It is a sure sign of my impending madness when listening to the music of the R&B group Boyz II Men makes me think of the federal procurement process.  I know, it sounds pretty sick and twisted.  Maybe my mother did drop me on my head when I was a baby.  Maybe it is true that eating too many Twinkies during my misspent youth has warped my brain.  The guys in white coats with the “I love me” jacket are probably waiting outside my door.

I was listening to their “Legacy” CD when it hit me.  The majority of the CD deals with variations of the typical love song; “I love you,” “I can’t live without you,” “please come back to me.”  You get the idea.  I was about half-way through when I had my epiphany.  Those phrases are remarkably similar to the things the federal government says to small businesses.

We know they love us, because they tell us all the time.  And to show their devotion they pass legislation, write Executive Orders, establish an Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization in each agency.  They even came up with an agency of our very own.  I am of course talking about the Small Business Administration (SBA).  And they continually come up with new small business programs and small business set-asides.  The latest being the Service Disabled Veteran Owned Business (SDVOB).

We know they can’t live without us, because they always tell us how small businesses are the engine that drives our economy.  And to ensure they can make that claim, they have set Size Standards so that approximately 98% of all businesses are considered small businesses.  In certain industries, you can make up to 31 million dollars a year and others where you can have up to 1,000 employees and still be considered a small business.  In my own industry, Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services, we can make up to 23 million dollars annually and still keep our small business status.  I guess that number makes sense if you’re comparing us to IBM or Microsoft.

We know they want us to keep coming back, because they sponsor different events all over the country, pretty much year round.  If you were so inclined, you could literally spend all your time going from trainings, to conferences, to tradeshows, to matchmaking sessions, without ever achieving the goal of bringing in new business.

By now you’re wondering why a bunch of swell guys like us haven’t been inundated with contracts.  Me too! 

During my illustrious Naval career, I was fortunate (or unfortunate) enough to have done a tour as a Naval Recruiter.  One of the guys I worked with was without a doubt the most prepared Recruiter of all time.  He could quote obscure sections of the Recruiting manual.  He could recite the phone script in three languages.  His paperwork was flawless.  His appearance was such that he could have been used for a Recruiting Poster.  By now you’re probably wondering what the catch is.  He was afraid to talk to people, so all that preparation was for naught. 

I’m starting to feel a little like him.  I have enormous amounts of information at my fingertips.  I read the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) when I have trouble sleeping.  I am a proud member of West Sound Chapter of the National Contract Management Association (NCMA). I have various mentors standing by to help me get back up when I stumble.  And it is not beyond the realm of possibility that I could be the new poster boy for Weight Watchers.

I am of course talking about how well prepared I am to manage those elusive government contracts.  I have learned quite a bit in the last couple of years about how to properly manage contracts.  The problem is that I haven’t been able to put any of that knowledge to use. 

The reality is that we (the truly small business) get invited to the dance, but never end up with a dance partner, always a bridesmaid and never a bride.  What I mean is the government puts out multi-billion dollar contract vehicles, called Multiple Award Contracts (MAC), Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (ID/IQ) contracts, or Government-wide Acquisition Contracts (GWAC) that sometimes allow for hundreds of prime contractors.  My company has a MAC with a potential value of 72 billion dollars over a 14-year period.  Now here comes the fun part.  Being on the contract doesn’t guarantee you will get any of the allocated funds.  It only means that you can bid on the subsequent Task Orders.

Task Orders come in all shapes and sizes. Some are pretty broad based and encompass multiple functional areas and disciplines.  Here is an example taken directly from a solicitation: “The proposed contract will provide professional technical, engineering and business services to…  The major supported components of this program will include: Range Operations, Test System Development, Configuration Management and Documentation, Environmental Test Support, System Test Data Analysis, Trusted Agent Support, Software Development, Fleet Test Support, Administrative Office Services and Logistics Supply Support.”

Another example of a Task Order is one that calls for very specific skill sets, experience, or some proprietary piece of hardware/software.  I’m not talking about building a new Space Shuttle, or writing new algorithms for the National Security Agency.  I’m referring to things like Planning & Programming, IT/Admin Support contracts.  And my all time favorite is when they combine the need for specific skill sets and experience with a three day window for submitting your proposal.

Neither of those situations is conducive to encouraging the truly small business to participate in the procurement process.  The first one is just too big.  The incumbent contractors on that particular Task Order can both be found on the Fortune Global 500 Index.  Pretty hard for the truly small business to compete against that.  The last example isn’t any better.  Part of deciding which Request for Proposal (RFP)  to respond to deals with whether you believe you can do the job, whether you want to do the job, and if you have or can acquire the needed personnel and material resources.  Even if the first two answers are yes, it would be hard to come up with the needed resources in less than three days.  Obviously this type of RFP favors the incumbent or in the case of a new contract, someone who is known to the contracting office.

Another brick wall the truly small business will run into is the Past Performance requirements.  Of course if you have as much federal Past Performance as they want, chances are you are no longer a truly small business and don’t really need as much assistance.  Or if you start up a new company nothing you’ve done before seems to matter.  One of my fellow SDVOBs worked for a major Telecom company for over 20 years managing their federal contracts.  When he struck out on his own, he contacted the same Contracting Officers he had done business with before and he ran into the aforementioned brick wall.  Maybe they thought that his old company did a little brain surgery and erased the 20 years of knowledge.  Or maybe, being the silver tongued devil that I am (I did receive a Certificate for Persuasive Communications from the Naval Recruiting school), I lure away the top executives from Microsoft and Boeing.  It won’t matter because they didn’t do it for my company.  Only once have I seen a solicitation that allows you to use the experience of your key personnel, even if that experience was gained prior to joining your team.  Thank you Dept. of Labor!

So what’s the solution?  I wish I had the perfect answer, but this problem, like all the others that involve interactions between people, there is no single “one size fits all” answer. 

Recently the Army put out a solicitation for research into why the Dept. of Defense is having so much trouble making their 3% SDVOB goal.  I can tell them right now.  There is no incentive for the Contracting Officers to deviate from business as usual. And more importantly (at least to me) there are no consequences for not complying.  There it is.  Short and sweet.  I wonder if they’ll pay me for my pearls of wisdom?  If you’re reading this, Mr./Ms Contracting Officer, the proper spelling for the check is phunghi, inc.  Direct deposit will work also.

I could be wrong, but I don’t think all those pieces of legislation and Executive Orders were meant to provide assistance to a company grossing 10 – 15 million dollars annually.  So to help the truly small business, the one struggling to make their first million, there will have to be a cultural shift in the federal procurement world.  Unfortunately these things take time.  But they don’t have to take forever.  In fact they happen a lot faster when there are dedicated people pushing things along.  Every contract that is awarded to a truly small business makes it easier for the next company that comes along.  Pretty soon it becomes habit forming and then, before you know it, everyone is doing it.

We the people just need to keep the heat on to make sure this issue doesn’t fall through the cracks like so many other things.  Talk to the people that you elected to run the country for you.  Talk to the Small Business Advocates in each agency (here is a link to their contact info Directors of Small & Disadvantaged Business Utilization Offices).  Talk to the Contracting Officers and let them know you are ready, willing, and able to perform.  And after you’ve done all that, do it again.  Do it as many times as it takes.

And for me, as an added bonus, I’d like for my Boyz II Men CD to once again remind me of romantic interludes with my wife.