Open Dialogue on Improving How to Do Business with the Federal Government 3. Small Business Participation

Issue: Restrictive experience requirements under the GSA Schedule program. For example, under IT Schedule 70 a company must have been in business for at least two years to be eligible for a contract. The GSA Schedule experience requirements limit access to new, innovation companies providing cutting edge technologies. It is an unnecessary barrier to entry to the federal market place. Recommendation: Eliminate the mandatory ...more »

It would be beneficial if the end users were cognizant of what they were asking vendors to bid on. There have been many "E-Buy" solicitations that we have passed on because tossed into the package of furniture is some oddball piece that locks the bid into a larger firm that will only work with their "preferred" dealers and effectively garnering the entire package. Making it mandatory for the requestor to select product ...more »

Issue: Intellectual property rights as currently set forth in GSA Schedule contracts are unclear, cumbersome and unduly burdensome for contractors. The End User License Agreement (EULA) requirements remain unclear in IT Schedule 70. As such, each license agreement must be reviewed by the contracting officer and legal counsel. Recommendation: A basic set of terms should be developed that identify the key requirements ...more »

FBO should list correct Product and Service Codes from the FPDS Manual found at http://www.acquisition.gov/PSC%20Manual%20-%20Final%20-%2011%20August%202011.pdf If the codes could be validated before posting, it would help small businesses locate appropriate opportunities. For example, it would be easier for a roofer to locate a roofing contract if the FBO announcement is coded with a 'Y' or 'Z' designation, instead ...more »

In section 866 of the 2011 NDAA, Congress authorized a pilot program for the acquisition of Military Purpose Nondevelopmental Items (MPNDI). This allows products developed entirely at private expense to be purchased using streamlined, commercial-like procedures. This gap-filler was carefully “designed to test whether the streamlined procedures similar to those available for commercial items can serve as an effective ...more »

To improve acquisition, we need to train and incentivize contract officers to take new approaches. As a CO, it is always easier to go with the safer, slower, more traditional approach. Also it aligns to their incentives (don't get protested or in trouble). We should align incentives for contract officers on: -Speed to deliver contracts -Cost savings they are able to delivery (in the end) -Bringing in new vendors -Leveraging ...more »

One of the reasons there is so much set-aside money left is because the government makes it impossible for the average small business to grow. They give up before they even try. We need x number of contracts before we even become eligible to compete. How about the government being that entity that provides the first numbers of contracts? If private companies can take the risk to give the small business their first contracts, ...more »

I would like to recommend that the information offered by the SBA and similar organizations be streamlined to be more efficient, user-friendly and practical. At this time there are so many areas and so many emails when all the small business needs are some practical pointers to become effective within the short amount of time they can afford to spend on administrative matters. Please do not think that this means poor ...more »

We have been registered on CCR and now Sam for several years. Part of the registration requires a listing of services/products offered. However we have NEVE$R been alerted of an rfp by a CO using this system to notify qualified suppliers.

The present system requires a marketing effort broader and more intensive than is required to sell to non governmental operations.

We recommend that SBA increase the Personal Networth definition to $5 million, in addition remove the required Audited financials unless the organization has revenue of over $100 million.

If you really want to increase small biz participation, increase the use of Section 845 Other Transactions Agreements. It's a great way to encourage non-traditional small biz participation, eliminate a lot of DCAA accounting issues, and keep innovation flowing. The ones my company has been involved in have been very successful. Also, expand the OTA to allow for manufacturing as well as prototyping. Moving away from ...more »

The current system relies heavily on an assumption that everyone knows how to navigate the various technologies inherent in government contracting. The human element is inadequate.