Georgia Tech Procurement Assistance Center

GSA needs vendor volunteers to test FedBizOpps API

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As the General Services Administration continues to build out the next iteration of a federal contractor web portal, the agency is looking for volunteers to test new functionalities incorporating contracting information from the Federal Business Opportunities site.

The Integrated Award Environment—the office charged with developing technological solutions and systems for contracting, grants and loans—put out a call for volunteers to test the new application program interface, or API. The API integrates FedBizOpps data with the beta version of the System for Award Management site, SAM.gov.

With an API, users can get automatic updates on new FedBizOpps posts, such as new contracting opportunities, updates to existing solicitations and requests for information.

“APIs allow computers to exchange pre-formatted data so that human intervention is not required,” according to the call for volunteers. “The API provides public opportunities—FBO—data in a format that is easy for other systems/applications to ingest.”

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/it-modernization/2018/05/gsa-needs-vendor-volunteers-test-fedbizopps-api/148136/

The image above shows the integration of the 10 existing federal award systems that are managed by GSA’s Integrated Award Environment. Once integrated, all 10 systems will be categorized by their main feature (such as contract opportunities, registration, and wage determinations) into a centralized website called beta.SAM.gov – which, once tested, will become the new SAM.gov.

 

Government may slip a sole-source award past an unaware contractor

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Contractors would be wise to keep a close watch on FedBizOpps.gov, otherwise they run the risk missing the chance to protest a sole source award.

When an agency decides to make an award without competition, it often must publish a Justification and Approval (referred to simply as a “J&A”) on FedBizOpps explaining why a competition would not meet the agency’s needs. A potential competitor seeking to protest such an award at the GAO must file the protest before 10 days have passed from publication of the J&A, otherwise the protest may be untimely. A competitor that is not paying attention could be out of luck.

GAO dismissed a protest of a sole source award earlier this month where the protestor missed the cutoff by just one day. The protest, Western Star Hospital Authority, Inc., B-414198.2 (June 7, 2017) involved an Army procurement for ambulance services for the U.S. Army at Fort Dix, New Jersey.

The work was originally competed, and Western Star Hospital Authority, Inc. submitted a proposal. The Army rejected Western Star’s proposal, saying that Western Star had not proposed pricing for all CLINs, as required by the solicitation.

Keep reading this article at: http://smallgovcon.com/gaobidprotests/eagle-eye-government-may-slip-a-sole-source-award-past-an-unaware-contractor/

Small businesses should respond to ‘sources sought’ and RFIs

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The Georgia Tech Procurement Assistance Center (GTPAC) reminds our clients — and especially small businesses — that it’s very important for you to respond to what are known as “Sources Sought” and “Requests for Information” published by federal agencies periodically in FedBizOpps.

FBO

When an agency issues a Sources Sought or an RFI, they are trying to identify sources that can fulfill their buying needs and determine whether there is potential for a small business set-aside and obtain other marketplace information for acquisition planning purposes. 

“Some vendors may not take the time to respond to a Sources Sought/RFI.  Instead, they may focus their efforts on preparation for a bid when the solicitation comes out,” explains Sherry Savage, Program Manager for the Defense Logistics Agency’s Procurement Technical Assistance Program.  “For the vendor, however, the Sources Sought/RFI is their chance to influence the acquisition strategy.  If capable companies do not respond, the opportunity for a set-aside may be lost.”

Sources Sought and RFIs can be found using the “Advanced Search” function in FedBizOpps.  More than 6,400 of this type of procurement opportunity were published in calendar year 2016.

When responding to a Sources Sought or an RFI, it’s important to pay attention to the detail specified as needed by the federal agency.  “Provide thoughtful input — don’t just send a capabilities statement,” advises Ms. Savage.  “The vendor should put together a personalized package that concisely answers the questions asked in the Sources Sought/RFI.”

If you have questions regarding a particular Sources Sought or RFI, you should contact the government agency’s point of contact (POC) provided in the notice.

And, of course, for assistance with or advice about responding to a particular Sources Sought or RFI, feel free to contact your nearest GTPAC procurement counselor found here: http://gtpac.org/team-directory.  (Outside the State of Georgia?  Find a PTAC located near you here: http://www.aptac-us.org/find-a-ptac)

For more details about how to respond to a Sources Sought or an RFI, please consult our earlier article on this subject at: http://gtpac.org/2010/09/what-is-a-sources-sought-heres-the-answer

FedBizOpps: Should it get more respect?

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Guy TimberlakeMarketing is a valuable tool that can do wonders to help an organization achieve its goals. For companies focused on selling goods and services to government agencies and other government contractors, creating targeted and robust awareness of why they matter and how they can help are critical.

There are times, however, when marketing is not a friend to government contractors.

One of those times is when a company has achieved the “holy grail” of opportunity development: being in front of the opportunity and having connected the dots of information and relationships with the budget, need and authority dots. What would cause a company to consider marketing an adversarial activity in that situation? When the agency determines a need to “market” the opportunity to seek interest from other potential vendors.

Let’s face it, if you’ve spent time and money developing the opportunity to include influencing the solution, pricing and acquisition strategy, you are not going to be a fan of letting others try and take a bite of that apple, right?

FedBizOpps

Keep reading this article at: http://publicspendforum.net/fedbizopps-respect/

‘Sources Sought’ notices are on the rise

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The number of federal agency Sources Sought Notices for small businesses appears to have increased dramatically in recent years.

Sources Sought notices for small businesses referenced on the Federal Business Opportunities website FBO.gov rose to 2,610 in fiscal 2014, more than quadruple the 565 counted in fiscal 2004, according to an analysis by Set-Aside Alert.

FBO

That is good news for small business owners, because they are often advised to search for, and respond to, Sources Sought Notices that match their capabilities in order to get a foot in the door early in the process as opportunities are developing.

“We are seeing an explosion in Sources Sought Notices,” Gloria Larkin, government contracting consultant and president of TargetGov, said at a recent industry conference for small business federal contractors.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.setasidealertnews.com/leading-stories.html

For more information about “Sources Sought,” see: http://gtpac.org/2010/09/16/what-is-a-sources-sought-heres-the-answer/

FedBizOpps searches: Be thorough (or be out of luck)

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If one type of FedBizOpps search does not turn up a solicitation, try a different search – or run the risk of missing the solicitation.

That is the message to contractors from a recent GAO bid protest decision, in which an offeror was unable to discover a VA opportunity by searching the “Place of Performance” field on FedBizOpps.  As it turned out, the solicitation would have popped up if the offeror had tried other types of FedBizOpps searches, and the GAO held that it was the offeror’s responsibility to more thoroughly attempt to locate the solicitation.

In The Creative Mobility Group, LLC, B-410380.2 (Dec. 19, 2014), the VA issued a request for quotations for home medical equipment services for patients of Veterans Integrated Service Network 11 medical facilities in Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, and Illinois.  The VA posted the opportunity on the FedBizOpps website.

Keep reading this article at: http://smallgovcon.com/gaobidprotests/fedbizopps-searches-be-thorough-or-be-out-of-luck/

DHS seeks help of small businesses to develop security-related solutions

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The Homeland Security Department’s research and development arm recently released a pre-solicitation notice to small businesses regarding the potential development of innovative technologies from forensics to cybersecurity to wearable communications.

DHS logoThe Science and Technology Directorate released the joint pre-solicitation with the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office, or DNDO, which is also part of DHS, through its Small Business Innovation Research, or SBIR, program. It focuses on nine areas, including seven for S&T and two for DNDO.

The program began accepting proposals starting Dec. 18, according to FedBizOpps.

“While we want to stimulate innovation to meet the needs of the homeland security enterprise by having offerers submit proposals that concentrate on proving the scientific and technical feasibility of their ideas, they must consider the commercialization potential of their proposed effort,” Lisa Sobolewski, S&T’s SBIR program director, said in a statement.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.fiercehomelandsecurity.com/story/dhs-seeks-help-small-businesses-develop-security-related-solutions/2014-12-11

A new way to find federal contracting information

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When I started writing up a post about a new alternative to FedBizOpps — the intimidatingly clumsy government website for contracting notices — I actually got distracted by it.

The new site was created by GovTribe, a four-man team of former federal contractors that aims to make it easier to track “projects, competitors, agencies, contracting officers and much more.”

(These are the guys who brought us a popular but infuriating list of “annoying” Department of Homeland Security contracting officers and a ranking of agencies whose contract awards are most often protested.)

Keep reading this article at: http://www.nextgov.com/emerging-tech/emerging-tech-blog/2014/10/new-way-find-federal-contracting-information/96584

 

June 19 webinar demonstrates use of federal data to establish marketing strategies

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The SBA is hosting a webcast that will consist of a live demo of three primary federal market research tools to help identify potential contracting opportunities.

The webinar will demonstrate the Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS), FedBizOpps (FBO), and various publicly-available procurement forecasts published by federal agencies.

The one-hour webinar will be held on June 19 at 10:00 am EST.

To register, visit: http://events.sba.gov/EventManagement/EventRegistration.aspx?id=614fbe79-f5d1-e311-a143-02bfa56e2a24.

A call-in number and access code will be emailed to registrants prior to the scheduled webcast.

Why are so many Army and VA contracts protested?

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Companies have protested more Army contract awards in the last 18 months than any other Defense Department agency’s awards, and the Veterans Affairs Department tops the list as the most protested non-Defense agency, according to an analysis by the open data supporters at GovTribe.

The Government Accountability Office, meanwhile, is researching electronic docketing systems to simplify and organize  the process of protesting contract awards.

Between September 2012 and May 13, the Army posted more than 12,000 contract award notices on the Federal Business Opportunities website and received 891 protests. That’s a 7 percent protest rate, GovTribe said, noting that some awards are protested more than once and not all protests are public, so the statistic may be misleading.

Table by GovTribe, Inc.

VA had a 6 percent protest rate by the same measure, with more than 400 protests. The Homeland Security Department was the next protested non-Defense agency, with fewer than 250 protests. The analysis did not include a percentage rate for DHS, and GovTribe declined to provide one.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.nextgov.com/cio-briefing/2014/05/why-are-so-many-army-and-va-contracts-protested/84589

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