How to Get Government Contracting Jobs?
Jul 29th, 2013
Getting government contracting jobs is not that easy. But if you are an owner of a small business there is an opportunity for you to get the contracts. All you need to do is prove yourself eligible to the United States Small Business Administration for the certification and you can win federal contracts easily.
The SBA offers a number of certification programs for the small businesses 8a certification, HUBZone certification, Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business Certification and Women Owned Small Business Certification are the different SBA certification programs for the small businesses. As a small business owner, you just need to see which program is for you. The moment your certification application gets approved by the SBA, you can get an access to the federal contracting jobs available in the U.S.
Before finding the contracts to bid on, it’s important for you to know in which program your business fits well. If you are socially and economically disadvantaged as a small business owner, the SBA 8a certification is for you. If you are a small company having your principal office as well as 35% of your employees located in a HUBZone area, then the HUBZone certification is for you. Many veterans may have suffered a service-connected disability and if they can prove this to the SBA, they will become eligible for the SDVOSB certification. There are even many women who own small businesses and are underrepresented. For these women, the SBA offers WOSB certification. So, which program do you think is suited for you? No matter in which program you participate, after obtaining the certification if you think that you can get government contracting jobs for your small business, you are wrong! You need to do three most important things in order to win federal contracting jobs.
Get in touch with a counselor
A counselor is a professional who can help you get in the contracting game. You can find counselors in 300 Procurement Technical Assistance Centers, 350 SCORE chapters, 110 Women’s Business Centers, 885 Small Business Development Centers and 68 SBA district offices. If you visit the official site of the SBA and type in some basic information about your company, you will be provided with a list of resources within your locality.
Register on the contracting resources
The small businesses that are interested in pursuing federal contracting jobs have plenty of options available to represent their firm to the potential buyers. To prepare the business for federal contracts, it’s important for them to comprehend the contracting resources. As a small business owner, you can register your firm on the SAM, DSBS database, FedBizOpps, GSA Schedules, Federal Procurement Data System, USASpending.gov and OSDBU.Gov. Generally these are the places the federal procurement officers look when they search for contractors.
Identify government contracting job opportunities
You should not sit idle thinking that government contracting jobs will come to you all by its own. You must be proactive. Decide which products/services you want to sell to the government and find out the agencies that need them the most. Then bid on to get the contracts. You can find all the contracts available for bid on the Federal Business Opportunities website.
Adriana Sopi is a business consultant. He advises small business owners on how to grow their businesses. He has written many informative articles and blogs on 8a certification, HUBZone certification and other SBA certifications. Here he writes about small businesses and how they can get government contracting jobs in the U.S.