Take this introductory course on how to enter the Federal space as a small business set-aside. With the wisdom of http://www.quoteroller.com and http://www.salesautomationsupport.com you will learn how you can qualify for a Set-Aside, register with SAM.gov, to find bid opportunities at FBO.gov, how to write a compliance matrix, and so much more!
Created by Jennifer Riggins and Tim Peterson
2. The Plan
• How Federal Set-asides can work for you
• How to Register in the Federal space
• How to Find Opportunities To Bid
• How to Line Up a Winning Team
• How to Gain Certainty in Your Bids
• How to set up your Compliance Matrix
• Bring all the pieces together
5. • The World’s Largest Buyer
• Total Spending in 2012 = $3.54 Trillion or
($3,540,000,000,000)
• Vs: Walmart Sales of a mere $443,854,000,000
(The USG spends 7.98 times more than Walmart
sells worldwide on an annual basis)
The U.S. Federal Government
8. Federal Set-Aside Certifications
• Every federal government purchase anticipated to
be valued from $2500 to $100,000 is automatically
set-aside for small businesses as long as there are
at least 2 companies that can provide the product/
service. !
!
• Contracts over $100,000 can be set aside if
enough small businesses are able to do the work. !
!
• Contracts over $500,000 have to include a small
business subcontracting plan so that small
businesses can get work under these large
contracts.
9. More Federal Set-Aside Certifications
HUB Zone - designated “Historically Under-utilized Business Zone”
!
SBA 8(a) - Min. 2 yr old bus., Owner net worth < $250K, disadvantaged
!
Women-Owned - 51% plus owned by women (Fed. Goal 5%+ but short)
!
Service DisabledVeteran Owned (SDVO) - (Fed. Goal 3%+ but short)
!
Veteran Owned - Requires at least 51%+Veteran Ownership
!
Small Disadvantaged Business - 51%+ Minority Ownership
!
Native American - Includes Tribes as well as Alaskan and Hawaiian Majority Ownership
!
HBCU / MI - Historically Black Colleges & Univ. - Minority Institutions
14. Research Funding
Small Business Innovation Research/Small business Technology
Transfer - The SBIR/STTR program was established to provide small
companies with funding to develop products which have government and
commercial potential.
!
SBIR’s are research grants to fund research and development efforts.
!
In 2005 federal agencies spent $1.85 billion on SBIR awards.
!
STTR is similar to SBIR except the company must partner with a university
under an STTR.
!
Federal agencies with R&D expenditures over $100 million per year set
aside 2.5% of the R&D funds for the SBIR program.
15. Once upon a time
• There was a woman owned business services company…
• They were registered but not yet certified WBE…
• Their stock ownership was clearly woman dominated…
• Their management was clearly woman dominated…
• But, when the certification results came back… Surprise!
16. SAM.gov is where it all begins
!
•
Create an account
!
•
Register (Plan Ahead- it will take you several hours.)
!
•
User Guides & Quick Start Guides in the Help Tab
!
Consolidates: CCR/FedReg, ORCA and EPLS
!
No Fee
How to Register with the Federal Government?
17. • FBO.gov could become your best friend
• Small Business TrainingVideo
• User Guides
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Watchlists & Search Agents
• 26,666 Solicitations the last time I looked
@ >$10,000
• EnterYour NAICS Code and go Alice, time
is short
How to Find OpportunitiesTo Bid?
18. HowTo Line Up A WinningTeam
• GSA Mentor-Protégé Program
• http://www.gsa.gov/portal/category/21983
!
!
!
!
!
!
• Teaming Agreements
• JointVentures
• Find Other InterestedVendors on FBO.gov
19. How to Gain Certainty in your Bids
Follow best practices:
• Compliance Matrix
• Gap Analysis
• Win Themes
• Outline
• Past Performance
• Custom Detailed Technical Plans (Management, Safety,Transition, Staffing,
Project Gantt Charts)
• Hire an Experienced Proposal Project Manager; Outsource
• Reviews – Early & Often
20.
21. Custom Detailed Technical Plans
• Management Plan
• Safety Plan
• Transition Plan
• Staffing Plan
• Project Plan - Gantt Charts
Hire an Experienced Federal Proposal Project Manager; Outsource
The Experience you Need
Reviews – Early & Often
How to Gain Certainty in your Bids - Continued
22. To Find The Right Outsourced Proposal Development Team
• Look for wins
• Look for Firm Fixed Price - Not To Exceed
• Reputation - What Others Say
• Listed in InterestedVendor Tab
24. The Summary
• How to Register – SAM.gov
• How to Find Opportunities To Bid – FBO.gov
• How to Line Up A Winning Team - Interested
Vendors
• How to Gain Certainty InYour Bids - Outsource
25. Goals of a Persuasive Federal Proposal
1. Compliance
2. Easy-to-read
3. Consistently Well-Organized
4. Compelling
26. Can my company fill the part?
• Do you have people in your organization that have
produced similar results before and are responsible?
• Does your bid project manager have experience in Quality
Assurance and/or Quality Control?
• Do you have the on-paper requirements, like the required
degree?
• What are your business’s core competencies? What is
your experience? What work have you produced before?
• Why are you applying for this? Where is your business
going?
27. The Compliance Matrix
or Requirements Traceability Matrix
(RTM) maps out the requirements of
the RFP down to the volume, section,
and page of the proposal where each
requirement is answered.
!
Make it as easy-to-read and as clear as
possible!
28. What should it look like?
1.RFP Sections
2.The Requirement
3.Volume, Section and Page
Number of proposal response
“No one will complain if you make something
too easy to understand.”
29. BONUS
Compliance Matrix Extra: a brief statement of HOW
you comply (makes evaluator’s job easier)
!
EXAMPLE: If an RFP had a requirement that 50% of
staff were Comp TIA A+ certified and 100% of your
staff are certified, your Compliance Summary could
read:“Technical Staff is 100% Comp TIA A+ certified.”
•
Make your entire
proposal as easy
to read as
possible!
30. • “Building your Compliance Matrix at the end of the
writing effort is like waiting until the house is built
before drawing up the blueprints.The Compliance
Matrix, like the outline of the proposal itself, should
precisely parallel the structure of the RFP and should
be developed in tandem with the proposal outline
before storyboarding and writing even begin.”
Create as you go
32. How Quote Roller can help close Federal Deals
• Know which sections evaluator is examining to prepare
for objections during presentation
• Prepare beautiful web-based and PDF versions
• Organize all in cloud
• Collaborate with team members, communicating on the
proposal
• Drag & drop easily into sleek, organized proposal
• Arrange with HTML, Excel, images, etc., then quickly pull
all together
• Prepare proposals 8 times faster than other ways!