The ‘all new’ Small Business Talk Show – Starts up again mid-April ’12

ALJUCAR & Co. is looking for Proposal Management & Support Professionals

ALJUCAR & Co. is looking for the following personnel to assist in supporting our PMO on several upcoming Proposal Requirements. We have an immediate need for the following:

1. Technical Writer(s) – Proposal responsibilities include: Corporate Description, Team project experience, staff resumes, and additional sections to be defined.
2. Subject Matter Expert – IMPORTANT: Must have extensive experience with the Department of Transportation (DoT) and or the agency’s Operating Administrations (OAs). | Proposal responsibilities include: Technical descriptions, Analysis, Management plan, and additional sections to be defined.
3. IT Solution Architect – Proposal responsibilities include: Innovative solution design, System architecture, Executive Summary, and additional sections to be defined. | Additional support is required for the following: Transition in/out plan; develop integrated plan for the following areas of focus: Program Management, Capital Planning, Integrated Communications, Application Software Management, Infrastructure Support, IT Security, and Customer Service.

If you are a professional, or know of professionals, with expertise in any of the above areas of discipline; please forward your resume/capability vitae and billable-rate requirement to emily.parcell@aljucar.com NLT April 6, 2012.

NOTE: this is a project based opportunity and IS NOT permanent employment. 1099 personnel and firms need only respond.

ABOUT US

ALJUCAR & Co. is a boutique globally-independent business service integration (BSI) firm. We provide contract management and performance reporting services –  and handle compliance responsibilities for populated and unpopulated government contractor Joint Ventures. www.aljucar.com

 

 

Transparency & Accountability: Consolidating the Business Development profession for Small Business Government Contractors | Certified Business Development Consult™

“To our VSBA membership: If they’re not CBDC™ certified, do business with them at your own risk.”

In Washington DC and around the country, hiring independent business development and marketing personnel has become an exercise in fear for small business owners. From exorbitant service pricing to promises made that cannot remotely be kept – small business owners, particularly those new to government procurement, are both confused and unsure about whom they can truly get assistance from. How do we know? – VSBA gets more complaints monthly from our members being duped by business development and marketing professionals than any other subject-matter.

To resolve this issue, VSBA has formed the certifying body for the Certified Business Development Consult™. Our CBDC™ certification process confirms your past performance success and commitment to the highest ethical standards. More importantly, it gives the Small Business gov’t contractor a single point of accountability and recourse for services promised and not rendered.

- OUR THREE APPLICATION STREAMS -

BASIC for consultants with a minimum of 3 up to 9 years of Business Development consulting experience as independent or internal consultants with five satisfactory clients’ evaluations.

EXPERIENCED for consultants with 10 or more years as independent or internal consultants and otherwise meeting the Basic requirements.

MANAGEMENT for high level managers with 20 or more years’ experience with at least 3 years of consulting with clients and accountability for successful completion of projects involving Business Development consultants and otherwise meeting requirements of the Basic track.

- THE PROCESS -

Submit a CBDC™ Application with supporting documentation to VSBA, including three written engagement summaries and provide contact information for five or six clients who will be contacted to verify performance.

- HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE? -

The process can take as little as one month, depending on how quickly your references are submitted and client evaluations conducted.

- WHAT DOES IT COST? -

Your certification fee is determined by your VSBA member status. VSBA awards the CBDC™ to members and non-members. There is no requirement for membership in any professional association or to attend any specific course to apply for the CBDC™. VSBA member rates will apply only if you are in good standing at the time you submit payment. If you join VSBA after being awarded the CBDC mark, member rates will be applicable in the next calendar year.

Initial Certification Application and Assessment

(non-refundable)

- Member $350.00

- Non-member $550.00

Annual CBDC™ charge (prorated first year)

- Member $395.00

- Non-member $550.00

Triennial Certification Renewal (an assessment of your continuing professional development)

- Member $150.00

- Non-member $250.00

WE’RE CERTIFIED NOW WHAT?

Once certified, you and your firm will be listed in our Certified Business Development Consult™ Sub-group where our group membership of more than 7000 small business gov’t contractors will have access to contact and contract with you. You and your firm will also be listed in our VSBA Preferred Vendor List, sent out annually and published for download on our website. Finally, you will be able to include the Certified Business Development Consult™ logo on your marketing collateral to provide externally validated credibility to your professionalism.

Send your request for payment instructions and a Certified Business Development Consult™ application to: BizEvangelist@VSBAonline.com

One Voice…

VSBA Editorial – Is History repeating itself?

By Rudy Sutherland

The current macro-economic environment and the way President Obamas’ administration is dealing with it is eerily like when Franklin Delano Roosevelt served as President from March 1933 to April 1945. What is quite striking is that the Republican Party is responding now just as it did (literally) during that timeframe (read the history) with claims and talking-points of ever expanding government, class warfare, etc., etc.

Here’s the rub – the country went into a 2^nd recession after the great depression and Roosevelt had to lie to the American public in order for the US to enter WWII against Hitler in order to create jobs. It is widely thought that without WWII, Roosevelt’s tenure would have been on the whole a failure. Moreover, President Roosevelt had three full terms to get the country out that debacle and racked up significant debt to do so – he also alienated the entire commercial class.

President Obama has none of these advantages, but all of the disadvantages ^ plus hyper-speed communication and 24 hour news-cycles to insure his administration can’t pull the wool over the American collective eye. Remember, President Bush took the war option off the table with Iraq; America is now as gun-shy about war as we were in the 30’s and 40’s. So, if you think the crap you’re hearing on cable-TV about the stock market expanding is going to help the unemployed; remember – corporations don’t create new jobs – small business does.

What does this all mean? In my view, the President and his administration are not doing anything bold or new – anyone with a library close by or an internet connection can see that their entire playbook has been lifted from FDR’s tenure in office. It’s sad to me – because, as valuable as the sheepskin is that they possess, it really demonstrates that there are no entrepreneur minded individuals in the current administration… and America at-large is suffering because of it. For the sake of our children, we need real Change – but not that proposed by either party right now – all of which is short-sighted and irresponsible; we need an ‘Entrepreneur in Residence’ with fresh ideation to bring us out of this abyss.

Only problem is, that type of individual would only be a fool to go into national politics. Yet I remain hopeful – I’ll be Winston Churchill to your Herbert Hoover any day. If any in our group has the gumption to be that person, please step-up; now more than ever, your Country needs you.

One Voice…

 

Small Business: Trickle-down Economics

By Rudy Sutherland

‘…you need to be smart, focused and critically selective about how you pursue opportunities, the structures you use to align with partners and generally how you spend your time pursuing and doing business.’

What is the net-effect of reduction in federal agency spend? A: subcontractors aren’t as necessary.

Since subcontracting is the life of Smalls, you need to become smarter and better at developing industry relationships with Prime Contractors and gleaning information about upcoming opportunities.

As I have stated time and again in previous posts; when the government tightens its belt, it applies more efficient acquisition methods and favors companies with existing contracts such as the GSA Schedule, BPAs or IDIQs. If you don’t have one or more of these, you need to venture with a firm(s) that do.

In short, you need to be smart, focused and critically selective about how you pursue opportunities, the structures you use to align with partners and generally how you spend your time pursuing and doing business.

COMPETITIVE SUBCONTRACTING

Obtaining a subcontract on a legacy contract or known solicitation with the “right” Prime contractor is a competitive process and can be quite daunting. Sending out a boiler-plate capability statement will only insure you land in your targets’ junk-mail folder. Candidate firms (Small & Micro) desiring to stand out and be competitive must provide the right information as a synopsis that is both targeted and compelling.

ALJUCAR & Co. has solid relationships with a volume of large & medium size Prime Contractors in various disciplines looking for the “right” subcontractor(s). Historically, to liaise our client base, we offer ‘Prep & Representation Services’ – we are now expanding this service offering to a select group of Small & Micro businesses.

We utilize either an hourly or retainer arrangement; attempting to bring a practical solution to the realities that sound small business face to remain competitive. To request a discrete consultation, please email your request along with your most recent capability statement to emily.parcell@aljucar.com and you will be contacted with next steps.

ALJUCAR & Co.

http://www.aljucar.com/

202.505.2182

Which of you entrepreneurs is the Jeremy Lin of Small Business?

It’s a great story and testament to what perseverance and hard work can do for you.

Last night (FEB 10, 2012), given the opportunity to shine with the New York Knicks, Jeremy Lin came out of nowhere (the NBA D-League) to out-play (out-perform) Kobe Bryant in the country’s biggest market by scoring 38 points.

This – after going undrafted, getting waived twice, going to the D-League four times, and being basically a 15th guy on every roster.

It’s a great story and testament to what perseverance and hard work can do for you.

So which of you is ready to play on the big stage when your opportunity comes to shine? …cause it most certainly will. Are you ready? Who of you believes enough in your firm, despite your current challenges getting or keeping a federal contract; despite the current anemic spend by gov’t agencies this fiscal year; and, despite the level of competition for so few contract opportunities?

Whoever you are, I want to work with you; because business like sports is a ‘contact’ activity that requires tenacity, persistence, and belief in yourself and what you do (the way you do it) when no one else does.

By the way, you ask what is it that Jeremy has that’s so special? It’s that to him, it’s not all about him. In fact, it’s not about him at all. He’s the anti-Kobe. He takes what he’s given and plays his role, and he does it magnificently.

What about you, can you think of the bigger picture for your firm? Can you be a transformational leader for your firm; ready to make bold decisions that may be tactically ridiculed but strategically brilliant? If you are, and are ready to prove it; call me – because you are the type of and ‘select few’ entrepreneurs that I created this Group to find.

Rudy Sutherland

http://www.aljucar.com/

One Voice…

Why minority Smalls have to supplement commodity offerings in IT and other saturated slow/no-growth sectors with true ‘value-added’ capabilities, and also step-up M&A

Even though the number of minority businesses has reached unparalleled heights, their proportion does not yet fully reflect the growing size and importance they represent to economic recovery in the United States.

Fueling the disparity is the fact that minority businesses are disproportionately represented in saturated, low-growth and no-growth sectors . They also tend to rely on personal debt, family financing and business loans over equity, and other tools that are otherwise commonly accepted in the capital markets.  As a result, minority businesses often lack the size, scale, and capabilities of their majority counterparts.

Specifically, to achieve greater size and scale and expand their capabilities, minority businesses must proactively close the gap by:

• Building capacity and capabilities of minority businesses to provide more value- added products and services; particularly in federal government procurement
• Expanding the use of mergers, acquisitions, and strategic partnerships
• Fully accessing and deploying the capabilities of the financial markets for minority business development
• Aggressively responding to major trends in global supply chain management

The minority Smalls that won’t or don’t make transformative changes to close the gap will ultimately fail.  The growth rate for these firms has already begun to slow, and as a result, limited number of jobs are being created by this small business demographic.

THE MANAGING COLLECTIVE

an essay by Mr. Hugh Aaron

I desperately needed ideas. The company’s progress was stalled due in large part to a slowing economy. But it was also due to a certain apathy (even within myself), and a hardening of our ways that had developed during the previous decade.

It would have been easy to pay a management consultant to tell us what to do. It would also have been defeatist. After all, I owed what success I had to applying my own resources. And I already had well-paid managers in place who knew the company better than anyone else. But I’d never asked them to look beyond their own bailiwicks or sought their opinion of what was wrong or encouraged their suggestions on what to do about it. Right under my nose were the most qualified consultants I would ever find.

We met every weekday morning in my office between eight and nine, before the phones starting ringing. Seven members of our small company (now with fewer than a hundred employees) were steady attendees: the vice president of production, the first-shift supervisor, the technical director, the office manager, the sales manager, a rotating production worker who participated for a week, and I. If a salesman or the visiting manager of our satellite plant happened to be in the office, he was also invited.

Our purpose was to develop new ideas and let them fly no matter how ridiculous they sounded. Everyone had a turn to speak and if what he or she had to say wasn’t completed within the hour, it was carried over to the next morning.

Though presiding, I maintained a low profile and let the other members of the group argue their thoughts freely. I might ask a question here and there or toss out a problem I’d been wrestling with. But it was not management by consensus; no vote was taken. I reserved the authority to decide which idea was worth trying. Everyone understood that I, as majority stockholder, had the most to gain or lose.

My first task was to break their habit of restricting their thinking to their own jobs — a natural and regrettable result imposed on us by the organizational structure. Traditionally, only the CEO sees the “big picture” and is the one who makes the big decisions. I wanted everyone to be a figurative CEO, to be in my shoes. Although each individual in the group had different and well-defined responsibilities, all had to put aside any claim to expertise or superiority and accept both criticism and ideas that concerned their departments. We were all equal during the meeting and every opinion was respected, but outside the meeting we reverted to operating within the clearly established lines of responsibility, which could not be crossed.

The unpredictable member of the group was the rotating worker. That person might be a young woman from the office staff or a tough old hand from production. Many workers, unaccustomed to membership in the inner sanctum and feeling intimidated sitting with the brass, initially only listened. But with encouragement, by their second or third turn the timidity disappeared.

From these people came the practical, down-to-earth solutions that startled us by their insight: re-using our plastics waste to clean machines between runs, and hiring two of our workers who had once been in the cleaning business to replace our unsatisfactory cleaning service. Their moonlighting added to their income, and their quality job pleased their coworkers.

Some workers begged off attending our meetings, saying they had nothing to contribute and had no wish to hear the problems. But they couldn’t avoid hearing them. Walking through the plant I’d overhear discussions on what went on at our meetings. Most worker members, proud of their participation, were quick to spread the word to all corners of the company.

The range of ideas that flowed from these meetings was enormous, from hiring and firing people to changing banks to devising compensation plans to seeking new markets to establishing long-range goals and ways to achieve them. The collective dealt with virtually every aspect of running the business, culminating in incentive plans for all levels of the company (except top management) that ultimately eliminated most of our structural problems.

After two years, the meetings degenerated into spurious discussions and boring recitals of petty complaints better dealt with at a lower level. Thus the group contained within itself the elements of its own demise. Owing to the collective, the company reached a new and prosperous stage of life. But an indicator of the collective’s effectiveness was that it eliminated itself. Problems had been its raison d’etre; without them, it had no reason to exist.

About the Author: A graduate of the University of Chicago, Mr. Arron has had 18 of his articles published by The Wall Street Journal. He was CEO of his own manufacturing business for 20 years before selling it to write full-time.

LET’S FACE SOME REALITIES….

Contributed by Mr. Hank Wilfong

First, let us realize that The Golden Era at NASA, is gone, not likely to return. But, then, the total “denial of government responsibility” is also gone. Government is responsible for equitable involvement of all Americans, including the socially and economically disadvantaged business owners. One of the realities is that we are a country of law abiders.

We are also a Capitalistic country, which abides by certain “rules of economics”. We have been approached several times, recently, with the issues of “keeping jobs in the United States by stopping “outsourcing of jobs overseas”. These folk have gotten enchanted with “needing more manufacturing jobs” over here. Many of these same folk argue for, keeping “government jobs” (In-sourcing) rather than “contracting out” to small businesses in the private sector. But, there are certain realities that they ought face.

“Division of duties” is a strong principle of Capitalism. If American workers will agree to work at the same rates that foreign workers will work, then, bring the work back to America. The simple truth is our workers seem to have simply priced themselves out of some jobs. They could follow the jobs, we suppose. But, they should not expect business owners to pay exorbitant prices that they can get much lower, somewhere else.

As for building government, or keeping it at the same size, rather than building up the private sector-that doesn’t sit well with us either. We want our privately owned businesses to grow and prosper. Having to “compete” with the U.S. government for work is not something that we enjoy or approve of. That does not comport well with free enterprise.

The simple matter for me is the National Association of Small Disadvantaged Businesses (NASDB) has not a single manufacturer, anymore. The kind of work some did many years ago, has gone overseas. However, NASDB has hundreds of “Service Companies” with hundreds of jobs whose clients are manufacturing companies. In addition, our IT firms “develop” some products which might be loosely classified as “manufacturing”.

The fact is that WE do the high-end jobs, with the profit-making capabilities, while the “low-end” manufacturing jobs are done overseas. So, let us not fall in love with these “names” of what we do. We try to use our “advanced technological” edge to make a profit, on high-paying jobs. The lower paying jobs, thus, go somewhere else.

That’s called “Capitalism”. And it has to do with “segregation of duties”- or something like that.

Long live Capitalism, and profit making…

##

Mr. Wilfong is the President of the National Association of Small Disadvantaged Businesses (NASDB) 

Are the benefits of contract award bias towards ‘Bigs’ worth more to our country than Job Creation by ‘Smalls’?

Are the known benefits of job creation by ‘Smalls’ more valuable to our country than the perceived savings achieved through contract award bias towards ‘Bigs’?

BACKGROUND

There has been tremendous fallout over the Bill introduced by Rep. Bill Owens (D-N.Y.) on Jan. 18 titled “the Small Business Growth and Federal Accountability Act” (H.R. 3779) http://thomas.loc.gov/home/gpoxmlc112/h3779_ih.xml because federal agencies have regularly ignored the government’s annual 23-percent small-business contracting goal.

However, as a result of the accountability “teeth” (heretofore nonexistent) that this bill establishes, federal agency management will now be forced to weigh the penalties for missing the small-business goal against awarding a contract to a large company that they feel could save money in execution efficiency and on the cost of contract management personnel.

As many of you know this pro/con argument has been in play for as long as there have been agency Small Business goals – at all levels of government. However, our team has done extensive research on the subject and there is no analysis available or empirical proof for record that any savings are enjoyed by federal agencies through the practice of bundling and bias towards Bigs.g

QUESTION

Do you buy the argument that a large firm can perform scaled functions better than a multiple of small firms, and that the efficiency and management savings (real or imaginary) that correlate to budget dollars justify agency bias towards Bigs? And, even if it does; do the known benefits of “job creation” by Smalls positively net-out any perceived benefit to the betterment of our country’s overall economic well-being?

One Voice…

http://linkd.in/OneVoice

ALJUCAR & Co. is vetting individual firms to joint venture for Department of State | Worldwide Design-Build Construction and Construction Projects

The U.S. Department of State (DOS), Office of Overseas Buildings Operations (OBO) is seeking to prequalify firms for Design-Build Construction and Construction projects at various Department of State Foreign Service Posts and other facilities worldwide.  The Department of State anticipates awarding 25 IDIQ contracts.

Depending on the availability of qualified offerors; set asides for specific categories of small business shall be as follows:

• six (6) set aside for 8(a) firms,
• three (3) set aside for HubZone businesses,
• four (4) set aside for service-disabled, veteran owned businesses,
• four (4) set aside for woman-owned businesses,
• four (4) set aside for small businesses, and
• four (4) set aside for full-and-open competition.

Winning firms will be sponsored for Top Secret Facility Clearance (FCL) and assisted with obtaining additional bonding capacity. If you are interested in this rare opportunity, please email your firms’ capability and past performance to our Middle-East Control Group @ middle-east@aljucar.com NLT February 1, 2012. You will be contacted with further instructions.

www.aljucar.com

Small Businesses spend an average of $103,827 to win initial federal contract: Statistics

“On average, small-business owners submitted 4.4 bids in order to secure their first federal contract…”

As the United States government decreased contract spending in the past year, small businesses opened their wallets wider to do business with the world’s largest consumer of goods and services.

According to the second annual American Express Open Government Contracting Survey, small businesses spent an average of $103,827 seeking federal contract opportunities, up 21 percent from their 2010 attempts to keep the government as a customer ($86,000).
The government spent $461 billion on contracts in 2011, down 14 percent from the previous year.

Many of the small businesses responding to the survey reported they were bidding less frequently for a share of the $461 billion. Increased competition drove bidding frequency in small businesses down by almost 50 percent in both the prime and subcontracting arenas, according to the survey report.

At the same time, business owners reported they needed to submit more bids to finally secure a contract. On average, small-business owners submitted 4.4 bids in order to secure their first federal contract. After these business owners won their first contract, they were able to win a second government contract in just under a year.

The research found that the average success rate for those seeking government contracts was 38 percent. That number varied, however, based on experience as businesses with over 10 years of experience in bidding enjoyed a 53 percent success rate, while those with three or less years of experience in bidding saw a 20 percent success rate.

The findings were based on responses from 740 small-business contractors, American Express said.

2-Part Information Series – Doing Business in Afghanistan

‘Due Diligence & Risk Management for Small Business Government Contractors’
Host: Rudy Sutherland

Most US Small Businesses in the Construction & Engineering disciplines are leery of doing business in the middle-east because they must not only manage sometimes unfamiliar commercial, political, and legal environments in these countries but must also concurrently maintain compliance with U.S. laws and regulations. In addition, there are concerns with registering the business in Afghanistan, to ensure compliance with local laws and customs. This series is designed to ally those concerns and give confidence in expanding into this challenging but opportunistic geography to build capacity.

The agenda is as follows:

• Dec. 21st | Part I – Five (5) important legal regimes: Foreign Corrupt Practices Act; Money Laundering Control Act; U.S. Economic Sanctions; U.S. Export Controls; & Antiboycott Rules.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/small-business/2011/12/21/2-part-information-series-doing-business-in-afghanistan

• Dec 22nd | Part II – Four (4) primary relationships: Customer; Partner; Third-Party

Representatives; & Subcontractors
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/small-business/2011/12/22/2-part-information-series-doing-business-in-afghanistan

About our Sponsor: ALJUCAR & Co. mission is to guide Construction & Engineering US Small Businesses & Joint Ventures through Afghanistan’s complex regulatory environment and assist them with all aspects of establishing and maintaining their business operations in the region. Read more @ http://www.aljucar.com

Request for content contribution from VSBA members who Blog

We receive many link-backs to VSBA member Blogs despite the following rule being present in the ‘Group rules’ section:

“2. DO NOT post job orders or link-backs to websites or blogs in the discussion section of our Group. “

However, given that much of this content might otherwise be beneficial to our membership, we are establishing the following go-forward protocol -

Members may submit their content to – BizEvangelist@VSBAonline.com – and, if it is deemed appropriate by our new Editor-in-Chief > Jim Thompson, it will be published on our group Blog @- https://www.VSBAonline.com - with credit for contribution given to the author.

We feel this is a fair compromise to the situation and look forward to sharing the ideas and perspectives of our membership for the purpose of discussion and enlightenment. One Voice… Cheers.

- Rudy Sutherland
Founder, VSBA

Open Letter to VSBA Members: Adhering to ‘Direct Sales’ fundamentals are more important to Smalls now than ever before…

Friday, December 02, 2011

Dear Membership,

In light of the calls and emails that I have been getting from our Members regarding the lack of direction that would allow for sound strategic planning right now, I am compelled to respond openly. Whether you know the budget status of an agency, or whether your contract is on the chopping block or being delayed – you must keep your bearing and remain disciplined.

“In these times of economic uncertainty w/the Federal Gov’t, adhering to ‘Direct Sales’ fundamentals are more important to Smalls now than ever before…”

The key right now is positioning and being poised for the close. – [Positioning] – have the right contract vehicle(s) within the right agency(s) for your firm – and – [Poise] – continue building and fortifying relationships with agency personnel through your sales reps, your long-term prospects for the future will remain positive regardless of what happens in the short-term.

If you haven’t done so yet, make the time to read the VSBA Blog post on ‘selling to the federal gov’t’ in the below post @

http://8vsb.wordpress.com/2011/11/30/for-new-and-old-heads-the-absolute-truth-about-selling-to-the-federal-government/.

Finally, follow the money.

Right now, we are poised for a significant uptick in OCONUS contract activity for 2012 – but you need to get your intelligence and logistic houses in order ASAP to take advantage. This is not a time for panic or allowing the pressure of uncertainty to overwhelm you; this is a time to demonstrate your executive acumen and stability for your peers and subordinates that are watching and taking ques from you… because they are watching.

But lets clear the air here: to those of you who fit the bill, let me restate for formal clarity; I will only invest in those firms that want to help themselves – I neither serve up nor entertain ‘pity parties‘ or ‘excuse gatherings‘. If that is what you’re looking for – call someone else. I don’t suffer the weak lightly.

 - Rudy Sutherland, Founder

The Voice of Small Business in America

For New and ‘Old’ Heads: The Absolute Truth about Selling to the Federal Government

“Whether you are new to federal procurement, a ‘head-banger, or one of the lucky; you must be prepared to commit significant resources (Time + Money) to your firms’ sales program and also be prepared to wait at least one year for your first (or next) dollar of federal revenue. You are going to need a dedicated sales person and you can expect to spend between $80 to 250K for a guaranteed win. This is conservative, but a realistic management of expectations… If you’re not willing to (or can’t) make the investment, stay at home.”

OVERVIEW

While many of you are new to federal procurement, others have been banging their heads against the glass ceiling for years with no success. Still others of you lucked up and got a contract or two; but since you didn’t have a strategy in the 1^st place, you’re finding it hard to replicate past successes. To compound matters; current government austerity measures will insure that competition for ever fewer contracts will increase while margins for those who do win will become smaller and smaller.

This is the ‘New Normal’ for the foreseeable future. We can help: www.aljucar.com

NO WAY AROUND ‘DIRECT SALES’

So, given these facts, let’s get a couple of thing straight right now; selling to the federal government is ‘white-collar’ warfare. If you don’t already have a federal contract, you are an ‘outsider’. If you have a federal contract, but are not using the appropriate internal selling techniques; you are an ‘insider’ who is soon to be and outsider. Long-term investment is required to become (and remain) an insider.

There are a lot of firms that purport ‘Business Development’, ‘Advertising’, and ‘Marketing’ alone as the “Revenue Solution” to both the ‘Newbie’ and the Small Contractor with some experience under their belt. The truth is; the only way to make a federal sale is to contact a buyer through a ‘Direct Sales Call’ – period. Smalls that are unwilling to make the sales calls are not going to experience success in the market.

WHAT IT COSTS

Whether you are new to federal procurement, a ‘head-banger, or one of the lucky; you must be prepared to commit significant resources (Time + Money) to your firms’ sales program and also be prepared to wait at least one year for your first (or next) dollar of federal revenue. You are going to need a dedicated sales person and you can expect to spend between $80 to 250K for a guaranteed win. This is conservative, but a realistic management of expectations.

But you ask, “Why might it take this long and cost this much?” A: Because people buy in the federal market, not agencies.

Furthermore, getting through the door of an end user’s office (not a contracting officer) to establish relationships requires patience, persistence, and focus; and when you get there you must be prepared – you must be able to deduce what the problem is because nobody’s going to tell you. There is nothing sexy about making something out of nothing; you have to conduct research, make phone calls, and knock on doors; there is no way around it. The best contracting opportunities are the ones that are hidden. Ideally, an opportunity should be identified before anyone, including the customer, knows that an opportunity exists.

WHY SMALLS FAIL

The absence of experienced salespeople is the reason that so many Smalls fail in their quest to win government business. To play the game successfully you must study the FAR, figure out the unwritten strategies, get burned a few times, and win a few times. This takes time, money, and patience. If you’re not willing to (or can’t) make the investment, stay at home. The person you task with federal sales cannot dabble part-time in the endeavor and you develop a false expectation that results will magically materialize; it ain’t gonna happen.

Although there are many pitfalls for Smalls entering or continuing to grow in the federal arena, none is more costly or prevalent than the mistake of not adequately focusing on the relationship-building aspect of the sales process. Too many Smalls focus their energies on courting the contracting officer instead of getting to the person within the federal agency who will actually be using their product or service – the end user. Business goes to the vendors the end user trusts and this means putting in the effort to establish and maintain working relationships with targeted agencies; and this takes time. The salesperson’s goal is to establish a relationship, convince the end user there is a problem, and that your Small Business has the solution – its that simple.

THE KEY IS PRE-SELLING

You see, the key is pre-selling ‘BEFORE’ a bid comes out (which is encouraged in the FAR by the way); meeting with federal end users before a purchase is publicly announced.  Furthermore, you have to find out who buys what you sell, knock on their door, be prepared for rejection if you are unknown to the federal buyers, and then find a way to get around their resistance to newcomers. Why is this necessary? Because (contrary to what the SBA states) Full and open competition (even within the various small business programs) is not cost-effective and inherently lengthens the time required to make a purchase.

Beware though; end users are people trying to do their job. They are going to be more eager to meet with people who appear to understand their problems and may have solutions. They will figure out a way to avoid meeting with vendors who appear to be on a fishing expedition. A federal buyer’s entire career (promotions, salary, future opportunities) can depend on a contractor’s performance. Avoiding or minimizing risk is the primary reason that federal buyers favor incumbent contractors and large prime contractors – - it’s a “better the devil you know” kind of mentality.

INCUMBENCY IS THE HOLY GRAIL

Further to the point of incumbency; it is easier to break into fort Knox than to steal a contract from an embedded incumbent. In order to steal a contract from an incumbent, you would need ironclad agreements that key members of the incumbent’s staff, especially the project managers, will join them and work on the contract. You would also need to have a plan to retain all of the incumbent’s staff and a foolproof plan for replacements just in case a few decide to leave; and even this might still not be enough. The reality is that the federal buyer wants to get the deal that works best for him and his superiors. From a federal buyer’s perspective, a good deal is one in which risk is minimized.

So the question each Small should ask is whether it has been aggressively pre-selling the opportunity and has personally met with the customer. If the answer to this question is “no,” then don’t waste your time and money bidding on a contract that is open to the public. It isn’t, they’re most likely wired to an incumbent or a firm that ‘did’ pre-sell. Furthermore, don’t bid on a public procurement if you haven’t done significant advance research. A bidder must have all of the background information in order to understand the nuances of the deal. There is always a back story and the vendor which eventually wins the contract will have uncovered all of the intelligence well in advance of the posting of the bid.

THE CURRENCY OF A SMALL BUSINESS SPECIALISTS IS YOUR ATTENDANCE

Finally, direct sales are, to say the least, difficult when you do not have network contacts and established relationships. This is the single biggest deterrent to businesses entering the market. And, let’s put this baby to rest: government small business specialists or Congresspersons are usually not going to be able assist you. Members of Congress are not motivated to help a particular Small win a contract unless the exercise is directly connected to more votes or money – can you handle the truth?

Contrary to what they tell you, small business specialist advocating the use of small businesses and promote the use of small businesses as a policy; they are not motivated to help a particular Small win a contract. Regarding government-sponsored vendor conferences; although the buyers are there, end users don’t usually attend. You might make good contacts, but don’t count on it.

THE EX-GENERAL IS EXPENSIVE

Regarding the practice of federal employees moving to the private sector, or the “hire the exgeneral” syndrome; the practice is perfectly legal as long as the former federal employee does not work directly with their former agency for a period of one year. However, the downsides of using former federal employees to help win contracts are (i) it can be a much more expensive way to sell, and (ii) it is inherently difficult to measure whether or not the former federal employee really helped or is just blowing smoke about the strength of their federal relationships.

So in sum, Business goes to the Small that the end user trusts and this means putting in the effort to establish and maintain working relationships with targeted agencies. This can only be accomplished through “Direct Sales Calls”, there’s no magic bullet or shortcut that makes the endeavor easier. It takes ‘Imagination’, ‘Patience’, ‘Persistence’, and ‘Focus’. If you have these, and are willing to make the investment, we can help.

www.aljucar.com

DNB | Pimps, Preachers, and Prostitutes: How your small business info, with the help of FAR regulations, is being ‘Pimped’ by Dun and Bradstreet, and what you can do about it

[This is Part I of a 2 Part series. Part I covers the background, acquisition & illegal use of small business contractor information, and aggressive sales tactics used by DNB to peddle the same information. Part II will cover the steps VSBA plans to take to bring this illegal activity to light in order to remedy the situation for small businesses.]

PART I

We started this investigation several months ago when one of our members was basically sold a product upgrade by DNB using fear tactics. What we discovered was the equivalent of an old-fashioned ‘shake down’ with all the trimmings… According to Diane Trice, Contracting Officer for GSA Financial and Business Solutions (and confirmed by the GSA Program Manager), the “CCR is a government repository, and information contained within the database cannot be resold by a contractor.”

THE PREACHER: Federal Acquisitions Regulations (FAR)

In order to register your firm for government contracting, you must first obtain a Dun & Bradstreet D-U-N-S® Number:

•  - According to the FAR 4.11, prospective vendors must be registered in CCR prior to the award of a contract; basic agreement, basic ordering agreement, or blanket purchase agreement.
•  - According to FAR 52.204-7, to register in CCR, a firm must have a Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number. The DUNS Number is assigned by Dun & Bradstreet, Inc. (D&B, also [referred to as DNB]) to identify unique business entities.

This number is necessary in order to register your small business with the federal government’s Central Contractor Registration (CCR), the primary database of vendors doing business with the federal government. Federal Acquisitions Regulations (FAR) require all prospective vendors to be registered in the CCR prior to the award of a contract, basic agreement, basic ordering agreement, or blanket purchase agreement.

THE GAME

In order to register your small business with DNB, you must provide the following information at a minimum:

• (i) Company legal business name.
• (ii) Tradestyle, doing business, or other name by which your entity is commonly recognized.
• (iii) Company physical street address, city, state and Zip Code.
• (iv) Company mailing address, city, state and Zip Code (if separate from physical).
• (v) Company telephone number.
• (vi) Date the company was started.
• (vii) Number of employees at your location.
• (viii) Chief executive officer/key manager.
• (ix) Line of business (industry).
• (x) Company Headquarters name and address (reporting relationship within your entity).

After providing this information to DNB, and waiting 24-48 hours, prospective contractors receive a DUNS number. This number is necessary for firms to become registered in the CCR because the name and address information that they input into CCR is automatically matched against the information input into the DNB database in order to complete a profile; if the information does NOT match, the contractor can go no farther in the registration process until it is corrected.

PIMPIN’ AINT EASY: THE RUB…

It is important to note the order of operations here: you most likely did not engage DNB, and subsequently provide it with “validated” company information, because you wanted (willfully) to purchase any of DNBs’ products or services. Rather, it was mandated by the FAR as a pre-cursor to your doing business with the federal government that you provide your company information to the form as a “step” in the process of registering your company in CCR.

Thus, in this case; DNB did not obtain “your” company information through any proprietary method or means, as stated on its website; rather, the firm obtained your company’s info while acting as a “contractor” and “proxy” to the CCR registration process. Had the firm obtained your company information by you coming to the firm directly to engage its products and services, and presumably authorized the firm to subsequently your company’s information, well that would be a different story altogether – but, that is not the case here.

Moreover, since you provided the information as a “step” in the process of registering your company in CCR, you should presumably be able to delete the information form DNB’s databases should you decide to delete it from CCR. However, this is not the case.

When we engaged DNB regarding the information obtained on firms via CCR registration, and its’ subsequent sale of the same; we were told by the company that the it considers that information (your company data) to be their asset to do with what they will. According to Duane Deitrich, Project Director-National Customer Relations, Customer Experience Delivery, DNB:

“D&B collects information on businesses in order to provide insight to our customers who are making commercial decisions, including (but not limited to) risk management and supply management related decisions.  Our objective is to provide fair and accurate information.  The subject business, through its principals, is often the best source of information, which is why our investigation starts with them.  If the business is unable to, or chooses not to, provide D&B with information our research continues with a search of public records and other knowledgeable authorities.”

When pressed on the fact that, in the case of CCR registration, DNB does not generally have a company profile (or any other information in its database) on contractors in the above scenario and might not have obtained such accurate details on the firm without expending money and resources to obtain it; – but, rather, DNB in fact obtained this information at no cost to the company BECAUSE of the procedural mandate of Federal Acquisition Regulations.; – and that, by virtue of this order of operations, DNB has in effect created a ‘marketing-feeder-system’ relationship between it and the federal government due to the role it plays in the registration process; we posed the following query:

Q: “Shouldn’t there be a ‘segregation of information’, and rules applied, by DNB within its databases based upon how the information was acquired?”

To this simple question, we were advised by Mr. Deitrich on Nov. 21, 2011, “I am forwarding your question to our Legal team for their response”. We are awaiting response from DNB legal.

UNWILLING PROSTITUTE: THE SCAM

Here’s how DNB holds your small business information hostage once you input it into its database for the purpose of CCR registration. Once you input your information into DNBs’ database, you are given the option to not receive any marketing calls from the company. However, even if you elect not to, DNB has a way around your election. Shortly after creating your profile, you will receive a call from DNB stating that some ‘mysterious’ firm (conveniently) has made an inquiry about your credit rating. However, because your profile is incomplete, they cannot accommodate the request.

How do you complete your credit profile you ask?  It’s simple; you have to purchase one of Dun and Bradstreet’s ‘Credit Builder’ packages. Now, if you don’t purchase one of these packages, your profile will perpetually be incomplete causing an enormity of problems for firms in Construction and other professions that require the purchase of various products and equipment on credit – but who were able to use references alone prior to setting up the DNB profile.

These packages come in three distinct flavors:

• -      The $299 per/yr package – this package ‘activates’ your profile and allows you the ability to merely change and update “your” company information without the need to call on their sales personnel. (That’s right, once your small business information is in the DNB database, it is now used as a tickler-file for their sales reps to upsell you on products that you didn’t KNOW you needed in the 1^st place).
• -      The $599 per/yr package – this is the package that DNB starts out trying to sell you (their money-maker). It includes the $299 per/yr package and also allows you to enter up to 5 companies that you have done business with to build your firms’ credit.
• -      The $799 per/yr package – this package includes the $599 per/yr package and also allows you to enter an unlimited number of companies that you have done business with to build your firms credit.

So basically, the DNB, using the federal government as a ‘lead-generator’ of sorts acquires your company info at no cost and then translates that info into annuitized revenue. But wait, it gets better…

The information gathered by DNB is a ‘starter’ file for the profile data maintained and access sold by its subsidiary, Hoovers. You see, as a small business, you are a non-public entity and as such, detailed (or researchable) information is very difficult to acquire – unless the federal government mandates that you provided access to it, that is.

Once your DNB profile is created, it is now also available via one of the following subscriptions:

• -      Hoover’s Premium Select Major Markets and FT – $9,995 per year for one to five seats
• -      Hoover’s Premium Select – $7,995 per year for one to five seats
• -      Hoover’s Plus FT – $7,995 per year for one to five seats
• -      Hoover’s Plus – $5,995 per year for one to five seats
• -      Hoover’s Pro – $2,995 per year for one to five seats

And guess what, according to DNB; you don’t even own your company data once you input into their database – they do. If you decide that you no longer want your information to be available for sale in any of its databases, tuff luck – your information is now a leverage-able asset on the Balance Sheet of DNB.

So again we ask, “Shouldn’t there be a ‘segregation of information’, and rules applied, by DNB within its databases based upon how the information was acquired?”

We will discuss the Open Ratings monopoly, next steps, provide links to downloads, and what you can do about it in Part II…

 About DNB:

The Dun & Bradstreet Corporation: The company, known as DNB (D&B), is one of the world’s leading suppliers of business information, services, and research. Its database contains information on more than 200 million companies in over 200 countries, including the largest volume of business-credit information in the world. The company’s risk management segment (the largest segment, accounting for more than half of D&B’s revenues) sells that information and integrates it into software products and Web-based applications. D&B also offers marketing information and purchasing-support services. The company acquired Hoover’s, the publisher of this profile, in 2003.

About Hoover’s:

Hoover’s offers proprietary business information through the Internet (Hoover’s Online) and through integration with clients’ existing enterprise infrastructure (Hoover’s API). Its database of information includes about 65 million corporations and other entities and 85 million people, and its First Research product covers some 900 industries. Most revenues come from selling subscriptions to a target audience of marketing, sales, and business development professionals. Hoover’s also offers mobile apps (Hoover’s Connect+) and publishes a business blog (Bizmology). It is a subsidiary of Dun & Bradstreet (DNB).

About Open Ratings:

Open Ratings, Inc. provides supply risk management services to companies. Its solutions include supply management solutions, predictive alerts, collaborative research workspace, supplier assessments, and supply base score carding. The company’s services include consulting, monitoring and analysis, reports, training, past performance evaluation, and support services. It serves healthcare, aerospace, automotive, food, and industrial equipment manufacturing markets. The company was formerly known as FairNetworks, Inc. Open Ratings, Inc. was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts. Open Ratings, Inc. was a subsidiary of Dun & Bradstreet Corp. It was merged with Dun & Bradstreet, Inc. , a subsidiary of Dun & Bradstreet Corp.

D&B’s most recent GSA Contract expired April 25, 2011

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION SOURCES FOR THIS REPORT

• Sandy Cretsinger
• Central Contractor Registration
• Technical Services Group
• 269-961-4476 phone
• 269-961-7722 fax
• sandra.cretsinger.ctr@bpn.gov
• http://www.bpn.gov

#

• Katherine Rollins
• Contract Specialist
• General Services Administration
• Center for Innovative Acquisition Development (QSAB)
• 2200 Crystal Drive, Suite 706
• Arlington, VA 22202
• (703) 605-2109

‘Roll Tide’ – VSBA invited to view Iron Bowl rivalry

I want to thank the State of Alabama Small Business contingency for hosting me during the Iron Bowl rivalry w/Auburn – I am now a full fledged ‘Good ol’ boy’ (my Mother is rolling in her grave) and an avid University of Alabama fan; I have a new found respect for the small business community of Alabama – what warm hospitality; “Roll Tide”!

P.S. I’m still wearing your colors!!

http://www.al.com/ironbowl/

We’re No. 1!

The Voice of Small Business in America (VSBA)® Discussion Group

We’re the No. 1 discussion & information group for Small Business Government Contractors on LinkedIn, join our 5,900 Small Business membership in the Washington DC Metro Area and around the country and see if it’s right for you and your firm.

Link: http://linkd.in/OneVoice

 One Voice…

Dunn & Bradstreet illegally profiting from Central Contractor Registration (CCR) profile data

VSBA update on our Dunn & Bradstreet (DNB) Probe:

Via extensive research via Central Contractor Registration (CCR), Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), and General Services Administration (GSA), VSBA has confirmed the following:

Dunn & Bradstreet has allegedly been selling, via Hoovers and other information outlets; prospective contractor information obtained via the CCR requirement to submit company data to obtain a DUNN No. – in violation of Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) and other federal laws. We will be publishing the entire story on the VSBA Blog along with details, including the referenced regulations and DNB contract, after the Thanksgiving holidays.

- The Voice of Small Business in America, One Voice…