Open Dialogue on Improving How to Do Business with the Federal Government Ideas

Small business utilization guidelines should be simplified in an effort to increase compliance. For instance, when the Department of Veterans Affairs instituted a small business mandate in FY12, manufacturers were forced to change their distribution and sales strategy. This funneled sales to smaller businesses—many of them veteran-owned—and also increased the competitive environment for these contracts. Interestingly, ...more »

The government should identify as many opportunities to use platforms for open market competition as possible in order to increase participation in federal business from a more diverse community of suppliers. Many organizations are too entrenched in their relationships with huge corporations and the use of BPAs that many small- and minority-owned businesses are denied access to these opportunities where they may be able ...more »

If a small business has a good service or product that the federal government can use then the first two major barriers must be addressed for more participation are: 1. Cash flow for 12 -36 months to cover G&A- Fringe & Over Head depending on industry needs to be easily accessible. If a company jumps through all the hoops to become a federal contractor then to survive long enough for repeated contract awards to provide ...more »

What about an organization that is dedicated to helping small companies navigate the contracting process? In our experience, once you have fought the battle to gain certification (FedRamp or ATO), there is a bigger and more expensive hurdle of getting on the GSA price list and/or finding an appropriate contracting vehicle. Most companies end up working with a contracting partner like Carasoft or mmix who take a big ...more »