Dr. Joseph Grant – Dr. Grant is employed with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in Space Technology Mission Directorate. He currently serves as the Deputy Program Executive in the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR)/Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs. Dr. Grant has worked with NASA for the last 28 years and has held various positions in the field of Optics and Photonics research before going to NASA headquarters to work with the SBIR program. Dr. Grant has more than 15 years research and development experience in the area of Optics and Photonics. Dr Grant earned his PhD from Alabama A&M University in Applied Physics.
In today’s interview we go beyond the SBIR/STTR program rules and requirements. We discuss the do’s, don’ts, mistakes and habits of successful SBIR winners.
Dr. Grant and I talk about the vast opportunity for small businesses & universities to fund high risk projects and perform important research utilizing these vehicles. During his tenure at NASA Dr. Grant spent many years attempting to recruit minority participation into these programs a storywhich he shares and the formation of the NASA roadshow.
It’s 2020. We are lucky to live in time where there are a number of jobs and fields you can go into without formal education or training.
Do you need these in order to succeed in government contracts? Our answer is no. Relationships, motivation and hard work are the key ingredients.
Why don’t you need a formal education? Relationships and the internet my friends. The internet is full of free information. Most of which, isn’t being used to its full potential. This information is what you need in order to do your market research. Find out who is buying what you’re selling, and you are off to a great start.
STARTING OUT WITHOUT FORMAL EDUCATION OR TRAINING
When you begin in this field, you most likely will not have all that a government contract requires. That’s okay. You don’t need to.
What you can do, is look at the part that you can accomplish and target the person who won the award and try to help them with the contract. That way, you can build your experience and make some money too.
Also, you don’t necessarily have to specialize in anything specific in order to do well. This means, you don’t really need any special certifications or degrees. We actually encourage you not to specialize in anything.
Why?
The government purchases a variety of things. You want to be able to meet the demands of those various things in order to really make money. We believe the best way to do federal contracting is to subcontract others who specialize in the arena you are looking for and hire them out to do the work. If you specialize in one area, you cut yourself the opportunity to access the other parts and fully serve the governments needs. In order to make money effectively, you’ve got to serve their needs.
Whatever the government wants, you supply it. Unlike local and state contracting, to your benefit, the federal government looks for teams to accomplish tasks, not persons. They support joint ventures and partnerships, which allows you to work with others to pursue a particular opportunity— even if it’s beyond your scope and ability. If you build a team or become a part of the team, then you can get the job done without education or formal training.
WHAT ABOUT DISCRIMINATION?
Government contracting is one of the places where your age, sex, gender, race and/or nationality does not play a role.
When you bid on a contract and are submitting your proposal, you are behind a computer screen. You are not face-to-face with anyone and you are not asked these questions. Therefore, you are selected based on what you can demonstrate, your work-ethic, experience, your reliability, your knowledge and your ability to get the job done. Whether that is working as the prime contractor or working as a subcontractor, you can score government contracts without racial or gender biases.
At the end of it all, it doesn’t matter where you come from, what your educational background looks like or what you look like. Scoring government contracts is in your reach if you want it to be.
Today’s guest, Senen Garcia speaks along the lines of small business startups. He shares some of the pitfalls and cautionary tales that he has experienced in working with them. Mr. Garcia reveals the truth about small business failures and talks about the struggles that firms experience during their growth phases not just during the launch as most people suspect. Mr. Garcia is a Certified SCORE Counselor and was the Chair of SCORE Miami Chapter. As an experienced attorney based in Miami, Mr. Garcia has gained valuable knowledge in corporate law, real estate, property insurance, & estate planning matters representing clients as a Senior Partner for more than ten years at SG Law Group. In addition to his work at SG Law Group, Mr. Garcia has also contributed his time to many organizations.
“If nature or anything were perfect, it wouldn’t be evolving.” – Ray Dalio.
Are you evolving on your journey in entrepreneurship or are you allowing the difficulties to crush you?
Evolution can be a personal topic. However, the bottom line is we are all constantly evolving. Evolution is naturally occurring. Nature evolves, we evolve, and hopefully you are evolving in your daily life. In other words, learning and growing. Adapting to the curve balls life throws your way.
As you evolve, you must intentionally choose and learn how to use the difficulties in life to propel and teach you instead of crush you.
“The key is to fail, learn and improve quickly. If you’re constantly learning and improving, your evolutionary process will be ascending. To do it poorly will be descending.” – Ray Dalio.
This is something we should all be reflecting on daily. How to evolve and adapt just as nature does. Learning, growing, analyzing, refocusing and restructuring, in order to turn things around in our lives. If you are an entrepreneur and/or will be working in federal contracting, this is key to the foundation of your business and your well-being.
Things can be great and go amazingly, but they can also go very wrong. Unless you are mentally prepared or aware of how to handle these ups and downs, your journey in this process will be harder than it needs to be.
“Success is not a monetary thing. It’s you doing the best you can with what you have.”- Eric Coffie
In the following video, Founder of GOVCON GIANTS, Eric Coffie, humbly encourages you in the process of entrepreneurship and succeeding in life. As well as, in the process of federal contracting and being fiscally responsible. Expanding and reflecting on Ray Dalio’s book, “Principles,” Coffie explains real-life examples you can relate to and connect with.
“There’s no avoiding pain. Especially if you’re going after ambitious goals. The challenges you face will strengthen you. If you’re not failing, you’re not pushing your limits. If you’re not pushing your limits, you’re not maximizing your potential. Most things in life just are that, they’re just things. The higher you ascend, the more effective you become at working with reality to shape your outcomes towards your goals. What at one point seemed impossible, complex, it then becomes simple.” – Eric Coffie
We’ve all had them. The random phone numbers calling your phone leaving a convincing voicemail, the emails or letters stating they would change your lives. Some are clearly identifiable as scams. But what about the “government registration companies” that aren’t so easy to decipher as legitamate?
Before you decide to write them a check or send some money over, we have some advice. We are going to provide you some tips on how to evaluate government registration companies and see if they are legit.
Why would you need to know the difference?
Well, although your DUNS, CageCODE, SAM, DSBS and FBO are all free, there may be times you are in need of assistance. Maybe you’re afraid to make a mistake. Maybe you have more money than time or you just want to let someone else be responsible. These all might be legitimate reasons to find outside help. Either way, you should have minimum standards to evaluate the companies approaching you.
Do NOT Use A Company If Any Of The Following Occurs:
Their website mentions CCR or ORCA
Unless, they’re refencing old legal systems, steer clear of doing business with them.
They are charging you to register for a “Top 100” list or some sort of publication that they claim will be in front of government agencies
They state you or your firm was nominated for an award
If anyone calls you on the phone to solicit you
You receive a random email, text, or any other form of unrequested solicitation that doesn’t come from legitimate companies
They promise they can get you a loan and/or pre-qualify you for small business funding but require upfront payment
Reputable companies do not use auto dialers, call unsolicited wanting money, use tiny font disclaimers or send fax spam!
Be cautious and knowledgeable about the differences and do your homework before hiring a government consultant or working with government registration companies. You work hard for your money and your information is valuable. Don’t just give it away.
While there are opportunities in DBE, MBE, and Federal Contracts, one may have questions as to which route is best to take. By diving into and comparing the three, we will see which one is ultimately the best choice for small businesses.
Program Funding
MBE supports local and municipalities. This means the local city would be the one providing the funds. The bad part is, they occasionally have issues with paying people. We’re not talking about a week or two weeks late, but a month or two months plus! The DBE is not as likely to have these issues but if the market crashes (which it has), this affects how they are able to pay the contractors. Federal contracts on the other hand, are backed by funding. You will not get a contract by the federal government unless the funding is already there.
No pay, maybe pay, guaranteed pay? I don’t think there’s another question to ask.
Winner: Federal Contracts
Prime Mindset
As a small business, you will most likely be working as a sub-contractor with a prime. At the local level with MBE, you are not really protected. Why? They do not blacklist or remove primes who treat others poorly, unfairly or fail to pay others. This is both careless and reckless, as they do not govern how they should operate and treat businesses, especially small businesses. At the DBE level, they are more mindful. Working with larger firms, they are more conscious, but they can still avoid paying you. At the federal level, they do not want to lose money. These are their bread and butter contracts. Therefore, they will not jeopardize this by not having people paid. If the prime doesn’t pay their subcontractor, they will be marked negatively.
Winner: Federal Contracts
Company Size
At the state and local level, goals are about 5 million or less. In the federal arena, at 10k employees or $33.5 million, you’re considered a small business. That’s almost a ten-fold potential for your company to grow into before you reach the mid or large size business brackets!
Winner: Federal Contracts
Teams
Teams are integral in business. Most businesses start off small with 1 or 2 people doing the work. Meaning a few companies will have to work together to accomplish a task. At the local level, they do not support teams. When two companies attempt to work together, they call it “co-collusion.” You will actually have to sign to say you while not be working with others to complete the tasks! The DBE doesn’t support teams either. They aren’t so up front about it, but they expect you and your employees to complete the task. Where with the federal government, working together or with your competition is the norm. The most important part for them is getting the task done, regardless of the number of companies needed to join together to make it happen.
Teamwork makes the dreamwork?
Winner: Federal Contracts
Contract Rules
Both MBE and DBE’s rules vary and differ from county-to-county or state-to-state. On the other hand, the federal government entails the entire US, meaning they use the same set of rules, the FAR or DFARS. No matter where you go, you follow the same rules.
Winner: Federal Contracts
Source Selection
The MBE and DBE go with the low bidder, even if they know the contractor cannot perform because that is their policy. The federal government is a little bit smarter and tends to learn from both theirs and other’s mistakes. Instead, they go with the lowest responsive bidder. Taking this route means they can throw out the bids that are deemed “non-responsive” and go with the next lowest bidder. They will continue this process if necessary until they find the someone that can complete the job. If they can’t, they throw away the entire job and start over. Quality matters.
Winner: Federal Contracts
Growth Potential
Here we will dive into the DBE, MBE, and Federal Contracts growth potential. The MBE and the DBE allows you up to your set goal. For example, if you say 5 million, then you’re capped at 5 million. Whereas with federal government, the sky’s the limit. Therefore, your growth is unlimited.
Winner: Federal Contracts
Business Development
Business development is last on the list. When you want to succeed, you want to learn and you want to grow. Both, MBE and DBE do not provide you these opportunities like the federal government does. They have programs, small classes and workshops, but they are ineffective and are not reaching their targeted goals. Whereas at the federal level, there are formal business development programs to help you improve and grow. There are even agencies designed to help small businesses win contracts, like the 8a program. Overall, the knowledge and assistance you receive is invaluable.
Winner: Federal Contracts
After 8 different topics and analyzing and comparing DBE, MBE, and Federal Contracts, I think you know who the winner is—federal contracts! We can easily say federal contracts blow the others out of the water. They are overall the most effective and trustworthy choice of the three.
Chris Dambach joined the U.S. Marine Corps in 2007 as an Infantry Scout with the 4th Light Armored Reconnaisance Marine Corps unit in Mattydale, New York.
While on deployment on the Iraq Syrian border, was ejected from his vehicle and suffered numerous injuries. During his recovery he bootstrapped a residential lawn service in 2010 by plastering his New York neighborhood with flyers and taking $5,000 from savings to buy used equipment. Conveniently he named the business Veteran Lawn Care. At the time he and his wife Meghan had a combined annual income of less than $22,000.
The very first year Chris started bidding commercial and government contracts to expand his business. Ten years later his firm has contracts with the VA Healthcare System, National Cemetery Administration, New York State Dept of Corrections and the MTA. This year Industry Standard USA is well on it’s way to hitting the 8 figures mark which is truly an accomplishment for a company with such humble beginnings in lawn care.
Over the next 40 minutes you are going hear how Chris dealt with physical, mental and leisure health. We discuss work life balance and the tole that it took on his marriage. We also dive into the reason behind changing his companies name which is I think is invaluable to new firms and finally the founding of his newest venture Empire Material. Chris is high energy and offered up no less than 7 book recommendations. He has four sons and married his high school sweetheart.
This can definitely be a controversial topic. First and foremost, what is the 8 (a) program?
The 8(a) program is where small disadvantaged businesses can receive assistance from the federal government. Each year, the federal government awards a percentage of federal contracting dollars to small disadvantaged businesses. A huge benefit to a small business, but is it a waste of time?
It can be, if, you do not prepare properly. There is a proper time for you to take advantage of the benefits it offers. Before you jump into the 8 (a) program, we encourage you to first build a foundation, create the company, your organization, your structure and get some experience under your belt. You do not want to waste an opportunity like this, if you are selected for the 8a program. Preparation is key!
You need to know your company and be confident in your structure, organization, and delivery. In the program, you are going to be dealing with the small business development specialists who represent dozens of firms. A lot of times, you will be getting new specialists who have limited experience in the program, how it works, and how to best help you. The specialists are not familiar with your business. No one is going to be more familiar with your business than you are.
Remember that the program itself does not create the foundation for companies. You have to! You want to maximize all of your success by doing your proper planning. Then again, it’s only a nine-year program and a once in a lifetime thing. Why squander the opportunity?
OUR FINAL VERDICT?
Yes! The 8(a) program is worth it, if you plan properly.
The 8 (a) program takes you from good to great. This is a great opportunity if you are ready and prepare and you want to be ready so that when you get into the program, you can spread like wildfire! What does this mean? Get to planning and preparing!
To find out more about the 8(a) program and properly preparing for government contracts, watch the video below. To learn more about government contracting, visit our YouTube Channel..
The question of the day is, “Can you and are you ready to dive into government contracts?”
I know you probably want to scream “yes!” But keep reading, because although we will be focusing on those wanting to become the prime contractors, we have a few points to cover first.
The truth is, not every company is ready to go into federal contracting as a prime contractor. A small business who wants to work on government contracts absolutely can and will, if they follow the tips across our blog. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean via the route of a prime contractor. There is also the route of becoming a subcontractor.
In every company, there are key differences between a prime and a sub which are important for you to know. Once you are well-versed on these differences, it will be easier for you to determine which route you are ready for.
While you might not be ready to be a prime, the good news is, there are thousands of companies looking to hire subcontractors who want to buy your products and services.
However, if you are adamant or even thinking about being the prime contractor and having the direct contract with the government, this post is for you. First things first, you must assure you are ready.
DIVING INTO FEDERAL CONTRACTS
There are ways of quantifying and evaluating the potential success of your organization before you dive into federal contracting. Below is a list of key performance indicators, KPI’s, or questions to ask yourself when determining if your company is ready to jump into the federal marketplace.
Do you have any supplier credit?
Do you have any work history?
Does your firm have money, capital or access to money and resources?
Do you have a team that can perform consistently?
Do you have an organization to handle the barrage of paperwork to facilitate a RFP, RFQ, or even take a project from start to finish?
Remember, as a prime contractor, you will not get paid until your product or service is delivered and as subcontractor, you are most likely working on a “pay-when-paid” basis. This is why it is crucial to review these questions to ensure success for your company and everyone else involved.
The following chart helps you see if you are ready to take on and peruse government contracts.
If you score a below a three, you are not viable and success is not likely yet. At this point in time, you are not ready to pursue federal contracts.
However, if you scored a three or above, you are a strong container for success.
If you scored below a three, do not get discouraged. Be patient, wait and build up your organization a little bit more before jumping into getting an 8(a)certification or into federal contracts.
In the meantime, working as a subcontractor IS viable. Every company in America can and should be doing federal contracts whether it’s as a prime or a subcontractor. It is a fantastic way to add additional revenue streams to your business. You can learn more about how to win these contracts here.
Overall, whichever route you decide to take, whether it is becoming a prime or a sub, we wish you all the success!
In previous editions of the show we feature all of these wonderful people who have built, started, or grown their small businesses into amazing outfits. Well today’s guest is a little bit different.
Today we want to feature someone who is probably is a lot like many of our listeners out there listening shy, timid, afraid, fearful and basically “brain wrestling” every decision action. You might likely be your worst enemy. Not the person you are trying to sell, not the agency you want to do business with, not the bank that wants to lend you money. Often time the cure to success is fighting through the analysis paralysis. And today’s guest is a perfect example of that. The story starts off with him coming to Miami event with a negative attitude and false sense of reality. I quickly dismissed his perceived reality as nonsense and set him on a new path that changed his life.
Listen in to the story or Regis Johnson a Govcon student who change his mindset and is now on his way to building his dream business
This is something we should all be reflecting on daily. How to evolve and adapt just as nature does. Learning, growing, analyzing, refocusing and restructuring, in order to turn things around in our lives. If you are an entrepreneur and/or will be working in federal contracting, this is key to the foundation of your business and your well-being.
We’ve all had them. The random phone numbers calling your phone leaving a convincing voicemail, the emails or letters stating they would change your lives. Some are clearly identifiable as scams. But what about the “government registration companies” that aren’t so easy to decipher as legitamate?
