Getting to the Start Line
#004 Covering the basic registrations to start a Federal Contracting Small Business!
The past couple weeks, I’ve received several requests to explain some lessons learned regarding the initial set up for a federal contracting company. I’m going to cover my experience for the initial registration and preparation. In a future newsletter, I will cover the business plan and strategy more in depth. This particular issue is jammed packed with information – so here’s the bottom-line up front:
1. Purchase a web domain for professional email & future website
2. Create a logo quickly and efficiently using wix.com AI logo maker
3. Determine your offerings, set asides, NAICS and corporate pitch
4. Register your entity in Sam.gov (AFTER everything above)
5. NIST SP 800-171 self-certification in PIEE (pronounced Pie)
In his book, Ready Fire Aim, Michael Masterson provides readers with a set of strategies for success in business. Masterson says in the initial stage of your small business (0-$1mil revenue), you need to focus 80% of your efforts on business development i.e. marketing and selling your professional services or technology. The remaining 20% focus should be utilized on building and executing the organizational growth, bringing in HQ level support as needed.
From my experience setting up a small business, I learned about this trap firsthand. Initially, my partner and I focused so heavily on making sure we had everything set up right, that we failed to focus on growth as the primary objective. Initially, we fell into the trap of spending 80%+ of our time setting up all the various areas of the business that weren’t needed yet, over immediately generating revenue. The colloquial cart before the horse as it were.
Let’s go through the minimum requirements to begin marketing and selling!
As noted in my bio – the barriers to entry are high and sometimes hidden. At this point, you may have created your LLC or Corporation, received an IRS EIN, and are setting up a business bank account (Go check out Truist SB Banking and connect with my friend Jim Lynn). You will need business banking information for the Sam registration. Now it’s time to get the foundational requirements completed, prior to marketing and selling your services:
1. I HIGHLY recommend procuring a web domain for a professional email address. You will use this email address to register in Login.gov, for your entity registration in Sam.gov. Using a corporate email address is extremely important for follow on registrations in several government databases, that will require the same email for registration that needs to match sam.gov. Additionally, Microsoft Office 365 or Google Business email is the preferred method for DOD (Microsoft) and some civilian agencies (Google). The last reason I suggest either of these email vendors, is so that you can quickly be NIST 800-171 and CUI compliant which is a HUGE!
2. While I do recommend setting up a basic website, it’s not an immediate requirement but should be on your checklist to accomplish soon. Wix isn’t a sponsor, but I recommend using Wix.com to procure the domain address and set up your future website. They offer a discount on Microsoft Office, provide a no code premium website solution, and offer logo creation. I’ve been through multiple vendors such as Bluehost, domain.com, Google Domains & sites and attempting to build a WordPress site. Just go with Wix for ease of use and the ability to quickly add things to your website yourself at no cost.
3. Logo – I recommend creating a logo at the beginning of this process. You’re going to need this for your email signature block, proposal support, etc. Use the wix.com logo creator to develop several logos quickly that are copyright free. Wix.com will give you all variations of your logo colors, vector files, social media files, and a marketing brand guide. Yes, I’ve used FIVERR and Upwork for logos. The gig process is long, tedious, and I’ve found it’s difficult to express what you like.
4. Determine your core capabilities where you have technical writing experience, skills, or agency specific knowledge. We are taking your resume and turning this into corporate marketing.
a. Technical Writing - A finance Management professional who is a service member, government civilian, or contractor. You may be a Certified Government Financial Manager (CGFM) or certified public accountant (CPA) professional with Financial & Budget management, Audit, Performance and Accountability Reports (PARs), Agency Financial Reports (AFRs) or OMB A-123 experience.
b. Agency relevancy - Your last two roles were at different agencies such as TSA or an element of the DOD where you maintain relationships with former colleagues.
c. Do you have personal security clearance level? It’s acceptable to market your company as Facility Clearance (FCL) Eligible. More on this in an upcoming newsletter.
5. Determine your set-asides or socio-economic status. This is extremely important as the government retains specific percentages of work for small business with additional set-asides or status for both prime and subcontract opportunities. When registering your LLC or Corp in SAM.gov, you will initially self-certify. After Sam registration, you will need to certify for specific categories.
a. Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB)
b. Women Owned Small Business (WOSB)
c. Economically Disadvantaged Women Owned Small Business (EDWOSB) follow instructions for WOSB Certification first.
d. Veteran Owned Small Business (VOSB)
e. Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB)
f. Historically Underutilized Business Zones (HUBZone)
g. 8(a) Business Development program - Nine-year program created to help firms owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals with at least 2 years of business experience. Personally, I recommend organizations to have their infrastructure in place to maximize their potential for this program.
6. Determine your primary Size Standard and Primary NAICS – This is particularly important for your long-term planning considerations such as on ramping a GSA Multiple Award Schedule, GSA Government Wide Acquisition Vehicle (GWAC), SBA Mentor Protégé Program (MPP), or SBA 8(a) Program. If your given goal is financial professional services, I would consider a primary NAICS of “541219 Other Accounting Services”.
For all others I recommend the following: IT services consider “541519 Other Computer Related Services”, Engineering “541330 Engineering Services”, for programmatics, policy, or operations I would consider “541990 All other Professional Services”. These NAICS offer the broadest access to where most of the work for your given specialty may align. Add secondary NAICS as appropriate.
7. Build your “Capabilities Narrative”! You’re going to need to include a corporate summary for your Sam.gov registration and SBA DSBS profile. Additionally, BD databases such as Deltek GovWin pull information from DSBS to build a corporate profile on your company. This summary is extremely important for marketing.
a. This should follow a similar format to the corporate introduction found in our first newsletter.
Once you register in Sam.gov with the above information, you will receive a CAGE code and Unique Entity Identifier (UEI). Both of these are required in order to prime or subcontract on federal contracts. Ok – that was a lot but very doable!
NIST SP 800-171 self-certification in PIEE (pronounced Pie)
Next, we are going to create a Procurement Integrated Enterprise Environment (PIEE) account to access the DISA Supplier Performance Risk System (SPRS) module and conduct a NIST SP 800-171 self-certification on your new email system. This is the current compliance requirement for DOD contracts until CMMC 2.0 is finalized through rule making. Microsoft O365 and Google Business email meet the basic requirements established under the proposed CMMC 2.0 level 1 and get you almost to CMMC level 2. Additionally, this is one of those surprise requirements you’re going to get in a data call during the proposal process, that your just not going to have time to figure out. You will be under stress to meet the deadlines for other data calls such as corporate data, technical writing, pricing, Key Personnel (KP) resumes, and regular business activities so just knock this out now!
Once you’re registered in PIEE, give the helpdesk a call and ask them to add the SPRS module for you. If you request this in the system, it will take up to 3 business days. Calling the help desk will get it done in about 30-45 minutes. The system is clunky and sometimes difficult to find the module, so rely on a professional at the help desk to support you.
Way Forward
Ok – after you follow the instructions above you should have the required resources to go out and pitch your company to see if you can on a couple of subcontracts. This is tough! Get in front of as many business developers or other small business owners in your space to introduce your self and the company. Build partnerships!
You now have foundational artifacts to conduct professional email marketing, pitch your corporate capabilities, ensure you are NIST SP 800-171 compliant, begin building your website and creating a capabilities one pager. The foundational material you created will be required at every step in the process moving forward - from BD to technical proposal inputs, and lastly execution of your first contract.
Over the next few weeks, we are going to cover what I call the “Small Business Starter Pack” i.e. building your business strategy for both short-term and long-term business growth objectives. We are going to cover the Facility Clearance (FCL), ISO 9001:2015, GSA Multiple Award Schedule, GSA Government Wide Acquisition Vehicles (GWAC), SBA Mentor Protégé Program (MPP) Joint Ventures, and the SBA 8(a) Program.