Learn how to do business with government

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Procurement Technical Assistance Centers help small businesses with all phases of Government contracting.
Emery County Commissioner Ethan Migliori reported he recently attended a seminar in Price put on by the Governors Office of Economic Development. The title of the seminar was Utah Procurement Technical Assistance or PTAC for small businesses. This organization was set up to help small businesses with all phases of government contracting with federal, state and local governments.
Commissioner Migliori indicated that PTAC could help businesses in Carbon and Emery counties expand their horizons by pointing out opportunities. It has been said the government can be an excellent customer because they often purchase large quantities and pay their bills on time.
There are seven PTAC centers around the state of Utah for the purpose of helping small businesses sell their products or services to the federal or state Governments. At the PTAC centers a small business owner can obtain assistance in navigating through the processes of learning what various government agencies want to purchase. The small business owner may also receive one on one counseling and group instruction that will help the business owner find out what opportunities exist for his business. For a small business government purchases can become another source of revenue. A small business can at a PTAC center learn how to apply to become a government subcontractor supplying a service or product. To learn about opportunities to do business with the government examine the web site www.fedbizopps.gov.
The local Procurement Technical Assistance Center counselor can provide the business contract assistance and training. The counselor may assist the small business obtain several documents that will be required to do business with a government agency. Without these documents the government will not respond to your request to bid on their needed products or services.
PTAC Procurement counselors provide individual counseling on all aspects of government contracting, including assistance in the initial stage of how to find the right match, or how to market to the government, and how to request and prepare solicitation documents.
PTAC offices use a computerized Bid Match program, which compares your company’s products and/or services with industrial NAICS codes and the things the agencies within the government want to purchase. This is similar to other large corporations purchasing departments deciding which business can supply the needed products and/or services.
If you want to do business with the government you must get your business or company registered in the federal government’s Central Contractor Registration (CCR) list. The CCR is the major primary databases of businesses, which could work together with the federal government, which is an important key to optimizing the government’s procurement approach. www.CCR.gov is the web site you need to visit to start the registration process. An important document needed by a small business is their DUNS Number. To get a DUNS number the business owner will need to have their EIN number or Employer Identification Number and Incorporation documents. For new companies a Standard Industrial Classification or SIC code is needed to classify a business by size and industry. DUNS uses the SIC code and is part of the North American Industry Classification System or NAICS. There usually is a primary code and one or two secondary codes for each industry. More information can be found at www.fedgov.dnb.gov and at http://www.census.gov/eos/www.naics.
The NAICS code is used in the SAM.Gov registration to direct contracts and searches in the Small Business Administrations SBA’s search program The SAM.Gov registration is the System Awards Management of Government awards.
The small business owner will need in addition to their DUNS Number, a Bank Account Number with the Routing Number, their EIN Number and NAICS Codes.
At a PTAC center the registration process takes about one hour. Once the registration is completed the Federal Government reviews the business records and assigns a CAGE Code. This code is a confirmation of registration and is also a unique identifier of each company. CAGE is the Commercial and Government Entity Code system.
Before making an appointment with a PTAC Center obtain as much of the above mentioned codes and numbers as you can. This will facilitate and more efficiently identify contracting opportunities for you. If you do not have the codes and numbers the PTAC Center can assist you. To learn what opportunities may be of interest to your business go to fedbizopps.gov on the Internet.
The Association of Procurement Technical Assistance Centers has a great publication titled Braddock’s The Winning Edge 2014 edition and sub titled How Government Buyers Select a Small Business Supplier. Parts of this helpful publication can be downloaded for free from www.aptac-us.org/braddocks-winning-edge-supplier-guide. This publication The Winning Edge also includes a very helpful section titled “Selling to Large Corporations.
For you to sell to the Federal Government, the State Government or large Corporations research is necessary to learn about the mission of the organization or agency and ask yourself do you have a product or service that can assist in fulfilling that mission.