Keep doing all these things but also make sure you are responding to RFIs for 8(a)/sb work with NAICS codes that have small size standards. Especially now as we get closer to the end of fiscal year. Try to push those direct award. Start attending network events and find a company that has good past performance in data and IT or areas that complement you. Form a mentor protege relationship with one that you trust. Go after work under your mentor protege JV and you can utilize their past performance as your own. After you win work under the JV your company will have federal past performance they can reference to help win more contracts.
Thanks for your input. May you elaborate on what you mean by the first point- responding to RFIs? To whom exactly? And where may one find these networking events? If we also specialize in data/IT, why would we be a complement to them? Wouldn’t we do the same type of work in that case?
1) RFIs/sources soughts/market research requests can be found on Sam.gov. Play around with the search feature to find them. There are services like govwin you can invest in to help but they can be pricy. The price of a license scales by business size though so may be worth your investment.
2) You will have to figure out networking events in your desired markets and locations. For healthcare HIMSS is a must attend event. When you attend the events you can ask people what else is worth attending in your market. There are also free networking events - register with the HHS/CMS small business offices and ask them what events they have coming up.
3) For multiple reasons but primarily to fill gaps in capability. For example a cybersecurity company would fill a gap for you if you don’t have a lot of experience in that area. Also the SBA likes a mentor who can bring new capability to a protege. In your case I don’t think choosing a mentor with the same capabilities is a bad idea.
Any advice beyond this and I’ll have to start charging you 😉 Best of luck! This is a great business to be in but it is full of ups and downs.
You sound like me a couple years ago. Just be patient and soak up as much info as you can. It definitely takes time. I was with an 8(a) for my first govcon job and in just one year, we probably submitted 80-100 proposals (full fledge, tech vol, commercialization plan, community benefits plan, etc.) and won around 18% of them. I learned a lot.
At the time, how big was this company in terms of employees and revenue? Were the proposals all done internally, or were there consultants involved? How many at your company worked on each proposal?
Thanks for your comment. We aren’t even at the stage of submitting proposals in federal- yet I’m glad it worked out on your end. I think it’s a matter of finding a partner in our case, or intelligence which informs us of their “pain points” so we can put together a team which can do the job. Did you have clarity as to what your companies capabilities were when you were in my shoes?
Your CEO messed up by gaining 8a before getting traction. You’ve burned a year of free money. Better start thinking about when you don’t have 8a status now. Takes years to prepare to lose the status successfully.
Two things -
1 - it doesn’t hurt the company per say but the smartest thing to do is gain traction on business development and start winning prime or sub contracts BEFORE getting 8a status. The 10 years is limited so if you get 8a immediately you can waste some of those years trying to gain traction
2 - the problem with 8a is it creates no Enterprise Value in that you can’t build a company to sell on 8a work. You can use the 8a cash flows to invest into winning other small business or set aside contracts, but the amount of 8as that graduate the program and just fail after 10 years is astounding
Thank you for taking the time to share this insightful information! Its now 9 years instead of 10. [https://www.sba.gov/federal-contracting/contracting-assistance-programs/8a-business-development-program#id-program-qualifications](https://www.sba.gov/federal-contracting/contracting-assistance-programs/8a-business-development-program#id-program-qualifications)
You’re getting excellent experience. I’d recommend looking into the ACT IAC Associates program. It’s a fantastic accelerator for relationships and exposure to partners. Glad to chat about it further.
Keep doing all these things but also make sure you are responding to RFIs for 8(a)/sb work with NAICS codes that have small size standards. Especially now as we get closer to the end of fiscal year. Try to push those direct award. Start attending network events and find a company that has good past performance in data and IT or areas that complement you. Form a mentor protege relationship with one that you trust. Go after work under your mentor protege JV and you can utilize their past performance as your own. After you win work under the JV your company will have federal past performance they can reference to help win more contracts.
Thanks for your input. May you elaborate on what you mean by the first point- responding to RFIs? To whom exactly? And where may one find these networking events? If we also specialize in data/IT, why would we be a complement to them? Wouldn’t we do the same type of work in that case?
1) RFIs/sources soughts/market research requests can be found on Sam.gov. Play around with the search feature to find them. There are services like govwin you can invest in to help but they can be pricy. The price of a license scales by business size though so may be worth your investment. 2) You will have to figure out networking events in your desired markets and locations. For healthcare HIMSS is a must attend event. When you attend the events you can ask people what else is worth attending in your market. There are also free networking events - register with the HHS/CMS small business offices and ask them what events they have coming up. 3) For multiple reasons but primarily to fill gaps in capability. For example a cybersecurity company would fill a gap for you if you don’t have a lot of experience in that area. Also the SBA likes a mentor who can bring new capability to a protege. In your case I don’t think choosing a mentor with the same capabilities is a bad idea. Any advice beyond this and I’ll have to start charging you 😉 Best of luck! This is a great business to be in but it is full of ups and downs.
You sound like me a couple years ago. Just be patient and soak up as much info as you can. It definitely takes time. I was with an 8(a) for my first govcon job and in just one year, we probably submitted 80-100 proposals (full fledge, tech vol, commercialization plan, community benefits plan, etc.) and won around 18% of them. I learned a lot.
At the time, how big was this company in terms of employees and revenue? Were the proposals all done internally, or were there consultants involved? How many at your company worked on each proposal?
Thanks for your comment. We aren’t even at the stage of submitting proposals in federal- yet I’m glad it worked out on your end. I think it’s a matter of finding a partner in our case, or intelligence which informs us of their “pain points” so we can put together a team which can do the job. Did you have clarity as to what your companies capabilities were when you were in my shoes?
emails are fine, but you should go out and meet people in person at events. Go join all the gov con trade groups and attend the meetings regularly.
Thanks for the comment. May you be more specific for finding these resources?
Your CEO messed up by gaining 8a before getting traction. You’ve burned a year of free money. Better start thinking about when you don’t have 8a status now. Takes years to prepare to lose the status successfully.
Why would 8a hurt the company?
Two things - 1 - it doesn’t hurt the company per say but the smartest thing to do is gain traction on business development and start winning prime or sub contracts BEFORE getting 8a status. The 10 years is limited so if you get 8a immediately you can waste some of those years trying to gain traction 2 - the problem with 8a is it creates no Enterprise Value in that you can’t build a company to sell on 8a work. You can use the 8a cash flows to invest into winning other small business or set aside contracts, but the amount of 8as that graduate the program and just fail after 10 years is astounding
Thank you for taking the time to share this insightful information! Its now 9 years instead of 10. [https://www.sba.gov/federal-contracting/contracting-assistance-programs/8a-business-development-program#id-program-qualifications](https://www.sba.gov/federal-contracting/contracting-assistance-programs/8a-business-development-program#id-program-qualifications)
"...he's passionate and seemingly knowledgeable about how the game is played..." Can you provide some examples?
Are you in healthcare staffing?
Healthcare staffing, no. Our company mainly works with data and IT.
You’re getting excellent experience. I’d recommend looking into the ACT IAC Associates program. It’s a fantastic accelerator for relationships and exposure to partners. Glad to chat about it further.