GovConWire Events will host the Winning Business and FY21 Opportunities Virtual Forum featuring keynote speaker Brian Barnes, Associate Administrator of the Office of Small Business Utilization with the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), on October 20th.
The speakers will educate and inform small to midsize GovCon professionals on the current federal marketplace, FY21 opportunities to look out for, how to navigate the GSA schedule and discuss what industry can do to help. Do not miss out on this must see forum!
To register for the Winning Business and FY21 Opportunities Forum, as well as view future events, visit GovConWire Events.
Brian Barnes, associate administrator of the Office of Small Business Utilization (OSDBU) with the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), will be featured as keynote speaker during the event.
GSA Small Business Initiatives
The General Services Administration (GSA) Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU) has worked to support small businesses’ opportunities for subcontracting awards that could lead to larger federal contracts.
Amy Lineberry, deputy associate administrator at GSA OSDBU, announced the best advantages of subcontracting and the impact it has on prime contractors. Lineberry noted that subcontracting can be a profitable experience for small businesses and provide an additional revenue stream.
“If you’re a small business, you can start your path in Federal procurement troops and contracting and if you’re a seasoned small business subcontracting can provide additional opportunities for winning more Federal work while minimizing administrative obligations and lowering business development costs,” Lineberry said.
Being in a position to secure subcontracting opportunities also has an impact on prime contractors and obtaining larger opportunities. Lineberry added that small businesses should market to the prime contractors by utilizing capability statements, such as core competencies, past performance, and experience.
Development in Small Business Procurement
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) recently announced that the federal government exceeded its 23 percent small business contracting goal for fiscal year (FY) 2019 by awarding 26.5 percent of federal contract dollars to small businesses.
The federal government also exceeded its contracting goals for small disadvantaged businesses, women-owned small businesses and service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses and increased its contracting with HUBZONE small businesses.
The SBA’s government-wide scorecard shows that the government also exceeded its five-percent goals for small disadvantaged business (10.29 percent) and women-owned small business (5.19 percent), and its three-percent goal for service-disabled veteran-owned small business (4.39 percent).
However, for small business subcontracting, the government did not reach its goals for small disadvantaged businesses, service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses, or HUBZONE small businesses. Within these categories, businesses declined.
SBA Small Business Revisions
In Oct. 2020, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) requested public comments on two proposed rules that would revise the small business size standards for businesses in eight North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) sectors.
The revisions would increase small business eligibility for SBA’s loan and contracting programs. This is the first time the SBA established size standards for all agricultural enterprises as other industries, as required by the National Defense Authorization Act of Fiscal Year 2017.
If the revisions are adopted, the SBA has projected that more than 50 thousand additional firms will become eligible for SBA’s programs. The revised asset-based size standards would allow about 280 additional financial institutions to qualify as small.
The proposed revisions reflect changes in the industry and federal marketplace conditions and the SBA’s policy position under the current economic situation due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Small Business & GSA Vehicles
The GSA has recently announced that Technical and Project Engineering (TAPE) can now pursue task orders under Pool 3 of the administration’s One Acquisition Solution for Integration Services (OASIS) Small Business contract.
TAPE has partnered with Filius Corp., ITSC Secure Solutions, Manufacturing Engineering Systems, Netorian and P3I to provide engineering support to customer agencies through the OASIS SB vehicle. GSA awarded 163 spots on the five-year procurement contract.
Louisa Long Jaffe, president and CEO of TAPE, said the award presents the company an opportunity to grow its presence in the federal market. The Alexandria,Va.-based firm also holds positions on GSA’s IT Schedule 70, Veterans Technology Services 2 and Professional Services Schedule contracts.
FY 2021 Budget
The White House released its 2021 Budget in Feb. 2020, outlining topics of finding across agencies. The key priorities in the budget include, Better Trade Deals, Preserving Peace through Strength, Overcoming the Opioid Crisis, Regulation Relief and American Energy Independence.
Members of the House Appropriations Committee have announced a draft of the fiscal 2021 spending bill in early July 2020. The committee’s spending bill for financial services and general government funding sets aside $6 billion to modernize federal buildings.
The spending bill also gives the IRS requested funding to improve taxpayer services, but also outlines congressional resistance to redefine delivery standards for the Postal Service.
In the draft, the committee has allocated more than $9 billion in total to GSA for federal real property, which would find property management and maintenance, protection of federally owned and leased buildings, restoration and repairs and construction and cleaning contracts for federal office space. More than $585 million would go toward repairs and alterations.
About the Federal Marketplace Strategy
The Federal Marketplace Strategy (FMP) is GSA’s plan to modernize and simplify the buying and selling experience for customers, suppliers and acquisition professionals. The goal is to ensure the federal marketplace experience of tomorrow is even better than it is today.
Through the FMP Strategy, GSA will simplify discovery and acquisition of products, services and solutions that meet their mission needs; reduce barriers to doing business with the government, and improve access to opportunities for qualified suppliers; and empower the FAS workforce to spend more time performing the highest value activities and focus on excellence in service delivery.
GovConWire’s Winning Business and FY21 Opportunities Forum will also host an expert panel, featuring Dwight Deneal, director of the Office of Small Business Programs with the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) and Glenn Delgado, associate administrator of the Office of Small Business Programs with NASA.
Darlene Bullock, executive director of the Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Sharon Ridley, deputy executive director for the Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU) at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) will also join the panel.
