Contracting

The SBA provides several programs to help small businesses win federal contracts. Participating in these programs helps small businesses:

• Win a fair share of federal contracts
• Qualify for exclusive set-aside and sole-source contracts
• Partner with established contractors to win contracts
• Get business mentoring and education to learn how federal contracting works

SD Veteran-Owned Small Business

The federal government’s goal is to award at least three percent of all federal contracting dollars to service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses (SDVOSB) each year.

To participate in any of the SBA’s small business contracting assistance programs, you’ll first need to qualify as a small business. The SBA’s size standards determine whether or not your business qualifies as small (SBA, n.d.).

Subcontracting

For some large contracts that can’t be awarded directly to small businesses, the government requires a small business subcontracting plan as part of the award. A small business subcontracting plan directs the prime contractor to subcontract out parts of the award to small businesses. A subcontracting plan is required when these conditions are met:

• The contract is worth more than $700,000 (or, more than $1.5 million if it’s for construction)
• There are capable small businesses who could do subcontract work at a fair market value, without significantly disrupting performance

The rules that govern subcontracting plans are set forth in Subpart 19.7 of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR).

Finding contracts

References

SBA. (n.d.), Contracting assistance programs, Retrieved from https://www.sba.gov

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