Should I chase a certification?

Only if you genuinely qualify. A certification you hold opens competitions you otherwise cannot enter, and in the set-aside codes that can be most of the addressable work. A certification you do not really qualify for is a false statement to the federal government, and the ownership and control tests are stricter than they look: nominal ownership with somebody else actually running the firm fails.

Can I bid a set-aside I do not qualify for as a subcontractor?

Yes. A set-aside restricts who may be the prime. You can be on the team, subject to the limitation on subcontracting, which caps how much of the work can go to firms that are not similarly situated. That cap is the prime's problem and it is also your negotiating context.

How do I tell whether my codes actually have set-aside work in them?

Look at what was awarded rather than at what was announced. Every award record carries the set-aside type, so the share of a code's awards at a given office that went out as small business, 8(a), HUBZone or SDVOSB is a countable fact rather than an impression.

What happens in a size protest?

A competitor, the contracting officer or SBA challenges your size for that buy. SBA examines ownership, control and affiliation and issues a determination. If you are found other-than-small for that code, you lose the award. Determinations are appealable, and the process is slow.

Does being small help on work that is not set aside?

Sometimes. Some evaluations give weight to small business participation, primes have subcontracting goals to meet, and agencies have their own targets. But on a full and open buy you are competing on the merits, and size is not a factor by itself.

Course, module 3 of 16

Set-asides and the small business programs

A set-aside is the government deciding, before it competes something, that only certain firms may bid. It is the single largest structural advantage available to a small supplier, and it is also the area where an honest mistake looks exactly like a false certification.

printed on every notice, never searchable until now

By the end of this module you will be able to

Work out whether you are small for a given buy rather than in general
Name each certification, what it requires and who issues it
Explain the rule of two, which is why a buy becomes a set-aside at all
Apply the limitation on subcontracting before you build a team rather than after
Recognise affiliation, which is how a firm that believes it is small turns out not to be

Small is per buy, not per company

The first thing to unlearn: "we are a small business" is not a property of your company. It is an answer to a question about one particular solicitation.

Every solicitation carries a NAICS code chosen by the contracting officer. That code carries a size standard, either a number of employees or an amount of average annual receipts. You are small for that buy if you are under that standard, counting your own business plus anything affiliated with it.

So a firm can be small for a machining buy and other-than-small for a services buy on the same morning. It is also why the code on a solicitation is worth reading carefully, and why a code that seems wrong for the work is occasionally worth a question during the question period: a different code can mean a different size standard and a different field of competitors.

Keep reading

The rest of this module opens with your name and email

All sixteen modules open on this device for about six months. No card and no password.

Still to come in this module

Receipts and employees, counted the way SBA counts them
Affiliation, which is how firms get this wrong
The programs, and what each one actually requires
The rule of two, which is why a buy becomes a set-aside
The non-manufacturer rule, if you sell things you did not make
Mentor-protege, and joint ventures done properly
The words in this module, defined
Questions at this stage