* 70% of Government Contracts below $150,000 are awarded using Simplified Acquisition Procedures *
(the Secret to Success in Government Contracting for Small Businesses)
Useful Facts About Small Businesses & Government Contracting:
- 23% of Federal Contracting Dollars are Set-Aside for Small Businesses
- Federal Contracts $150,000 and under are commonly called “Small Business Set-Asides”
- Only 30% of these Small Business Contracts are found and won on FBO (FedBizOpps)
- Contracts below $25,000 are almost never posted to the public, commonly called “No-Bid Contracts”
Simplified Acquisition Procedures (FAR Section 13)
Simplified Acquisition Procedures are a contracting method which seeks to reduce the amount of work the government must undertake to evaluate an offer and award it to a Small Business. When Contracting Officers or Federal Agencies choose a vendor in a Simplified Acquisition Procurement for contracts under $150,000 (current Simplified Acquisition Threshold) they need not bother with the formal evaluation process, obtaining multiple bids, conducting market research and the Contracting Officer can directly award the contract by choosing the vendor themselves. FAR Section 13 as well as other amendments removed competition restrictions on government purchases under $150,000 which reduced the amount of steps needed to award contracts to Small Businesses. These steps highly improved opportunities for Small, Small Disadvantaged, Woman-Owned, Veteran-Owned and HUBZone Small Business Concerns. These “Small Business Set-Aside Certifications” provide the maximum practicable amount of opportunities for these Certified Small Businesses to respond to solicitations issued using these Simplified Acquisition Procedures.
The purpose of creating the Simplified Acquisition Procedures were to:
- Reduce Administrative Costs
- Improve Opportunities for Small Businesses to obtain a fair proportion of government contracts
- Promote Efficiency and Economy in Government Contracting
- Avoid Unnecessary Burdens for Agencies and Small Business Contractors
- Increase the speed at which a contract can be awarded and completed by a Small Business
- Increase the number of Small Businesses that can enter Government Contracting and fulfill Government Contracts (less burdensome, much easier, much faster, past performance not required)
Why Simplified Acquisition Procurements (SAP) Improve Opportunities for Small Businesses:
How can I position my Small Business to Qualify For & Win Government Contracts using Simplified Acquisition Procedures?
Even though a Small Business may be eligible, what do you need in place or what do you have to do to actually win these types of contracts?
United States Business Registration is the oldest private organization specializing in the System for Award Management Registration (SAM Registration, previously CCR & ORCA) and Small Business Set-Aside Certifications (Woman-Owned, Veteran-Owned, Minority-Owned, HUBZone, etc.). In our 8+ years operating (prior to SAM’s creation), we are the ONLY organization to maintain a grade letter “A” with the BBB (Better Business Bureau). We typically do not offer GSA Schedules as only about 5% of companies with GSA Schedules actually obtain business by having a GSA Schedule in place.
USBRI asks some basic preliminary questions to see if a business qualifies to be a vendor for Federal Government Contracts in general. If so, we will conduct a little more research to:
- View contracts previously awarded in any specific industry
- Locate available contracting opportunities in that industry
- Locate past and future spending trends for that industry to find where the growth might be
- Look at the level of competition for specific business types and Set-Aside status if it applies
- Look at what your current competition is winning
- Uncover the techniques being utilized by similar businesses that are being successful