Your first 90 days in federal work

Before you start

Decide who owns this. One person in the shop should be responsible for federal work for the next three months, with a few hours a week set aside. Federal registrations, searches, and quotes all have deadlines and passwords, and they slip when nobody owns them.

Set a modest goal for the period. A realistic one for most shops is: be fully registered, understand which buyers purchase your part classes, and have submitted a handful of real quotes and sources sought responses. Awards may come inside the window or may not. The setup is the point.

Keep a single log from day one: every registration, every notice you looked at, every response you sent, every contact. It will become your pipeline.

Weeks one through four: registrations and codes

The first month is paperwork. It is not exciting, but nothing else works without it.

In week one, gather your formation documents, EIN letter, bank details, and a physical address that matches them. Create a Login.gov account for the person who will administer SAM.gov. Start the SAM.gov entity registration and submit it. See how to register in SAM.gov.

In week two, while SAM.gov is processing, choose your NAICS codes and note your PSC classes. Read the definitions, and check award history to see which codes buyers actually use for your parts. Draft your one page capability statement.

In week three, apply for Joint Certification Program certification with DD Form 2345 so you can download export controlled drawings. Contact your nearest APEX Accelerator, the free counseling office for government contracting, and book a first meeting. Contact the SBA district office if you may qualify for a certification program.

In week four, when SAM.gov activates and your CAGE code arrives, register on DIBBS and set up your PIEE account for invoicing. Finish the capability statement with your codes on it. Save searches on SAM.gov for your NAICS and PSC codes.

Weeks five through eight: research and first responses

The second month is about learning who buys what you make, and getting in front of them.

In week five, spend your hours on award history. Search USAspending and FPDS by your PSC classes. List the buying offices that appear most and the vendors that keep winning. Look at DIBBS procurement history for a few NSNs in your classes. Write down what you learn about price ranges and frequency. See reading FPDS and USAspending.

In week six, read a stack of solicitations in your classes, closed or open. Do not quote yet. Note the clauses, the packaging, the inspection, and the first article requirements that repeat. Look up every clause you do not know. This is where you find out what federal work actually asks of your shop.

In week seven, respond to your first sources sought notices. Use the one page template. Send your capability statement to the small business specialist at each of the buying offices you listed in week five, with a short note naming the part classes you fit.

In week eight, quote your first DIBBS RFQs. Pick items in materials and processes you know well, where the drawing is clear and the quantity is small. Price them carefully, including packaging and freight. Submit before the return date. Record each one in your log.

Weeks nine through twelve: compliance and rhythm

The third month turns setup into a routine and closes the gaps that will block bigger work.

In week nine, decide on ITAR registration with DDTC if you make defense articles, and write a short technology control plan for controlled drawings. Scope your CMMC position: list where controlled data lives and what it would take to protect it. See CMMC for small shops.

In week ten, review your quality records against what the solicitations asked for. Calibration logs, material traceability, inspection records, and certificates of conformance. Fix the gaps. If AS9100 or ISO 9001 is on your horizon, get quotes from registrars and set a date.

In week eleven, build your recompete list. From the award history you pulled in week five, note the contracts in your classes that end within the next year or two and who holds them. Pick a few to follow. See recompete strategy.

In week twelve, review the log. Count responses, quotes, and replies. Set a weekly rhythm you can keep: check saved searches on set days, respond to sources sought within days, quote a set number of RFQs a week, and follow up on every submission. Ask for a debrief on anything you lost.

What to expect

Expect the registrations to take longer than you want. Expect your first quotes to lose, often to a price you cannot understand until you have seen more history. Expect a sources sought response to go unanswered and then a solicitation to appear months later that looks exactly like it. That is the cycle working.

Expect the first award to be small. A small order delivered on time with clean paperwork builds a performance record with that buyer, and the next order is easier. Shops that stay in the game for a year tend to find that the same handful of buying offices and part classes produce most of their federal work. Your job in the first ninety days is to find out which ones those are.