I've been poking around the FBO for several weeks and noticed that there are LOTS of contracts set aside for women owned small businesses in the Construction arena. There are things like paving, electrical works, demolishing, etc. I looked at the companies bidding (well, I presumed they are bidding because they are in the "interested" list) and they seem to be from all around the country. How does a small business in Utah bid for a construction project in Florida? Are these businesses "small but large" and have a nationwide network of employees and subcontractors? Or do they just bid on everything, and if they are awarded, then send an employee to travel to that place and hire the local electrician, local general contracting company, etc to do the job and they just do the general overseeing?Just wondering how it all works.Thanks
GovContractor | Window Shopper |
8/7/2011 - 9:22 am
I am not in the construction industry, so there may be state licensing requirements I don't know about.
One common approach to your question would be teaming and subcontracting. Develop a relationship with another buisiness you can work with. Find a large business in the Florida area (or where ever) and develop a relationship, maybe even a mentor/protege relationship. Then when you find a solicitation they are interested in biding, but it's woman owned small business set aside (which a large business won't qualfiy for) you team with the large business and bid as the prime contractor with the large business as your subcontractor. The "catch" is your company has to do 51% of the work, unless you have an approved mentor/protege agreement in place. If you have teamed with a good large business then they will usually help you get a team together to fill your 51% requirement. It is in their best interest for you to be successful, it could reflect badly on them if you're not.
There are many different ways to approach teaming:
WOSB to WOSB
WOSB to another small business with or without a different set aside category
WOSB to large business
or a group of several businesses large and small
As a business development consultant I have help set up several of these teaming relationships.
A large business who is awarded large contracts with the government is required to have a small business subcontracting plan. You may find large businesses are interested in subcontracting with your company just to fulfill their own subcontracting plan requirements. Just because you're a WOSB in their industry.
I am not in the construction industry, so there may be state licensing requirements I don't know about.One common approach to your question would be teaming and subcontracting. Develop a relationship with another buisiness you can work with. Find a large business in the Florida area (or where ever) and develop a relationship, maybe even a mentor/protege relationship. Then when you find a solicitation they are interested in biding, but it's woman owned small business set aside (which a large business won't qualfiy for) you team with the large business and bid as the prime contractor with the large business as your subcontractor. The "catch" is your company has to do 51% of the work, unless you have an approved mentor/protege agreement in place. If you have teamed with a good large business then they will usually help you get a team together to fill your 51% requirement. It is in their best interest for you to be successful, it could reflect badly on them if you're not.There are many different ways to approach teaming:WOSB to WOSBWOSB to another small business with or without a different set aside categoryWOSB to large businessor a group of several businesses large and smallAs a business development consultant I have help set up several of these teaming relationships. A large business who is awarded large contracts with the government is required to have a small business subcontracting plan. You may find large businesses are interested in subcontracting with your company just to fulfill their own subcontracting plan requirements. Just because you're a WOSB in their industry.
Our company is a 8(a)/SDB/SDVOSB/WOSB and we currently bid on contract all over the US. However, they are not contracts like you're talking about; ours are more placing bodies into positions. We were fortunate to have partnered with a large that is worldwide (and they don’t stop all over us and spit us out like most larges do and have done to us). They let us use their offices (our furniture, computers, etc.) and we hire a team lead or a PM for that location that our employees can report to if it’s a contract requirement.
You have to remember that most contracts require the prime to do 50% of the work. So, if the small is the prime, they have to do 50% of the work. This could be a problem outside of your area because of the cost to transport equipment or rentals; it would make it hard to bid competitively. So, with that said, you could have a large partner and you (small side/woman owned) to do some of the work i.e. send workers and use your partners equipment. A lot of larger (even most small) contracts have a requirement that x% of the work is performed by some sort of small, veteran, or woman owned business. Another possibility is that they just could be an infinite 8(a) that does a billion a year in business and has 1,000 employees and is nationwide. One example business that could do this is an ANC.
I am not in the construction industry, so there may be state licensing requirements I don't know about.One common approach to your question would be teaming and subcontracting. Develop a relationship with another buisiness you can work with. Find a large business in the Florida area (or where ever) and develop a relationship, maybe even a mentor/protege relationship. Then when you find a solicitation they are interested in biding, but it's woman owned small business set aside (which a large business won't qualfiy for) you team with the large business and bid as the prime contractor with the large business as your subcontractor. The "catch" is your company has to do 51% of the work, unless you have an approved mentor/protege agreement in place. If you have teamed with a good large business then they will usually help you get a team together to fill your 51% requirement. It is in their best interest for you to be successful, it could reflect badly on them if you're not.There are many different ways to approach teaming:WOSB to WOSBWOSB to another small business with or without a different set aside categoryWOSB to large businessor a group of several businesses large and smallAs a business development consultant I have help set up several of these teaming relationships. A large business who is awarded large contracts with the government is required to have a small business subcontracting plan. You may find large businesses are interested in subcontracting with your company just to fulfill their own subcontracting plan requirements. Just because you're a WOSB in their industry.
Our company is a 8(a)/SDB/SDVOSB/WOSB and we currently bid on contract all over the US. However, they are not contract like you're talking about; ours are more placing bodies into positions. We were fortunate to have partnered with a large that is worldwide (and they don’t stop all over us and spit us out like most larges do and have done to us). They let us use their offices (our furniture, computers, etc.) and we hire a team lead or a PM for that location that our employees can report to if it’s a contract requirement.
You have to remember that most contracts require the prime to do 50% of the work. So, if the small is the prime then they have to do 50% of the work. This could be a problem outside of your area because of the cost to transport equipment or rentals; it would make it hard to bid competitively. So, with that said, you could have a large partner and you (small side/woman owned) to do some of the work i.e. send workers and use your partners equipment. A lot of larger (even most small) contracts have a requirement that x% of the work is performed by some sort of small, veteran, or woman owned business. Another possibility is that they just could be an infinite 8(a) that does a billion a year in business and has 1,000 employees and is nationwide. One example business that could do this is an ANC.
I am not in the construction industry, so there may be state licensing requirements I don't know about.One common approach to your question would be teaming and subcontracting. Develop a relationship with another buisiness you can work with. Find a large business in the Florida area (or where ever) and develop a relationship, maybe even a mentor/protege relationship. Then when you find a solicitation they are interested in biding, but it's woman owned small business set aside (which a large business won't qualfiy for) you team with the large business and bid as the prime contractor with the large business as your subcontractor. The "catch" is your company has to do 51% of the work, unless you have an approved mentor/protege agreement in place. If you have teamed with a good large business then they will usually help you get a team together to fill your 51% requirement. It is in their best interest for you to be successful, it could reflect badly on them if you're not.There are many different ways to approach teaming:WOSB to WOSBWOSB to another small business with or without a different set aside categoryWOSB to large businessor a group of several businesses large and smallAs a business development consultant I have help set up several of these teaming relationships. A large business who is awarded large contracts with the government is required to have a small business subcontracting plan. You may find large businesses are interested in subcontracting with your company just to fulfill their own subcontracting plan requirements. Just because you're a WOSB in their industry.
I am not in the construction industry, so there may be state licensing requirements I don't know about.One common approach to your question would be teaming and subcontracting. Develop a relationship with another buisiness you can work with. Find a large business in the Florida area (or where ever) and develop a relationship, maybe even a mentor/protege relationship. Then when you find a solicitation they are interested in biding, but it's woman owned small business set aside (which a large business won't qualfiy for) you team with the large business and bid as the prime contractor with the large business as your subcontractor. The "catch" is your company has to do 51% of the work, unless you have an approved mentor/protege agreement in place. If you have teamed with a good large business then they will usually help you get a team together to fill your 51% requirement. It is in their best interest for you to be successful, it could reflect badly on them if you're not.There are many different ways to approach teaming:WOSB to WOSBWOSB to another small business with or without a different set aside categoryWOSB to large businessor a group of several businesses large and smallAs a business development consultant I have help set up several of these teaming relationships. A large business who is awarded large contracts with the government is required to have a small business subcontracting plan. You may find large businesses are interested in subcontracting with your company just to fulfill their own subcontracting plan requirements. Just because you're a WOSB in their industry.
Hi, I dont know how I would go about teaming with a prime contractor in every state? Here is a sample solicitation out there for a NON CONSTRUCTION type of contract:
https://acquisition.army.mil/asfi/solicitation_view.cfm?psolicitationnbr=W912CN11R0060
on FBO, it is on: https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=ad29f9e12381d03c2f8eadfe06c22569&tab=ivl&tabmode=list&subtab=list&subtabmode=list&=
Place of performance is in HAWAII. if you click on INTERESTED PARTIES, nobody is in Hawaii. THere are people in Virginia, California, Texas, PA, FL, etc. So if they do get the contract - would they go to Hawaii and hire? Or would they hire a staffing company to do it?
the solicitation says "management and labor"...of a technician. So the awarded company could possibly hire an employee from a staffing agency in Hawaii, but would they also hire a manager?
All this is new, and I have nobody to ask. I could very well do this contract in my local area, but doing it in a far away state is a different matter. I've seen contracts like these awarded to companies from out of state as well, and i am just wondering how they get the work done.
Thanks
GovContractor | Window Shopper |
8/12/2011 - 8:26 am
Show Replied Text…
Hi, I dont know how I would go about teaming with a prime contractor in every state? Here is a sample solicitation out there for a NON CONSTRUCTION type of contract: https://acquisition.army.mil/asfi/solicitation_view.cfm?psolicitationnbr=W912CN11R0060on FBO, it is on: https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=ad29f9e12381d03c2f8eadfe06c22569&tab=ivl&tabmode=list&subtab=list&subtabmode=list&=Place of performance is in HAWAII. if you click on INTERESTED PARTIES, nobody is in Hawaii. THere are people in Virginia, California, Texas, PA, FL, etc. So if they do get the contract - would they go to Hawaii and hire? Or would they hire a staffing company to do it?the solicitation says "management and labor"...of a technician. So the awarded company could possibly hire an employee from a staffing agency in Hawaii, but would they also hire a manager?All this is new, and I have nobody to ask. I could very well do this contract in my local area, but doing it in a far away state is a different matter. I've seen contracts like these awarded to companies from out of state as well, and i am just wondering how they get the work done. Thanks
I wasn't suggesting you find a teammate in every state. I thought you were only looking at construction contracts and that is one way small businesses establish a presences in a particular area for any industry. You can bid on any solicitation at any location. You can hire local employees through a staffing agency, I have done that myself in the past. You best bet is to identify qualified people in the area and make them contingent offers. I've seen more that one company win a contract then have a very hard time locating a qualified person to fill the position especially if they require special training or skills. Its your responsability to understand the requirements, develop a plan, present the plan in the proposal and execute the plan if you win the bid. How you do it is up to you.
I am not in the construction industry, so there may be state licensing requirements I don't know about.One common approach to your question would be teaming and subcontracting. Develop a relationship with another buisiness you can work with. Find a large business in the Florida area (or where ever) and develop a relationship, maybe even a mentor/protege relationship. Then when you find a solicitation they are interested in biding, but it's woman owned small business set aside (which a large business won't qualfiy for) you team with the large business and bid as the prime contractor with the large business as your subcontractor. The "catch" is your company has to do 51% of the work, unless you have an approved mentor/protege agreement in place. If you have teamed with a good large business then they will usually help you get a team together to fill your 51% requirement. It is in their best interest for you to be successful, it could reflect badly on them if you're not.There are many different ways to approach teaming:WOSB to WOSBWOSB to another small business with or without a different set aside categoryWOSB to large businessor a group of several businesses large and smallAs a business development consultant I have help set up several of these teaming relationships. A large business who is awarded large contracts with the government is required to have a small business subcontracting plan. You may find large businesses are interested in subcontracting with your company just to fulfill their own subcontracting plan requirements. Just because you're a WOSB in their industry.
To bid in other states, register your business with the agency you are interested in doing business with. Register as a vendor to recieve bids. Minorty status is different In most areas, dealing with minorty status your business would have to be located in that distric, county, local, etc. But for normal bidding on projects just register your company in the area of your choice and bid on the projects. Make sure your company is licensed, insured, and able to get bonding if possible etc.
GovContractor | Window Shopper | 8/7/2011 - 9:22 am
Skworden | Window Shopper | 8/16/2011 - 8:27 pm
Skworden | Window Shopper | 8/16/2011 - 8:25 pm
wackodacko | Window Shopper | 8/11/2011 - 9:37 am
wackodacko | Window Shopper | 8/11/2011 - 9:35 am
GovContractor | Window Shopper | 8/12/2011 - 8:26 am
moebattle | Rising Star | 8/8/2011 - 8:13 pm
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