal communications of the
PTAC does not necessarily reflect the official views of or
imply endorsement by DoD or DLA.
Find a PTAC Consultant
• Access the NBDC website at:
• http://nbdc.unomaha.edu/
• Click on “Government Contracting” in the
center of the screen
• Click on “Contact a Consultant” in the
dropdown
• Review the list of consultants to find the one
who covers your area
•
• Wayne Office:
Antelope, Boone, Boyd, Burt, Butler, Cedar, Colfax, Cuming, Dakota, Dixon,
Garfield, Greeley, Holt, Knox, Madison, Pierce, Platte, Polk, Stanton,
Thurston, Valley, Wayne, Wheeler
• Kearney Office:
• Adams, Arthur, Banner, Blaine, Box Butte, Brown, Buffalo, Chase, Cherry,
Cheyenne, Custer, Dawes, Dawson, Deuel, Dundy, Franklin, Frontier, Furnas,
Garden, Gosper, Grant, Hall, Hamilton, Harlan, Hayes, Hitchcock, Hooker,
Howard, Kearney, Keith, Keya, Paha, Kimball, Lincoln, Logan, Loup,
McPherson, Merrick, Morrill, Nance, Perkins, Phelps, Red Willow, Rock,
Scotts Bluff, Sheridan, Sherman, Sioux, Thomas,
•
• Auburn:
Cass, Clay, Fillmore, Gage, Jefferson, Johnson, Nemaha, Webster, Nuckolls,
Otoe, Pawnee, Richardson, Saline, Seward, Thayer, York
Northeast Nebraska
Wayne State College
Gardner Hall, Room 102
1111 Main Street
Wayne, NE 68787
(402) 375-7735
aewood@unomaha.edu
Serving counties:
Antelope, Boone, Boyd, Burt, Butler, Cedar, Colfax, Cuming,
Dakota, Dixon, Garfield, Greeley, Holt, Knox, Madison, Pierce,
Platte, Polk, Stanton, Thurston, Valley, Wayne, Wheeler
Investigate Your Market
Identify Your Market
• Draw a 50-mile circle around your
location on a Nebraska map.
• Start a spreadsheet listing each
town and county names within the
circle.
• Use the phone book to add federal
and state government agencies to
your list.
50-Mile Government Marketing List
•
•
•
•
1 Sioux City, IA
82,967
2 Norfolk
24,248
3 Dixon
18,536
Top 10 Towns
Top 10 Counties
Top 5 Federal Agencies
States
4 South Sioux City, NE
13,353
5 Vermillion, SD
10,706
6 Spink, SD
6,470
7 Wayne
5,613
8 Jefferson, IA
4,323
9 West Point
3,379
10 Onawa, IA
2,997
Nebraska
Department of Agriculture (USDA)
Iowa
Fish & Wildlife Service
South Dakota
National Guard
Woodbury, IA
102,509
Madison
34,931
Plymouth, IA
24,896
Dakota
20,913
Clay, SD
14,051
Colfax
10,614
Wayne
9,504
Cuming
9,181
Cedar
8,730
Pierce
7,216
Veterans Affairs
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
You have now identified your initial government market
to include in your business plan.
Federal Agencies
– How many federal government agencies are
there? Best Answer: Louisiana State University
Federal Agency Directory lists over 1,300 distinct
organizations across all three branches of federal
government: Legislative branch (Congress);
Executive branch (President and departments and
independent agencies); and Judicial branch
(Supreme Court and Circuit Courts) at
http://www.lib.lsu.edu/gov/
Another option in researching your market is to access the federal
government’s sites at www.usaspending.gov and
https://www.fpds.gov/fpdsng_cms/ for contract awards.
You can access information the governments buying patters:
1.
2.
3.
4.
If they buy your product
How often they buy (Year by Year)
How much they buy/spent (Awards)
What agency/department buys (DoD, GSA, etc.)
Research Opportunities
There are three basic types of government solicitations:
Invitation For Bids (IFBs) can be short and relatively simple to prepare. They can
contain as few as 15 pages or as many as 100. Their complexity depends on the
project or the commodity. These types of solicitations are usually awarded
primarily on price. Competitive pricing here is a key factor.
Request For Proposals (RFPs) are usually more complex than (IFBs). They tend to
be issued for service oriented contracts with large staffing requirements or
complex operations involved. Many times, they are looking for comprehensive
project management plans, a past performance section, a quality control plan,
and a separate volume on costing. Address each section in order.
Request For Quotes (RFQs). These are generally the easiest to prepare. and it is
usually just a question of filling in the blanks. Like IFBs, they are most often
evaluated and awarded solely on price.
Special : Often this is a way to post a “sole source” notification or follow on
contract, which means the agency has a vendor selected. In some cases,
however (GSA in particular), it’s a notice of Request for Quote.
Sources Sought: A Sources Sought notification almost always means “Small
Business Sources Sought.” The government is loosely required to “set-aside” a
certain percentage of procurements to small businesses. Sometimes the
solicitation will specify explicitly that they are looking only for small businesses
(or 8(a), HUBZone, etc.) to respond. Sources Sought is your chance to “get in
early.”
Combined Synopsis : Most opportunities classified this way are going to actually
happen. All of these should include specifications for the product or service and
a due date for the proposal. A “Combined” means the agency is expecting a
proposal or quote from you.
Unsolicited Proposal : Unsolicited proposals allow unique and innovative ideas or approaches that have been developed
outside the Government to be made available to Government agencies for use in accomplishment of their missions. Unsolicited
proposals are offered with the intent that the Government will enter into a contract with the offeror for research and
development or other efforts supporting the Government mission, and often represent a substantial investment of time and
effort by the offeror.
(b) Advertising material, commercial item offers, or contributions, as defined in 15.601, or routine correspondence on technical
issues, are not unsolicited proposals.
(c) A valid unsolicited proposal must—
(1) Be innovative and unique;
(2) Be independently originated and developed by the offeror;
(3) Be prepared without Government supervision, endorsement, direction, or direct Government involvement;
(4) Include sufficient detail to permit a determination that Government support could be worthwhile and the proposed work
could benefit the agency’s research and development or other mission responsibilities;
(5) Not be an advance proposal for a known agency requirement that can be acquired by competitive methods; and
(6) Not address a previously published agency requirement.
(d) Unsolicited proposals in response to a publicized general statement of agency needs are considered to be independently
originated.
(e) Agencies must evaluate unsolicited proposals for energy-savings performance contracts in accordance with the procedures in
10 CFR 436.33(b).
• You can use one solicitation to send in an unsolicited
proposal
• For example: You find a solicitation for an event in your
area. They want a place that can provide lodging and
meeting space. You have a food service business. You
can email the POC for that particular solicitation and
inform them of your services.
• Another example: You find a solicitation for city
construction project. In there you do not see anything
about clean up and you operate a business that can do
site clean up. You can email the POC for that particular
solicitation and inform them of all your services.
What are the types of opportunities you want to pursue?
Micro-Purchasing (Under $3,000)
Can purchase with Government-wide Commercial
Purchase Card
Solicitations Below $10,000
No requirement to publicize
Solicitations $10,000 to $25,000
Must be posted in a public place or on a public
electronic forum
What are the types of opportunities you want to pursue?
Solicitations above $25,000
Publicized on FedBizOpps at least 15 days prior to formal solicitation
(there are certain exceptions per FAR 6.302)
Within Simplified Acquisition Threshold (Less Than $150,000)
Streamlined Procedures
Typically requires three competitive quotes
Above Simplified Acquisition Threshold (More Than $150,000)
Proposals must allow 30-day response time from solicitation for noncommercial items
Response time may be shortened for commercial items
Bid Match
Service provided by Nebraska Business Development
Center PTAC Program
Automated effort to find town, city, county, state and federal
government opportunities. (Note: The Bid Match system
makes daily search of new federal, state, and local
government opportunities and emails matching
opportunities to you. We begin by creating a detailed
profile of your company. There is no charge for this service).
Federal Solicitations
– Next access the federal governments “Federal Business Opportunities – FBO”
website at https://www.fbo.gov/ (NOTE: User guide for this system can be
found at https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=getstart&mode=list&tab=list&tabmode=list under
“Getting Started”, then click on “User Guides”, then “Vendor”).
– Click on “Search”, and thousands of federal government opportunities will be
shown.
– Remember the differences between a “Pre-Solicitation”, “Special”, “Sources
Sought”, Combined Synopsis” and “Award” notices.
DIBBS
– Next access the Military “DLA Internet Bid Board System – DIBBS” website at :
https://www.dibbs.bsm.dla.mil/dodwarning.aspx?goto=/default.aspx
(NOTE: User guide for this system can be found at:
https://www.dibbs.bsm.dla.mil/Refs/help/DIBBSHelp.htm under “FAQ/Help”).
– Click on “RFQs”, “Text Search” to enter keywords and current opportunities
will be shown.
– Technical Documents can be accessed through “cFolders” by contact 1 (855)
352-0001 and then logging in at https://pcf1.bsm.dla.mil/cfolders/
– Joint Certification Program (DD2345 Form) the Military Critical Technical Data
Agreement
State Solicitations
– To conduct business with the state of Nebraska, you would access their
website at http://www.nebraska.gov/
– http://das.nebraska.gov/materiel/
– Look for “All Agencies” (top right of screen) then then “Materiel” then
“Purchasing”, then “Vendor Information” then “Vendor Application”. Then
complete the application and hand carry it to their office in downtown Lincoln
to also meet your specific buyer.
– Upon completion of submitting your vendor application click on “Purchasing”,
then choose “Bid Opportunities”, then click on “Request for Proposals –
Current Bid Opportunities”.
– Let’s look at a couple of their solicitations on their site.
County Solicitations
– To conduct business with the county of Douglas County, NE, you would access
their website at http://www.douglascounty-ne.gov/ .
– http://www.douglascountypurchasing.org/home
– Look for “For Business” then “Doing Business” then “Vendor Application”.
Then complete the application and hand carry to their office downtown
Omaha to meet our specific buyer (if you are registered with Omaha, NE then
you are registered with Douglas County, NE).
– Upon completion of the Vendor Application look for “Current Bids and
Proposals”, then the site will convert to “Douglas County Purchasing”
(because the county advertises all solicitations for the city).
City Solicitations
– For an example to conduct business with the town of Columbus, NE
you would access their website at http://www.columbusne.us/.
– http://www.columbusne.us/Bids.aspx
– Look for “Departments” then “Administration” then “Finance” then
“Purchasing”.
– Let’s access their website and look at some of their solicitations.
Local Opportunities
• Local Newspapers can contain bidding
opportunities for smaller communities
• Utilize simple key words: Bids or Solicitations
• Let’s look at a couple of examples:
– http://siouxcityjournal.com/app/legals/
– http://www.kearneyhub.com/legals/
Sub Contracting
• How do I get a subcontracting opportunity?
• The first way is to find local businesses that you can
partner with and approach them with what your
services are and how you can help them either fulfill
Small Business Utilization or Utilize Socio-Economic
Status to help them attain a project.
• The second is to look into open solicitations and see
who are the interested vendors and contact them
about your services.
• The third way is to search in SBA Sub Net:
http://web.sba.gov/subnet/search/index.cfm
DSBS (Dynamic Small Business Search)
• DSBS is set up by the SBA to help small
business get noticed in the Federal Market. If
you have a SAM (System for Award
Management) Registration you can have a
profile on DSBS.
– https://www.sam.gov/portal/public/SAM/##11
– http://dsbs.sba.gov/dsbs/search/dsp_dsbs.cfm
Submit Proposals
– Make sure you are registered with the government
agencies you want to do business with
• Federal
– System for Award Management (SAM) - https://www.sam.gov
– Create Individual User Account
• State
– State of Nebraska
– Other State Procurement
• Local
– Individual County or Town registrations
– Sources for developing a government proposal include:
• Shipley Business Development Lifecycle Guide by Larry Newman
• Government Proposals by Rebecca Shannon
• Winning Government Business by Steve R. Osborne
• Win Government Contracts for Your Small Business by John DiGiacomo
• Federal Contracting Made Easy by Scott A. Stanberry
• SWOT & SWAG by Andy Alexander
– SWOT - Read the solicitation and
determine your company’s
Strengths, Weaknesses,
Opportunities and Threats as if you
were to win the contract.
Determine how you would
implement the program/project.
You must visualize your proposal
prior to developing your proposal.
– Make sure that you address every
section and follow the
process exactly.
– Partner with others if you don’t
have the capabilities
necessary to perform the contract.
Consider mentor/protégé or
subcontracting relationship.
Contract Award
• Meet with your PTAC Consultant and compare the
solicitation against your proposal against the contract.
• If there are no discrepancies, then develop your
project/program to implement the contract and ensure
you understand how to invoice the government for
your goods/services (Note: Invoicing is normally
described within the solicitation or contract).
• If there are discrepancies between any of those source
documents, identify the differences, then meet with
the government contracting officer to adjudicate those
issues.
• Represent your company well – do a good job
from implementation through contract
performance.
• Establish strong relationships with the contracting
agency.
• Develop a strategy for follow-up procurements
with the agency.
• Each contract allows you to establish past
performance and gain experience.
Open Forum
Thoughts,
Questions,
Comments