Tag: government contracting

Construction Worker turned Business Owner, Luis De La Cruz, Shares Success Story and Strategies in Navigating the Industry

Posted on by Eric Coffie

Once a contract employee in a construction company, Luis De La Cruz decided to change his life. And now, he shares his strategies in navigating the construction industry as well as his success story in building Andale Construction.

BACKGROUND 

Living in the federal housing projects in East Los Angeles with his single mother together with his four other siblings, Luis De La Cruz started to work on small jobs in their neighborhood to earn money and help his family.

De La Cruz used to mow and trim lawns, pull weeds, paint houses, wash cars, and others. He didn’t care what kind of work it was, as long as he had money in his pocket and he was able to do the job.

“That’s where I started to learn how to communicate, how to keep my word, and how to fulfill and satisfy clients.”

Then, as he grew older, he started working in construction companies at the age of 18 in order to provide daily support to his wife and his daughter. However, he didn’t want to just be a construction worker all his life.

“As an inspector, I had to be very observant, not just on the work operation, but everything around it. And that’s when my mind started to develop the ideas of learning how to manage a business, how to plan, how to communicate, how to visualize and see where it fits in my life. And at that time I said to myself, am I going to just stay being an inspector or am I going to do something with this?”

Because of this vision, he studied hard to pass the test so that he could get an engineering license in both Arizona and California and build a business. 

NAVIGATING THE MARKETPLACE

Luis De La Cruz knew that it is of utmost importance to find someone whom you can trust and you can share your vision with. So, he made some great contacts and network with some great people who have experience on how the federal site works.

“It’s all about picking the right partner that really does care about you, not just using you for a day because there’s a lot of that out there, but those really want to make an effort to help give you that guidance and make you a viable company.”

He also learned the benefits of diversifying his licences and working with not just one scope of work when the real estate market crashed in 2007.

Most importantly, he knew that he needed to understand the risks that he might face in the marketplace so even after building his business, he continued to go to training, joined organizations, and network himself.

“Understand where you go to work, understand the conditions, and understand the costs, logistics, and resources. All these things have an impact on that bottom line on what’s left for you as a company.”

ADVICE FOR SMALL BUSINESSES

Luis De La Cruz believed that small businesses need to understand their business plan because this will help them find the value and purpose of their businesses in order to get to the next level. 

“It’s up to you as a decision maker on how you are going to bring that value to the stage and make it worth something. You know, you can do that with people with equipment, with hard dollars. You know, you could do that with negotiating skills. You know, based on your past performance, who you are. You know everything has value. It’s up to you as a salesperson to believe in who you are and to know reality and do things the right reason.”

Then, small businesses should also acknowledge and support growth because this will help them build a foundation towards success. 

Lastly, De La Cruz advised to build a team that will help synchronize the vision of the business. 

“Just ask for the help and guess what? They’re going to help you because they want you to succeed and you’re going to come back to them and thank them because now you’ve built a strong business relationship and together everyone can achieve more.”

RESOURCES

If you want to watch the full video of the interview with Luis De La Cruz as he shared his success story and strategies in navigating the construction industry, then be sure to click the links below:

043: Luis De La Cruz – Strategies for High Stakes Construction Contracting

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1zlEgvdbsM

043: Luis De La Cruz – Strategies for High Stakes Construction Contracting

https://govcongiants1.wpengine.com/podcast/luis-de-la-cruz-strategies-for-high-stakes-construction-contracting/

Former Director of the Navy’s OSBP shares Advice for Small Businesses Government Contractors

Posted on by Eric Coffie

With over 30 years of experience and service as a contracting officer and a small business professional under the Department of Navy, Emily Harman shares her story and advice for small businesses government contractors to take advantage of. 

HOW DID SHE START?

Emily Harman is an active and experienced Supply Corps Officer, a contracting officer, and a lieutenant in the Navy for seven years.

Then, when she was in the reserves, she was moved into the Office of Small Business Programs (OSBP) at the Naval Air Systems Command and became the director of the Navy’s OSBP.

She is now retired in the army but she is currently working as a keynote speaker and personal coach. She also has her podcast, Onward, wherein she features authentic stories from people who have faced and overcome adversity. 

“My goal with that podcast is to help people see how they can apply what they learn about in the podcast to their particular situation and face adversity and overcome it.”

HOW CAN THE GOVERNMENT HELP SMALL BUSINESSES?

As a former director of the Navy’s Office of Small Business Programs, Harman shared her point of view on how the government can increase small business participation.

1. Technology

When she was still in the Navy, Harman created an initiative to make sure that there are a handful of opportunities that will be given to small businesses. She believed that to get more traction from these businesses, the government should utilize technology.

“In order for contracting, government contracting, and acquisition to really work, you have to have a better mix of government industry communication; and government contracting officers and acquisition personnels need to understand industry; and the industry needs to understand the government. I think, especially the government, needs to understand how their decisions drive industry behavior and impact the price of the contract.”

2. Stories

Apart from using technology, Harman also thinks of using story in terms of changing the behavior of small businesses. Regardless of what technology is being used, she believed that a good story will always resonate with people.

“It needs to go to the government. It needs to go to program managers… You’ve got to get the people, the targeted audience, to listen.”

WHAT IS HER ADVICE FOR SMALL BUSINESSES?

Harman also shared her advice to small businesses in order to prepare them in working with the government. 

1. Roles of Contracting Officers

One thing that some contractors failed to consider that contracting offers are the ones who award government contracts but they are not the ones who came up with the requirements.

They are just making sure that all the requirements and specifications are transferred into the contract and are met by government contractors.

Things beyond that point such as market research, pricing, and others can only be answered by suppliers, other businesses, or other technical people.

To help you figure out which organizations within the government buy what you are selling, you can search for previous contract awards and do your market research on the Federal Data Procurement System website and visit your area’s Procurement Technical Assistance Centers.

2. Be a Credible Contractor

Another thing that Harman wants small businesses government contractors to do is making sure that they present their business in a credible manner. 

She wants small businesses to be prepared in meeting government individuals during and even before considering a specific contract.

She doesn’t want contractors to talk to these people without even having any idea what these people want and what their business can offer as you will most likely look unprofessional and these people might think of all small businesses as unknowledgeable and inexperienced. 

“Do your homework. Narrow down your niche. You can’t go after the whole government… the whole government’s huge. You’ve got to pick one or two customers that you want to target and put your effort into that.”

RESOURCES

If you want to watch the full interview with Emily Harman, then be sure to click the links below.

034: Emily Harman – Former Director of the Navy’s Office of Small Business Programs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwrQvTaNh2I

https://govcongiants1.wpengine.com/podcast/emily-harman-former-director-of-the-navys-office-of-small-business-programs/

Ronnette Meyers – How She Launched A Successful Federal Government Contracting Firm

Posted on by Eric Coffie

How does one become a trusted partner for excellence in Federal Government Contracting Firm? Take it from the Minority Business Leader Award winner of 2020, Ronnette Meyers as she shares how she launched a successful federal government contracting firm.

ABOUT RONNETTE MEYERS

At 17, Ronnette was a single parent who juggled college and a young son. However, Ronnette attributed much of her success from learning the lessons of responsibility and public service at an early age.

Ronnette completed an associate’s degree while working for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) where she went on and built her 12-year career in the federal government.

And around 2005, Ronnette left her work with the FAA when she got a call from her mother, Jan Adams, who asked for her assistance in growing her own federal government contracting firm business, the JMA Solutions.

 

WHY DID JAN ADAMS START HER OWN BUSINESS?

Ronnette shared that her mother spent 24 years in the air force. And with her mother’s line of work, they have been traveling all over the world.

Her mother wasn’t going to retire anytime soon when a former Colonel that she used to work with in Germany reached out to her for a position in federal government contracting firm to support the FAA. The colonel needed someone with her capabilities to help run the program.

This is how she arrived in DC and started working for the company. But there was this one time that a customer said to Adams that:

You are a minority female service, why don’t you start your own business, so that we can stop paying you as the middleman and pay you directly.

With that piece of encouragement and riding on the trust she has built from her clients.  She started her own business. And this is where; Adams asked Ronnette if she could help her build the infrastructure during her time off and weekends.

STEPPING OUT OF A PARENT’S SHADOW

Ronnette’s roles were to build Adam’s human resource policy and managed her contracts. She also did Adam’s payrolls and her lines of credit until she came on board.

Ronnette worked her way up to become senior vice president of corporate services. She did not only business development but also managed the HR department.

And eventually, Ronnette had to sit down with her mother thinking and planning about generational wealth. They needed to start thinking about their children and grandchildren and how they can secure their future. And that was how Ronnette made the decision to start JLAN Solutions.

Although Ronnette did open up stating as to how she had her reservations with separating from her mother’s business.

“When I was under the shadow of my mom, I could confidently speak from there. However, when it was time for me to come out on my own and speak for myself. I was afraid.” States Ronnette Meyers

Ronnette was one of the countless people who were actually afraid of starting their own businesses. However, what got her through that dilemma was to build up her confidence and believe in what she could do.

Because, in order to get to the next level. She firmly believed that one had to find their own voice and use it to produce results to push a great product.

She mentioned how she started JLAN in 2010, she admitted that she really didn’t do a lot but rather Ronnettte described it as taking a leap of faith.

However, she also backed her decisions with action by attending SBA emerging leaders programs which really helped her start building relationships.

 

THE GOLDMAN SACHS 10,000 SMALL BUSINESS PROGRAM

Ronnette shared that although she had a technical degree she admitted that she lacked the business courses and skills which the Goldman Sachs program helped her navigate. She has had a CPA from the program who helped her do her payroll, and the CPA really dived deep into the finances.

They handle your taxes especially pointing out where your money is going. How it is spent and where it could be properly allocated. And she came out of the program with three things.

  1. You need to hire a marketing manager to help get my name out there.
  1. Hire A COO to run my day to day operations so that I could focus on doing my business development and building relationships and bringing opportunities to the business.
  1. Lastly, you have to stop working inside your business at some point and start working on it to help it grow from the outside.

 

BALANCING WORK AND PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP

Talking about relationships, I took the opportunity to ask how Ronnette manages her employees.

You have to monitor your relationships with people. And keep a distance from them especially if you are leading them. You don’t want to cross that line of being a personal friend as that can be misconstrued.

Ronnette believes that it is necessary to keep a little bit of separation. In the military, or as she says it, you can’t fraternize with employees. But you can still allow them to help in decision making.

It doesn’t necessarily mean that you include them in making policy making and procedures. But if there are events or any roles your employees can play into it. You can definitely include them. But you have to find your own balance between putting your foot down and avoiding offending someone.

HOW DO YOU HANDLE FIRING SOMEONE

For Ronnette, letting someone go is a difficult thing to do. She remembers the first time she had to do it. Her heart shattered because she understands the impact it will have on the employee and that employee was a mom. It affected her income, her family, and her children.

To delve into the details, the employee was a travel agent, and her performance was down. Customers weren’t happy with the support they were getting from her.

However, even though it hurts your heart to let someone go. You have to think about what your business has built up to this point.

I have met with her in several occasions about her performance and it hasn’t improved. We need to part ways because you are affecting the work ethics. You are affecting the company and the brand.

Our goal is to be a trusted partner and we want to provide excellent solutions and outcomes. And if you can’t step up to the game, then the others will be affected.

PHILANTHROPHY

Working as a public servant and being exposed to the government at such a young age. Ronnette has a strong passion and commitment to giving back to the community especially to the youth.

So, I work out with a group of ladies and we were out walking this morning and we were talking about a vacant building that’s in upper Marlboro, Maryland. I shared to them how I wanted to establish programs for our young black Americans, our youth. There are so many programs where we can teach young men how to tie a tie and young ladies to be young ladies.

Ronnette elaborated that they can use that building and capitalize on the season that they were in with Black Lives Matter. Her vision was to expand and reach Youngstown, Ohio since Ronnette is from that area and she has seen firsthand how the students there can make better use of their time.

We need to help the young students. We need to give them direction. With all the oppression and conversation on black culture, it is our responsibility to guide them and get them off Fortnite and Minecraft.

Ronnette believes that we need to take action to help our community and what better way than to give the youth some structure and guidance on how to achieve their best.

FORWARDS NOT BACKWARDS

To end the discussion, we part with a few insights on the current situation of the community. It is true that the pandemic, financial crisis and race relations have gone and suck out much our positivity. But we mustn’t forget that we have much to be thankful for.

Focus on what you have and stay humble. You must not group one people over the other. Because if we all continue to cast a shadow over people because of the color of their skin. We will recede from progress.

Because if the best ideas and innovations are no longer able to step forward because it is limited from a narrow segment of the population. It shall hinder our nations progress and growth.

Think about it. If you were presented with ideas and solutions that can counter terrorism and foreign threats will you still think about whose hands or color they can come from?

Probably not.

The Do’s and Don’ts in Performing Your Government Contracts

Posted on by Eric Coffie

As government contractors, you cannot freely do anything with your project the way you wanted it to be. You have guidelines to follow which are all in your contracts. To give you an idea, here are the do’s and don’ts in performing your government contracts.

FOLLOW THE SPECIFICATIONS. 

Contracting officers have a very specific set of guidelines that government contractors should follow. 

These people might not be the one who are the main reason why that project took place but for the fact that they have the authority to obligate the government’s spin and funds, then you shouldn’t defy them. 

“We should be thankful that we are in a position to where somebody is calling us with the contract and opportunity that is not publicly posted to do a negotiation and a potential sole source.”

COMMUNICATE IN TERMS OF CHANGES.

Then, you should also communicate with your contracting officer if you want certain changes in your contract or there are parts that you find difficult to understand.

In most cases, when you do something that is not part of your contract, contracting officers will either not pay you or only pay the agreed payment based on the contract. 

However, you can avoid it by writing all of your recommended changes in terms of a Request for Information and sending it to your contracting officers so that they can include the changes in your contract or exclude anything from the list of your responsibilities.  

“If there’s a change of scope, you put it in the form of an RFI and you let them make the determination.”

STOP THE PROJECT.

The last thing that you should do is to stop the project if there are changes that are not part of your scope of work.

Don’t just do all of the things that are being ordered by the agency that you’re working with. Rather, communicate with your contracting officer and make sure that what you’re doing is still under your contract and if you are sure it is not, then temporarily stop  your project. 

“Don’t come back and ask for money for things that you took upon yourself without getting permission.”

Remember that the government and the contracting officer will just pay you if a project is done or a product or service is delivered according to their contract. Other problems that you might face in doing the project is not part of their problem. So, it is best to ask for the permission of your contracting officer first.

RESOURCES

If you want to watch Eric Coffie’s full video, then be sure to click the links below.

Negotiating a $5 million dollar contract do’s and don’ts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXj_oSdNKb8

How to price a FedBizOpps contract, things to consider?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98Rdcck0e0Q

How to Bid a Job?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drxbXzQSfG0&t=146s

International Contracts – How to register if you are a foreign company

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWbcnqp1ymE

Sonia Mundra (AK): Doing Business as an Alaskan Native Corporation (ANC)

Posted on by Eric Coffie

You have to be prepared for an administrative burden when you start to do business with the federal government. Sonia Mundra, President of Chenega Analytics Business Solutions has provided us insight on how taxing and expensive government contracting can actually be.

However, Mundra is dedicated in sharing her expertise and helping entrepreneurs and businesses effectively navigate the process. Her discussion also provides an insider’s look into the tools and forming the right mindset needed in order to be successful in federal contracting.

 

ABOUT SONIA MUNDRA AND CHENEGA ANALYTICS

Last 2017, Ms. Sonia Mundra became the President of Chenega Analytics Business Solutions (CABS), a subsidiary of Chenega Corporation. They have been doing business with the federal government contracting community since 1989. 

Ms. Mundra has over 15 years of combined experience as a Certified Public Accountant, Project Management Professional (PMP), and a certified Government Blockchain Consultant. 

She is the professional that you’d want to consult when you consider diving into federal contracting processes and blockchains. She has assists federal and commercial agencies to implement information solutions that include storage, digitization, data migration, cloud storage, and security.

CABS is also a small disadvantaged business (SDB) who received its 8(a) certification last September 2018. They are also an Alaska Native Corporation (ANC), that enables them to receive direct awards from all federal government agencies up to $22M without the need for justification and approval. 

Their current contracts and past performance have nearly included all DoD agencies, DHS and most Fed Civ agencies.  

 

NUMBERS AND CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS

Ms. Mundra has always been a numbers oriented person. But she advises businesses to not replace communication and relationships by relying purely on SLA’s as she believes it is a very tone-deaf thing to do.

“Customers still need TLC (Tender Love and Care) at times. And you gotta reach out and touch them to make sure that relationship is good,” she says.

SLAs or Service Level Agreements defines the level of service expected by a customer from a supplier. It lays out specific metrics that customers can answer or leave as a feedback.

Although SLAs are a critical component for any outsourcing and technology vendor contract, SLA can SLA metrics will vary depending on the services being provided. But its approach should be kept as simple as possible to avoid confusion and excessive costs.

 

CALCULATING PROBABILITY OF WIN

Truthfully, you won’t be able to see your future without looking at your past performances. Your previous stats are actually a great source for insight to your PWIN. However, what is Probability of Win, exactly?

Probability of Win (PWIN) is by its name the probability of winning a particular opportunity. It is a tool that can help you assess where you stand at a given point in time.

Although Ms. Mondra says that PWIN can be quite subjective. But when used properly, it can help financially-oriented people to weigh in the financial value of a project and assist capture-oriented individuals to assess where they are on the opportunity. 

In federal contracts, PWIN is used in competitive bidding. 

Competitive Bidding is the process when companies will put together their best proposal and compete for a specific project. The bidding is actually beneficial because it makes the environment competitive which means that small agencies are able to keep up with larger companies since the costs will remain low. 

And the government issuing the project can simply wait to look for the most qualified companies to do the work.

 

TOOLS BEING USED BY BUSINESS ANALYTICS

In addition, knowledge has always been power. And so with tools like calculator for PWIN, we have Deltek GovWin IQ and beta.SAM.gov. 

These are critical resources in developing and refining a long term growth strategy especially with business developments that deal with selling to the federal or public sector.

In order to optimize your sales processes, government bids and contract awards, GovWin and BetaSam are tools that’ll assist you in planning in advance for Government Bids, Request for Proposals and Contract Vehicles that are to be released even before taking action.

They are vital for those companies who are looking to piece together a proactive business development strategies. These platforms cover opportunities that range from months to even years before contracts go out to bid.

These tools can also help your government sales team in developing a long-term actionable pipeline. And it is a foolproof strategy in getting ahead of the competition. 

Because, by arming yourself with more information than your competitors. Companies will use these tools to identify which agency contacts, spending trends and government purchasing history can help build a powerful proposal for the bids.

 

UNDERSTANDING BLOCKCHAINS

If you have been following banking, investments, or cryptocurrency, you may be familiar with “blockchain”, the record-keeping technology behind the Bitcoin network. 

“A blockchain is essentially a distributed ledger,” says Ms. Mundra. 

Blockchains or also referred to as Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) has the potential to eliminate huge amounts of record-keeping. It can also save money, streamline supply chains and disrupt I.T. in ways that we haven’t seen since the internet arrived.

A blockchain in simple terms, is a time-stamped record of data. It is managed by a cluster of computers but isn’t owned by a single establishment. Each of these “blocks” of data are secured and are bound together using cryptographic principles or “chains”.

In Ms. Mundra’s words, “Blockchains ensure that what you are consuming is clean. This means that it is a fair trade that’s devoid of foreign corrupt practices such as child labor, human traficking and more.”

 

THE 4 BIRDS PERSONALITY TEST

Ms. Sonia Mundra also opened up that when advancing to being the top management in her field, she needed more than technical skills and willingness to work hard.

She also needed to improve her few soft skills that helped her to take her career as far as it could go. 

Whether it was to practice discipline, take on more projects, learn to develop situational awareness, and inspire others, she believes that being a leader means that you are part of a team. That you are inspiring collaboration with encouragement and guidance. 

And the best part of becoming a good leader is that it resolves conflicts instead of ignoring them or hoping they will go away. But each individual needs a unique approach. And one way to be an effective leader is to become a discerning listener.  

One can do this by learning a lot more about who you work with with a simple D.O.P.E. Bird personality test.

This test doesn’t need you to become a psychologist. Instead, it is a fun and useful tool that notes down an individual’s different characteristics, strengths, motivation and experiences. 

However, these bird types do not pin down who or what you really are in life. But it can be an interesting way to find out more about others and yourself. 

But why does it have birds in it? 

Each bird represents a trait. The Doves are peaceful and friendly, the Owls are wise and logical. The Peacocks are showy and optimistic, and the Eagles are bold and decisive.

A person will have a combination of these types. However, just keep in mind that they must not be used as a psychological assessment of your life. 

3H LEADERSHIP (HUNGRY, HUMBLE & HUSTLE)

Lastly, although one can prepare to be a leader. One shouldn’t forget that there are things that we can’t control. The H3 Leadership provides a practical outline for implementing and living out the transformational habits of a great leader.

However, will all the adversities you’ll face. One should always strive to remain hungry, humble and hustle. 

Because at the end of your journey, will you become someone who is willing to work hard and get things done? And can you make sure that it won’t be about others are treating. But how you treat yourself. 

And ultimately, how transformative you can be that you can influence others to do the right habits to succeed. 

 

RESOURCES

If you want to watch the full video with Sonia Mundra, be sure to click on the link below to redirect you to our YouTube channel where I share free content about the government contracting process as well as my interviews with other GovCon giants.

055: Doing Business as an Alaskan Native Corporation (ANC) with Sonia Mundra – Eric Coffie

Wesley Ross: 16 Year Old Military Contractor

Posted on by Eric Coffie

Age is not a requirement in the federal marketplace. As long as you establish yourself and your business, you will certainly land into various contracting opportunities. To give you an inspiration, here is Wesley Ross, the 16 year old military contractor!

BACKGROUND

Just recently Wesley Ross has been featured in different news outlets in the United States. He thought of only selling out his stocks of Personal Protective Equipments but this in turn gave him an opportunity to be featured as a young government contractor. 

Wesley Ross is a young business-minded individual who started selling ever since at a young age on things such as bracelets, handmade soaps, clothes, shoes, electronic parts, and auto parts on both online and offline. 

Then, at the age of 16, he already has two businesses: SpeedLabs which is a car accessories and electronics business and NorthStar Dynamics, a government contracting company. 

“Ever since I was in the seventh grade, I always knew that I wanted to live my dreams and goals at an early age.”

STARTING IN THE FEDERAL MARKETPLACE

Wesley Ross didn’t know anything about government contracting until he saw the movie, War Dogs, for the second time and then attentively took note of the things about the said topic.

Then, he started making his business legitimate. He stayed up late until four or five in the morning just to make sure that NorthStar Dynamics is a registered business in SAM.gov and has the qualifying codes after looking for contracting opportunities in FedBizOpps. 

“Hard work and dedication is what’s gonna actually bring money in on the table, so staying up ‘till four or five in the morning was no issue for me if knowing what the potential could be too.”

STRUGGLES AS A YOUNG CONTRACTOR

When Ross started in the federal marketplace, he lacked money to get his first contract even with the income that he gained in his previous endeavors. 

As a way to supply it, he organized the Minnesota Auto Show and used the Internet to make sure that a huge number of people will be there at the event.

Another thing that also bugged him is being underage because he’s still unqualified for getting government loans and credits as well as not being taken seriously by others. 

However, he was able to gain the public trust by showing them the process and things that he had already done.

ADVICE FOR OTHER TEENAGERS

Currently, Ross has already won contracts, performed various projects, and gained public recognition for being a young entrepreneur and government contractor. When he was asked what could be his message if he will be given a chance to do a 2020 commencement speech, he stressed the importance of finding yourself and what you want with your life. 

Consider that you only have one chance of living and you have a lot of things that you want to do with it, so don’t let anything or anyone hold you back. 

“Follow your dream and let nothing stand in your way because the only person who will hold you back from what you want to do on this road, on what you want to do with your life, is you.”

RESOURCES

If you want to watch the full video with the 16 year old military contractor, Wesley Ross, then be sure to click the links below.

Wesley Ross the 16 year old military contractor

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFVrRAfwq7Q

Jennifer Namvar- The Billion Dollar Capture Manager – Part 2: Insight

Posted on by Linette Genao

By focusing on emerging and next-generation technologies, Jennifer Namvar, Capture Director for Leidos, has become the best of the best at what she does. With 16 years of experience in all phases of the federal government business development life-cycle, she is someone you want to learn from. Jennifer Namvar has worked for some of the DoD’s Top 100 list companies and has closed more than one billion in new and re-compete business.

With so much knowledge to offer, we decided to break this into two parts.

Part 1, focused on proposal writing assistance and how-to effectively execute the process as a small-business. Here on Part 2, Jennifer Namvar will take us a little into a Capture Manager’s World and how small businesses can benefit from this insider knowledge.

CAPTURE MANAGER INSIGHT

According to Namvar, there are key areas that capture managers will always focus on.

  1. Customer engagement
    • “The more customer intimacy that you have, the higher your win probability will be on your opportunity that you’re working.” -Jennifer Namvar
  2. Teaming
    • “For a particular opportunity, usually one company doesn’t do the whole thing themselves. They bring a team of other companies.” -Jennifer Namvar
  3. Solutions
    • “How do you bring a differentiated solution?” -Jennifer Namvar

Some of the questions Capture Managers ask throughout these three stages include, “Who are you going to call in, in a government? What are the requirements this customer’s looking for? Which ones does my company do best? Are there small business requirements? Which small businesses would be a good fit for this contract? How do you put together a differentiated solution that’s not something your competitors are going to put together?”

That’s a lot of information.

Because of this, you’re probably wondering do larger organizations work less with small businesses?

They do!

According to Namvar, “A lot of the RFP’s that come out will have a small business requirement as part of them.”

Through the teaming stage, they have to put together a winning team. “If that includes 40% of my subtracted dollars go to small businesses, I have to figure out which small businesses I need to bring on my team.”

HOW IS THIS DONE?

 

  1. They look at small businesses that they’ve successfully partnered with in the past.
  2. They look for a specific socioeconomic category
    • For example, a woman-owned small business, service-disabled small-business, veteran-owned small business, etc. and how their company meets the areas of the statement of work.
  3. Customer Relationships

 

HOW CAN YOU DISTINGUISH YOURSELF AS A SMALL BUSINESS?

One word. Relationships. Relationships. Oh yea, relationships! Okay, that was technically three or five, but that one word is key!

“This is the advice I always give to small businesses. I think that this is a relationship-based business, and the best thing you can do is nurture a relationship with the decision maker in one of these large businesses,” states Namvar.

Having lunch with them, reaching out to them and nurturing the relationship, are all ways Namvar advises you begin building and growing your connections. That way, when a contractor is coming out and needs to fulfill a requirement, you are at the top of their mind.

“It could be someone from the contract side, you might want to work that angle, but you might want to consider also working the angle of someone who is dealing with a large volume of proposals that they have to deal with. Whether, it’s a business development person or a capture manager who’s working a few different deals.”

Secondly, Namvar advises bringing your client relationships to the primes.

“So if you can nurture some customer relationships, in the same way of customers you would ideally want to work with, you can say, ‘Hey, I can make an introduction to customer so-and-so and I hear that this opportunity’s coming out. You would be a great fit for a prime and we would love to partner with you on it.’ That’s a slam dunk way to do it, in my opinion. That’s how I would do it if I were a small business.”

How do you get these relationships you might ask?

Word of mouth, networking events and even LinkedIn.

 

MISTAKES SMALL BUSINESSES MAKE

 

During the process of building relationships, there are mistakes that can be made. Do not just invite these new connections to have lunch with you.

When you contact them, Jennifer Namvar advises sending a message that is detailed but quick. In the message, articulate your value, bring a customer into the picture, identify an opportunity they may or may not be aware of and ask for a brief 15-minute call.

Another mistake, becoming too tactical. Don’t get so tactical as a small business, that you forget to have a process.

“I think that most small businesses use the excuse that ‘hey, we’re a small business, so we can’t have a process, so we can’t have a strategy.’ Instead of having a strategy of, ‘Okay, this year I want to go… These are the accounts that I want to focus on or these are the customers I want to focus on and these are the opportunities at the beginning of the year, and build a pipeline. I see them more waiting for the… chasing the next shiny object or waiting for the next opportunity and completely overextending themselves and not actually engaging with customers or engaging with those partners that they can work with.”

As she says, “Don’t go wide instead of deep.”

LAST PIECE OF ADVICE 

Finally, we leave you with some encouragement from Jennifer Namvar herself.

Jennifer Namvar

“If you’re afraid of that and you don’t put your art out into the world, then no one gets the benefit of it…You can’t please everyone all the time. But there are going to be some people out there who really like what you put out there, who really like your company, who have jobs because you created a company. And none of that value would exist if you’re too scared to put it out there.”

 

To hear more, join the GOVCON GIANTS Podcast Community available on Spotify, Apple Podcast, Google Play, Stitcher, and iHeart.

To learn more about Government Contracting, subscribe to the GOVCON GIANTS YouTube Channel.

 

JENNIFER NAMVAR BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS

  1. “This is Marketing” by Seth Godin
  2. “Extreme Ownership” by Jocko Willink

Jennifer Namvar – The Billion Dollar Capture Manager – Part 1: Proposals

Posted on by Linette Genao

By focusing on emerging and next-generation technologies, Jennifer Namvar, Capture Director for Leidos, has become the best of the best at what she does. With 16 years of experience in all phases of the federal government business development life-cycle, she is someone you want to learn from. Jennifer Namvar has worked for some of the DoD’s Top 100 list companies and has closed more than one billion in new and re-compete business.

With so much knowledge to offer, we have decided to break this into two parts. With part 1, we will focus on proposal writing assistance and how to effectively execute the process as a small-business.

 

PROPOSAL ADVICE FROM JENNIFER NAMVAR

 

1) Have a proposal management process

We all know proposals require a lot of time and dedication. As a small business, even if you cannot afford a full out-proposal management team, you should still have a process. For example, even with a small 5-person team, this can be effectively accomplished by beginning with creating a schedule.

“What I would recommend is that you put together for each proposal a schedule and an outline of the requirements and the evaluation criteria. You dedicate or assign a team of people and give each person on your five-person team a responsibility for putting together a part of the proposal.”

Additionally, Namvar recommends holding reviews and getting someone else to review your proposal.

“Get a couple people. Either if it’s a startup, sometimes you have a board, sometimes you have business advisors. Get those people to review your proposal. Don’t review your own proposal.”

 

2) If you outsource…

Find someone credible to review your proposals.

“I would bring in trusted consultants…There’s several proposal and capture consulting companies that have very senior folks that you can hire to review your proposal,” states Namvar.

If you hire a freelancer, Namvar suggests hiring one that is specific to this industry and to federal proposals.

 

3) Give yourself time

With all the time and money invested into created proposals, you want to make sure you give yourself enough time to review, edit, and perfect.

In addition, Namvar advises allotting time for a hard copy response in case something goes wrong electronically.

Missing a deadline is not an option.

“If you do miss a deadline, even by a minute, the government typically will throw you out and you don’t want to waste all that time and money for having a late submission.”

 

4) Have Accountability Check-Ins

Throughout the life of the proposal, you want to have daily accountability check-ins with your team. This way, you know the proposal is going in the right direction. Also, little problems or concerns can be addressed quickly without turning into larger issues.

 

Following these 4 steps will assist you in having a smoother proposal writing experience. It will also assure you are putting your best foot forward. After all, you want to make sure you are submitting the best proposal you have to offer.

On our next post, Jennifer Namvar will take us a little into a Capture Manager’s World and how small businesses can benefit from this insider knowledge.

 

To hear more, join the GOVCON GIANTS Podcast Community available on Spotify, Apple Podcast, Google Play, Stitcher, and iHeart.

To learn more about Government Contracting, subscribe to the GOVCON GIANTS YouTube Channel.

Inside With Robert Wink—Contract Specialist With USACE and Former FEMA Contracting Officer

Posted on by Linette Genao

Although all agencies have similarities, they are also all unique. Robert Wink, published author and CEO of Integrity Lion Acquisitions, provided us insight on how different working with two agencies can actually be.

Wink is adamant about helping entrepreneurs learn the process and how to do the work in federal contracting quickly, effectively, and without wasting time, Wink opened up about his experiences working with FEMA after a large natural disaster and how the rules are not the same as many of the federal agencies.

 

Robert Wink

BACKGROUND

Wink comes with vast experience working within the government. He retired from the US Army with multiple deployments to Iraq, was a Contracting Officer with FEMA and is currently a Contracting Specialist with the US Army Corps of Engineers.

Wink is also the author of two books: “Small Business Starting Guide to Federal Government Contracts and Searching for Solicitations” and “Secrets to Noncompetitive Government Contracts.”

 

INSIDE WITH ROBERT WINK

 

1. Get familiar with the industry or the agency you are going into Or Working With

From an insider perspective and as a contracting officer, working for FEMA and also the US Army Corps of Engineers, we learn from Wink that they require very different things from their contracting officers and allot their spending very differently. This is important for those wanting to work for the agencies or those looking to work with a specific industry or agency.

“Absolutely, because even at the Army, I was at the Mission Installation Contracting Command and we were very heavy on small businesses. Went to FEMA, man FEMA. That was a … FEMA is a whole different animal when it comes to Contracting. What I mean by that, and I’ll stick with the small business side. When I would bring up, “Hey, what’s our small business goals?” You got that deer in the headlight look… I think in the two years, the couple, and the month… couple weeks I was there, not one time did we ever talk small business goals.”

 

2. Natural Disasters Change The Rules

It’s important to note that rules change. Especially during natural disasters like Hurricane Harvey.

“During your disaster, the disaster have a local area set aside…So during those disasters, those Presidential declared disasters, we were supposed to…and within the first 150 days, we can contract to anybody, because it’s a disaster. It’s a go. But, during that time, we have to start moving and transitioning to local area set asides. So, we have to compete.”

 

3. Contract Specialist and Contract Officers Are Not The Same 

Using the following example, Robert Wink explains how Contracting Specialist are like paralegals. Whereas, Contracting Officers are like lawyers—reviewing, making decisions and even arguing on your behalf to the government.

“I try to explain it the simplest way of explaining it is this way. You have your Attorney, who’s the one that approves everything and can negotiate on behalf of whoever they’re representing. That’s your Attorney. Now, the person that does the leg work and all the hard-core work. I mean, you’ll get into the weeds, and looking at the laws, and policies, and regulation. Even though the Attorney does that, it’s your Paralegals at the end of the day.”

 

4. People Will Sell You Anything If You Let Them

Be aware of companies with a government title in their name to give people the false appearance as though they are representing the government. Then, in very, very small fine print at the bottom, they state, “We are not a Government agency.”

“There’s companies out there that take the same information in my book. I know a couple in Florida. They will charge people anywhere from $400.00 up to $5,000.00 to enroll them in SAM.gov. It’s free, it’s unbelievable… it’s embarrassing…” states Wink.

What you are being charged for, ultimately is free. Be aware.

 

5. State Objectives Differ from Performance Work Statements

“So a Performance Work Statement is a, ‘I need you to complete this. I don’t care how you complete it, but there’s a measurement. So you have to provide this document and you have to perform this type of work. But, we’re going to measure your process along the way.’ What the Statement of Objectives is, ‘Hey, I need you to do janitor work on this five thousand square foot building, two hundred rooms, you tell me how you’re going to do it. You develop those metrics.’”

 

6. Read The Solicitations

Wink advises small businesses, where hiring a lawyer or Consultant to dissect solicitations for you is not an option, to simply read.

“So what I tell everybody to do is, as soon as you see something that you think you can do, read that Performance Work Statement, or that Statement Objective, or the structure. Whatever the Government’s attempting or trying to purchase.”

After reading it, Robert Wink advises asking yourself whether or not you can achieve what they are asking.

Ask yourself, “Can you do it?”

Don’t waste time. You need to know if your set aside can even do it before you spend hours analyzing the solicitation.

 

7. Pricing Is More of An Art Than A Science

Always take into account what the risk is when deciding how you mark up a job. Also, when you’re bidding a job, bid it so that you can make profit for yourself. Don’t worry about what the other person is bidding, because if you try and play and numbers game, they could have missed something, and you could end up costing you money.

“Account for all risks and to make profit. You never go into a project to lose money, unless it’s to keep your business afloat. It’s either not working or taking a little bit of loss just to keep the doors open. And employment. But, that’s a business decision.”

To hear more, join the GOVCON GIANTS Podcast Community available on  Spotify, Apple Podcast, Google Play, Stitcher, and iHeart.

To learn more about government contracting subscribe to the GOVCON GIANTS YouTube Channel.

Federal Contracting Process: A Guide Before Working with the Government

Posted on by Eric Coffie

Working with the federal government is quite different than working with private entities. There are certain processes and rules to follow. So, here is a guide to help you understand the federal contracting process. 

WHAT MAKES GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS DIFFERENT?

Federal contracts are highly regulated to encourage competition, guarantee the proper use of the taxpayer’s money, and promote healthy socio economic goals. 

Each contract also contains mandatory clauses that enable the government to have special rights within the contract.

It includes being able to change its terms and conditions and even end it.

Then, claims and legal actions from contractors should also follow the procedures of the Contract Disputes Act because the federal government is a sovereign entity. 

WHAT GOVERNED FEDERAL CONTRACTS?

Federal contracts are subject to several statutes including the Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act and the Competition in Contracting Act while its procurement process for executive branches is also governed by the Federal Property Administrative Act and the Armed Services Procurement Act.

Due to these, the federal government developed a body of administrative law to address all of these through the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR).

Other agencies such as the NASA, the General Services Administration, and the Department of Defense also created supplements on this regulation in pursuit of the Administrative Procedure Act.

WHAT IS THE ROLE OF THE CONTRACTING OFFICER?

A contract will not be bound without the authority of a contracting officer.

In order to follow the rules governing the contracts, an executive agency issues a warrant or a certificate of appointment to a contracting officer to grant, manage, or terminate a given contract. 

These warrants may either be a warrant with a specific amount of money or an unlimited warrant that is used for various contracting opportunities.

WHAT IS THE PROCUREMENT PROCESS?

Once the government agency provides a warrant to a contracting officer, this person moves to the next phase which can be either through sealed bidding or negotiation. 

When the contracting officer chose sealed bidding, he or she directly advertised an Invitation for Bids, read the bid to the public, and chose the lowest responsive bidder. However, if one of the conditions for the sealed bidding is not met or present, the contracting officer then awards the contract using competitive negotiation.

Competitive negotiation starts when there’s already an official issue of requests for proposals. It is then followed by the proposals review, negotiation, revision of proposals, second review, and lastly, the awarding of a contract. 

Regardless of what process the contracting officer chose, this person mainly checks the proposals and the background of each company if they are fit for the project. 

WHAT ARE YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES?

During and after the procurement process, you must meet the business practices and ethical responsibilities imposed by the federal government. 

This includes not doing any act of bribery, false claims and statements, kickbacks, attempting to influence the award or modification of the contract, discussing employment to government officers and employees, and obtaining restricted information before the award of a contract.

This also goes the same way inside your company such as not encouraging discrimination to and between employees, following the socio-economic obligations as a government contractor, providing a subcontracting plan for small businesses, following the labor standards, and providing a drug-free workplace.

WHAT IS THE CONTRACT DISPUTE ACT?

When the contracting officer terminates or changes some parts of your contract that you didn’t agree with, you have the right to appeal these by following the Contract Dispute Act.

The act follows a process wherein you present a claim to the contracting officer regarding the action that you find unreasonable within your contract.

However, if the said person doesn’t provide a final decision regarding your dispute, you can appeal this to the US Court of Federal Claims which will then be forwarded to the Court of Appeals, and lastly to the Supreme Court, if not yet resolved.

Just remember that the government has sixty days to file an answer towards your company. And for your complaint not to be defeated, you must file it within a year after you receive the contracting officer’s final decision. 

RESOURCES

If you want to learn more about how the federal contracting process works as well as analyze the laws and rules written above, then be sure to click the links below.

https://www.justice.gov/jm/civil-resource-manual-70-contract-disputes-act

https://www.acquisition.gov/browse/index/far

https://www.onvia.com/for-business/go-to-market-guidance/sealed-bids-vs-proposals-how-they-compare

https://www.sba.gov/business-guide/grow-your-business/become-federal-contractor

https://www.usa.gov/become-government-contractor

https://corporate.findlaw.com/law-library/federal-government-contract-overview.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_procurement_in_the_United_States#Law