Our friends at GovFresh.com brought to our attention the availability of a series of video that the Department of Justice has produced that explains what FOIA is and how to make FOIA requests.

Continuing with our discussion of the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 8(a) Business Development Program, recent rule changes have affected the program and its offerings.  The SBA recently published a final ruling, scheduled to take affect on March 14, 2011, that will strengthen the 8(a) Program by preventing waste, fraud and abuse.  In sum, the Final Ruling should better ensure the benefits of the program properly flow to the intended recipients.

Small Business Marketing Ideas

Government marketing involves many things, and meeting face to face with agency personnel is always a good idea. Federal agencies often sponsor and participate in events that enable them to meet with small busiensses and prime contractors.  Various agency OSDBU's (i.e., small business offices) have already planned to attend several evnts in 2011. 

Finding Federal Business Opportunities or Creating FedBizOpps: Which works Best?

The vast majority of articles in magazines and on the web provide tips on how to set up your business to receive federal contracts and how to search for opportunities. Most provide advice about where to search agency web sites for procurement plans and forecasts, how to use FedBizOpps to locate current opportunities, or, if you are a GSA Contractor, using eBuy to find still more opportunities not available on FedBizOpps (see the eGuide link below for a guide containing this information).  But in searching all of these databases, are you missing out on the greatest opportunity of all; the opportunity to create your own opportunities with Federal agencies?

Contractor teaming agreements allow two or more GSA contractors to get together to respond to an RFP/RFQ that they might not be able to respond to going it alone due to a lack of specific capabilities or adequate resources. And a team of small businesses can band together to compete effectively against much larger firms.  Agencies benefit because such a team can provide them with a total solution and they can enjoy far higher achievements against small business contracting requirements.