Small Business Mentoring Web Sites And Social Networking

A 19 year Veteran Mentor’s critical review of the SCORE and MicroMentor non-profit small business mentoring web sites and the role of social networking.

SCORE

From 2006 to 2011, I supported SCORE as a volunteer counselor.  During some years I had several hundred clients. The web site was dynamic, fast, easily accessed and fairly simple. 

SCORE is a nonprofit organization and a resource partner of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). The web site operation is run from SCORE HQ in Herndon, Virginia.  Only U.S. Citizens are eligible to participate since it has been historically heavily funded by SBA government tax dollars.  SCORE was enacted by an act of Congress in 1964 and has been serving small business for over 60 years.

SCORE management elected a complicated redesign of the site in 2011. The original design of the site was radically changed.  

I was part of the system conversion test team as a high volume mentor. I warned the conversion team that my tests were failing, I provided detailed data on necessary fixes. The site was rolled out in May of 2011 and crashed.  I moved on to MicroMentor to continue my volunteer work. 

I rejoined SCORE in March of 2019 principally to handle veteran cases referred to SCORE by the SBA.  I continued to conduct my Micromentor volunteer work.

To once again become a SCORE counselor,  I underwent a new member  background check and a two week training program.  I found the ability to see a client profile to whom I was not connected was gone.  SCORE management now screened mentor requests and decided which mentor should get them. 

Every exchange with an entrepreneur is required to be reported by the mentor. The number of hours expended and background provided to the entrepreneur on the content of a conversation is necessary.  A code of ethics training course on conflict interest is required every year for all mentors. 

30% of my clients now come through SCORE. These are mostly veterans and other small businesses who are pursuing small business federal government contracting and small business innovative research programs

The federal government has recently elected to discontinue funding SCORE. It has had a dramatic impact on the operation of the organization and small business clients.

MicroMentor

MicroMentor is a "Two Way Street" meeting place for entrepreneurs to select a mentor and propose a mentoring relationship and vice versa. I have been a Mentor on MicroMentor for over 13 years, joining the site when the SCORE web site crashed. 

MicroMentor is worldwide NGO. The MicroMentor web site operations are managed at facilities in Portland Oregon. 

Both mentor and entrepreneur can see each other's backgrounds and initiate the process. Thereafter, with no capacity for attachments and a perceived need for privacy by many, the exchange generally moves to email and evolves in a manner the customer support organization does not see.

With the discontinuation of the Mentor Rating feature, MicroMentor site management gets little feedback from entrepreneurs on the quality of the help they have received unless they (the entrepreneur) make a point of commenting by contacting customer support, or  marketing and PR staffs contact individuals entrepreneurs. 

Thus, in its simplest form,  MicroMentor is a bulletin board of individuals who seek help and those who are willing to provide it if they so choose, while looking at each other's profiles.

The MicroMentor Q&A feature is a neat catalyst that promotes exchanges and offers the opportunity to exhibit entrepreneur problems, interests and challenges, as well as mentor knowledge and expertise. It fosters a healthy learning environment in itself by simple observation and allows a human interaction dynamic to occur.

Customer support and control of spamming has been superb. MicroMentor Q&A is a very under-rated feature of the site. 

MicroMentor is international. Participants throughout the world have varying outlooks and skills, based on their culture, customs, values and conditions. 

The natural dynamics of human interaction when a match occurs and when circumstances exist at the time for potential success is where mentoring succeeds. 

The system promotion, volume and reach are its greatest assets in creating the probability that positive mentoring dynamics will occur.  The ability of entrepreneurs and mentors to see one another's backgrounds and communicate directly is a major asset of the site. 

70 % of my client now come through MicroMentor. 40% of those are on the continent of Africa in multiple countries.

Micromentor, like SCORE, recently elected to launch a new edition of its web site. It is running the new version in parallel on the web with the old one during the transition. My experience on both versions has been difficult as a result, due to the volume of case history I carry with MicroMentor.

Micromentor, like SCORE, recently elected to launch a new edition of its web site. It is running the new version in parallel on the web with the old one during the transition. My experience on both versions has been difficult as a result, due to the volume of case history I carry with MicroMentor.

Integrated Social Networking 

The vast majority of my cases over the last 19 years have come to me at both SCORE and MicroMentor from social networking on the Web. LinkedIn, in particular, is a vast reservoir of clients and referrals.

3 out of 5 MIcroMentor clients with whom I work already have a profile on LinkedIn when I begin working with them. If they do not, I suggest they create one. In my view,  a LinkedIn individual and company profile is a vital part of any small company marketing plan, since it is the largest professional business web site in the world and it is FREE.

My two blogs, "Rose Covered Glasses" and "Smalltofeds" generate mentorship users as well by referral. Both blogs are free to me  on Google except for a $10 dollar annual fee to own the "Smalltofeds" domain name. That fee has not changed in 17 years.

Were I to recommend any topic for Mentor and Entrepreneur  training, I would suggest social networking guidance. It has been, and will continue to be, the wave of the future. 

Why Social Network To Promote Your Small Business?

Small Business Mentoring And Social Networking

Small Business Federal Government Contracting and You

Please use the Search Box above for articles at this site:

Download FREE small business books & references in the "Box" in the right margin this site. Download related articles from Academia.edu:

https://smalltofeds.academia.edu/KenLarson

Locate Ken for free counseling at the Micro Mentor Web Site:

Micro Mentor 

Catch the latest in News for the Government Contracting Industry 

Government Contracting News

About Ken Larson  - Consultant, Counselor and Micro Mentor:

Over 40 years in the Defense Industrial Complex. Veteran 2 tours US Army Vietnam. Subsequently spent over 30 years in federal government program and contract management and 10 years in small business consulting.  As a Micro Mentor Volunteer Counselor,  Ken Larson assists many small businesses with their planning and operations processes. Receives many inquiries from small companies wishing to enter or enhance their position in federal government contracting. Volunteer time, books, articles, and resources are 100%  free, maintained exclusively for small business on the above subjects.

Meeting Government-Owned Property Management Contract Requirements

For small businesses involved in development and manufacturing efforts under government contracts, or those who are pursing research and development involving large scale systems, the government property topic often arises.

In general, government contractors are required to provide all that is necessary to fulfill the scope of work on a government contract. However, under time and materials and cost plus contracts where the acquiring agency has made substantial investment in manufacturing aids, special test equipment or apparatus, title to such items will fall to the government.

Title falls to the contractor on firm, fixed price contracts where the cost is base lined at contract award and is assumed to include all that is required to produce the end item when it was bid.

Government property must be stored separately from contractor property when not in use, identified in the facility inventory system as government owned and have government property tags.

Rent – Free Use of government property accountable under one contract must be requested on a non-interference basis from the owning contracting officer before use on another contact and the using contract must reference the approval.

The government may elect to charge rent for use of government property under commercial or foreign contracts. The process for calculating and paying rent is specified in FAR 52.245-9.

The principal FAR Clauses for government Property are 52.245-1 and 52.245-2. If you are undertaking a contract involving government property please read these FAR Clauses. Within these clauses are requirements for inventory, disposal and disposition of government property.

FAR - Government Property Clauses

Government property may be furnished by the acquiring agency with a contract award and may be placed in the care of the contractor. In those cases accountability for the items, together with associated maintenance may be assigned to the contract and reassignment of the property must occur before the contract can be closed out at completion.

Government Contract Statement Of Work and Technical Specifications Are Vital Documents

Part 1, Section C, is where the technical specifications and statement of work are located in your government contract. It is vitally important to manage these documents with your agency customers.

Without a well written Statement of Work (SOW) and associated supplies and services specifications there is unacceptable risk in your contract. 

Both the contractor and the government must come to an understanding regarding the scope of effort to be performed. That understanding is conveyed in the SOW and confirmed in the specifications referenced therein. A good SOW should have the following principal attributes:

* Clear identification of the products, services, skills, materials and performance factors required to complete the contract

* A description of the conditions under which the contractor will be required to perform and any related environmental or location factors

* Specific references to product specifications that govern an acceptable product or services performance outcome and delivery acceptance

* A schedule for the contract that identifies discrete delivery dates for products and specific start and end dates for supporting labor.

* A precise description of government furnished material or facilities required and when it will be made available to the contractor.

If your customer does not provide the above in the contract SOW offered in Part 1, Section C or your contract, offer a revision to the document during negotiations that represents a version to which your company will commit. Signing off on a poorly written SOW results in a difficult contract to manage and a high probability for disputes during the performance period.

Promoting Entrepreneurship To Create A Learning Organization

Involve the employees in the training process and encourage mentoring.

The organization mission is conveyed by continuous organization training. Internal experts can be very entrepreneurial in training approaches. Recognize and reward them for doing so and place them in lead positions in training programs. Organization training in business is a form of communication. It is not an academic pursuit, although elements of it may include learning new information. Still, it is not schooling in the sense of personal improvement as much as it is communication of company policy and expectations.

Employee Training

The most successful organizations pair experienced personnel on a staff basis with junior ones as models. Each has individual assignments and reports to the boss but the senior party is the example in the process/experience-driven aspects of the job and is available to answer questions. The younger individual infuses the older one with energy and new ideas much like osmosis. The result is a hybrid of old and new that works and has been put together by a team. The approach works extremely well, imposes on no one, results in the young and old learning by observation, satisfaction and recognition for collective efforts and reduction in the boss’s work load. A win-win all around.

Is Small Business SETA Contracting for You?

The commercial, start up or growing entrepreneur may have specialized skills,products and services that could be marketable to the government but a window of opportunity or an entrance niche is sometimes difficult to locate in the very large and competitive federal contracting venue.

System Engineering and Technical Assistance (SETA) contracting may provide an avenue for the small business in gaining the momentum necessary for building a government contracting past performance record. It does not require an off-the-shelf product or capital intensive facilities. 

SETA contracting is often utilized by the government to enhance small business contracting participation by firms that hold set aside designations who can offer quality services in support of internal agency facilities or operations.

Set Aside Designations

DEFINITIONS

FAR Sub-part 37.2 defines advisory and assistance services and provides that the use of such services is a legitimate way to improve the prospects for program or systems success:

Advisory and Assistance Services

FAR 16.505(c) provides that the ordering period of an advisory and assistance services task order contract, including all options or modifications, may not exceed five years unless a longer period is specifically authorized in a law that is applicable to such a contract:

Indefinite Delivery Contracts

DFARS Part 237.2 provides very important information applicable to advisory and assistance contracts:

ServiceContracting

The contracting officer and requiring activity must also be aware of FAR Subpart 9.5 when considering the potential for organizational and consultant conflicts of interest:

Conflict of Interest

THE NATURE OF THE WORK 

Typical SETA efforts may involve long term contracts to perform acquisition assistance, project management, price or program analysis, independent estimates, administrative support, computer and data base operations, technical and security services, facilities maintenance functions or similar tasks. The typical SETA contractor rarely interacts with other government contractors and if interaction occurs it is only with other SETA contractors and subcontractors performing in similar roles at the same agency or in the presence of a government contracting officer/authorized representative. They are generally behind the scenes and cannot directly represent the US Government. 

SETA contracting requires skilled management and labor resources capable of performing a scope of work for which the government has identified a need and for which outsourcing to an industry contractor has been selected as the means to fulfill that need. The venue demands strong human resources management and an enhanced business system to price, account and bill on a job cost basis under government service contracts.

INCUMBENT WORK FORCES

SETA contractors often target incumbent work forces where an agency plans to offer a small business the opportunity to assume an existing services program formerly run by a larger firm or a small business that has grown beyond the size limit designated for the procurement.

In these instances the winner will have solid plans for recruiting and retaining the existing work force executing a transition plan and insuring that the government does not encounter an interruption in services.

Contingent hire agreements and sophisticated human resources processes are necessary to position the company during the proposal effort and as the contract proceeds. Contingent personnel are well aware of their market value among the SETA contractors competing for the work.

Contingent Hire Agreement

MARKETING APPROACH

As budgets become tighter, the government agencies will be looking for solid performance at the lowest possible price, stability in performance and contractors adept at learning government processes and systems as well as working with the agency to improve them.

Find opportunities well in advance of their being formally solicited on The System for Award Management (SAM) . Look for existing services and support contracts in their last year or self-market a services contract to an agency whose mission requires your expertise.

Propose and price to win using the following guidance:

Proposal Preparation

Pricing Service Contracts

UNDERSTAND ORGANIZATION CONFLICT OF INTEREST (OCI) RESTRICTION

If you are considering becoming a SETA contractor, determine what portion of the market in your industry will be unavailable to you in that role with the agency to whom you contract. As a SETA contractor you will not be allowed to compete for the programs being procured by the agency other than the SETA support contacts. You knowledge of the inside workings of the government agency would be a conflict of interest in bidding other projects.
You should target for SETA exploration only those agencies to which you do not intend to market other services.

SUMMARY

Consider SETA contracting if your marketing plan contains elements of support and assistance that an agency may be willing to outsource. If you hold small business designations, seek marketing opportunities to foster government set aside procurements for the designations you hold and understand that SETA contract will be the only programs you will hold with that agency due to OCI restrictions.　
　

A Thank You and 4 Gifts from Ken Larson at "Smalltofeds"

        (Please click above image to enlarge)

With two decades in volunteer small business consulting, I appreciate the many individuals who have contacted me for advice. You have come from several venues – through the Micro Mentor and SCORE Foundations, LinkedIn and other social media sites.  It has been a pleasure serving small business. 

My work with you has kept me active in retirement, in touch with my profession and engaged in a continuous learning mode.

Please feel free to download any of the 4 free books pictured here, as well as other useful information at the BOX in the right margin of https://www.smalltofeds.com . You may also download the books free of charge from: https://smalltofeds.academia.edu/KenLarson

Although originally written some time ago, the small business contracting books contain live links in the Adobe text to updates for any given topic at the “Small To Feds” Blog. The books have been written at the request of my clients to cover topics in the order small business generally encounters them in government contracting.

My best wishes for success to you in your small business enterprises.

 Ken Larson 

 

Establishing Compliant Small Business Systems For Federal Government Services Contracts

INTRODUCTION

To effectively market a federal government services contract a small business must sell on the basis of having a business system as well as technical performance infrastructure ready to run the job when a contract proposal is submitted. This dual requirement is where many small businesses fall short in their federal government contract start up planning.

Parallel thinking is required to plan for government project technical effort against a template of necessary business process infrastructure, driven by introducing Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) into the company. Key elements of the necessary business system infrastructure are discussed in this article which assumes that your are in the federal government services contracting business, that you plan to price your services at an hourly rate and sell them by labor categories with professional job descriptions to perform the government's statement of work and bill by the hour. This article also assumes that you are not contracting under FAR Part 12, "Commercial Contracting".

Labor Categories

Each skill set in the company must be specified and defined as chargeable directly to a contract, or indirectly to a cost center overhead, a material handling pool or a general and administrative pool. Each labor category must have a job description and a prospective salary range for proposal purposes.

Cost Center

A Cost Center is a single business entity within the company, organized for a group of business lines and clients with close similarities for technical and business management purposes. Cost centers are also driven by geographic location and the requirement to separate commercial from federal government business. Projects performed in government facilities may also require a separate cost center, since many of the associated expenses for such operations are born by the government. Cost centers usually have individual subsidiary ledgers, balance sheets and profit and loss statements and are summarized monthly to a company total. Each cost center must have job cost accounting for the contracts residing there and a cost center unique overhead rate.

Examples:

Commercial Cost Center

Federal Government Cost Center

Government Site Unique Cost Center

Annual Overhead Rate

An overhead pool is made up of individual Cost Center indirect expenses projected for a given year divided by the projected Cost Center direct labor dollars for that year to determine a rate. Typical Cost Center Overhead general ledger expenses are those which cannot be effectively charged direct to contracts. These include Cost Center management, building lease, telephone, fringe benefits, electricity, capital equipment, depreciation, and the like.  An example of a 2026 Cost Center Overhead Rate of 110%  is as follows: 

2026 Gen Indirect Exp for Cost Center        =  $459,800

_____________________________________________= 110%
2026  Projected Dir. Labor $ for cost center = $418,000

The estimated annual Cost Center Overhead Rate is applied to direct labor cost estimates to price labor cost through overhead for 2026 for the Cost Center. When a contract is awarded, actual overhead expenses are allocated monthly to direct labor by contract on the basis of direct labor dollars incurred. Projected overhead rates are adjusted based on actual total cost center experience as the year progresses.

Annual Material Handling Rate (if required) - Corporate wide expenses specifically associated with buying, storing and shipping material for a given year divided by the projected direct material dollars projected company-wide for that year. Not all companies have business that is material intensive enough to warrant a separate pool for material handling. Where extensive buying or subcontracting is conducted out of the corporate headquarters and inventory and shipping labor are high, a material handling pool is permitted by the government when it is not administratively possible to charge these expenses directly to contracts.

The estimated annual Corporate Material Handling Rate is applied to direct material cost estimates to price material for all Cost Centers. When a contract is awarded, actual material handling expenses are allocated monthly to direct material by contract on the basis of direct material dollars incurred. The projected material-handling rate is adjusted based on actual total company experience as the year progresses.

Annual General and Administrative Rate (G and A) is corporate indirect expenses projected for a given year divided by the total projected direct cost plus overheads for all cost centers for that year. Typical G and A general ledger expenses include costs which cannot be charged direct to contracts or to cost center overhead expenses such as corporate executive management, headquarters building leases, legal expenses, company wide insurance, corporate advertising, and the like.

MANAGEMENT FACTORS

Success will be determined by managing the numerator in each of the above equations and winning or maintaining the projected direct cost programs in the annual denominator. If expenses increase due to unforeseen events or if the company loses more projects than planned in the annual denominator base, the associated rate will go up for estimating purposes and under cost plus or time and material contracts the rate billed to the government will also increase. 

Existing fixed price contracts under these circumstances will become less profitable. Pricing for future fixed price contracts must reflect the increased rates being experienced to avoid further losses.

Correspondingly, if expenses decrease due to unforeseen events/good management or if the company wins or grows more projects than planned in the annual denominator base, the associated rate will decrease for estimating purposes and under cost plus or time and material contracts the rate billed to the government will also decrease. Existing fixed price contracts will become more profitable. Pricing for future fixed price contracts must reflect the decreased rates being experienced.

For time and material and cost plus contracts, monthly billing rates utilized are "Provisional Rates" that the contractor is free to change based on experience as long as he informs contracting officers and the local Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) of the changes and reasons for the changes can be demonstrated. Before time and material and cost plus contracts can be closed out, provisional rates must be adjusted to reflect actual rates experienced. 

The contractor will owe the government if provisional billings have been higher than actual cost history. Correspondingly, if the actual rates for cost plus or time and materials contracts have been higher than the provisional rates billed by the contractor, the government will owe the contractor at closeout. 

Firm, Fixed Price Contracts are generally billed at negotiated fixed prices by line item at contract award and paid upon final delivery and acceptance or through monthly progress payments based on incurred cost with a percent of payment retention by the government until deliveries are complete. 

Fixed rate contracts are billed on a monthly basis through hours incurred. The hourly rates are fixed for the contract term and do not change.

COST ESTIMATING/COST ACCOUNTING EXAMPLE

Consider a historical 12-month project priced in a hypothetical small business utilizing forward pricing "Provisional Rates." The contract began in July of 2018 and continued to July of 2019. Direct labor rates were escalated between 2018 and 2019 by 3.5% based on the Consumer Price Index. The company decided to keep the indirect rates for Overhead and G&A the same for pricing purposes in 2018 and 2019. The company had no Material Handling Pool and charged purchasing, inventory and shipping costs direct to contracts.

This government contractor maintained Overhead and G&A rate databases in Excel by month by year to forward price projects such as the one in this example. The databases all utilized the same generic chart of expense accounts as a template for the Cost Center Overhead and G and A monthly expense forecasts (equation numerators). The project was priced in cost center 1 at an overhead rate of 110% and a corporate G and A rate of 10%.

Cost Center Direct Labor forecasts in the databases were projected by hours and salary dollars for each existing and anticipated project and then summarized to determine the equation denominator which when divided into the Cost Center Numerator B, above) yields the Cost Center Overhead forecast by month by year. Direct Labor was then burdened by the projected Cost Center Overhead and added to Material and Travel to yield a total Cost Center business summary through Overhead.

The G and A rate data base summarized total direct labor through overhead, material and travel cost for all cost centers (equation denominator) and divided it into the total corporate G and A expense (equation numerator) The equation result yielded the projected  G and A rate by month by year. All cost center labor through overhead, material and travel were then summarized and burdened through G and A to forecast a total cost projection by Cost Center at "Provisional Overhead and G and A Rates.

A copy of the annual baseline projected rate database was adjusted with actual expense data each month in the numerator after closing. The denominator for the month was also updated with actual existing and new business developments at the cost center level and G&A monthly actual cost at the corporate level. The resulting actual rate experience is then analyzed for trends as the year proceeds and utilized for making potential adjustments in provisional rates. 

When provisional rate changes are necessary, the government was notified in advance and provided with trend information justifying the rate change. Upon approval by the government, the baseline forecast was adjusted and utilized for billing on T&M and Cost Plus Contracts. The adjusted rates were also utilized to price all future projects. DCAA does not audit management decisions. They simply check the math.

Rate databases are usually fully detailed by month for the current year and 1-2 years into the future. Years 3-5 typically have summarized assumptions through use of escalation factors. Bids for out years 5-10 if required by the government definitely utilize escalation factors. Very few government contractors are willing to bid on a firm, fixed price basis beyond out year 5.

To comply with Cost Accounting Standards 401 and 402, this company set up each new government contract on job cost accounting in the identical manner in which it was proposed; in effect identifying direct labor, direct material and other direct costs to each contract monthly and allocating overhead and G&A utilizing the same numerator and denominator relationships upon which the contract was originally estimated.

The larger the direct cost that was incurred on a contract in this company the greater the share of the cost center overhead and corporate G and A was incurred by that contract. 

The entire content of this company's business system was subject to audit and verification by the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) against Cost Accounting Standards 401 and 402. 

DCAA validated company records by requiring "Incurred Cost Submissions" from this contractor. The submissions validated final rates for cost plus and time and material contract closeouts. Fixed price contracts were closed out when final delivery was received and accepted.  Retention on monthly progress payments under fixed price contracts was released at closeout.

SUMMARY:

The software tools discussed at the posting at this blog DCAA AUDITS AND SMALL BUSINESS JOB COST ACCOUNTING SYSTEMS are designed to assist you in running the above process from a job cost accounting perspective. However, these tools must be set-up to reflect the unique way you are organized and they must reflect your specific business plans as discussed in this article. They will not do that for you.

Illustrations of the the rates, pricing and the long range plan utilized in the above example are available in Chapters 45 and 51 through 53 of my free book, "Small Business Federal Government Contracting" and appendices A and B. You may download the book and related documents from the "Box Net" Cube in the right margin of this site.

What to Expect from Government Pre-Award Surveys and Fact Finding

INTRODUCTION

When a government contracting specific market target has been identified and a proposal has been submitted, pre-award surveys and fact finding by the buying agency or the prime contractor often follow. These processes take two forms:

1. A survey visit to the small company facility

2. Inquiries with respect to supplementary details for enhancing the customer perspective on a proposal submittal.

Undertaking the above processes with a government agency differs from that of undergoing them with a prime contractor. You are not required to disclose proprietary data to a prime contractor. Please see the following articles for further information in this vital area:

Protecting Intellectual Property

This article will discuss each of the above processes and suggest measures to prepare for, conduct and succeed at pre-award surveys and fact finding.

PRE-AWARD SURVEY

A pre-award survey is a government or prime contractor visit to a supplier's facility. The Procurement Contracting Officer (PCO) or the Administrative Contracting Officer (ACO) and the Contracting Officer’s Technical Representative (COTR) as well as members of their respective staffs may attend.

In some instances the local Defense Contract Management Area Office (DCMAO) is involved. As you become a regular supplier to an agency, site survey visits will normally cease or occur only rarely.

For further explanation of the above government officials and their roles, please see the following article:

Government Contracting Customer Relations

The site survey team is interested in establishing the physical presence of a new supplier, the technical capability and the human resources to perform the prospective work and the quality of the environment in which the effort will be performed. A "Pre-award Survey of Prospective Contractor" Forms are completed and become part of the contract file:

Pre-award Survey Forms

Pre-Award Survey of Prospective Contractor SF-1403 8/1997
Pre-Award Survey of Prospective Contractor (Accounting System) SF-1408 8/1997
Pre-Award Survey of Prospective Contractor (Financial Capability) SF-1407 8/1997
Pre-Award Survey of Prospective Contractor (Production) SF-1405 8/1997
Pre-Award Survey of Prospective Contractor (Quality Assurance) SF-1406 8/1997
Pre-Award Survey of Prospective Contractor (Technical) SF-1404 8/1997

Select the person who will lead the meeting with the government survey team. This person should be empowered to speak for the company and should be completely familiar with details of the solicitation and your company's offer.

If relevant, make available one or more technicians to answer questions. Identify any disparities that may exist between the solicitation and your company's offer that should be resolved during the initial meeting with the survey team. Think about how you can demonstrate actual technical capability or the development of technical capability on the proposed contract. Make sure your facilities and equipment are available and operable. If they are not, be prepared to demonstrate that they can be developed or acquired in time to meet proposed contract requirements.

Make sure that your labor resources have the proper skills or that personnel with the needed skills can be hired expeditiously. Gather and make available to the survey team documentation, such as previous government contracts or subcontracts or commercial orders, to demonstrate a past satisfactory performance record with regard to delivery, quality and finances. Gather financial documentation for the team financial analyst, including the company's current profit and loss summary, balance sheet, cash flow chart and other pertinent financial information. Make sure the plans are in place for vendor supplies and materials or subcontracts to assure that the final delivery schedule can be met. Make sure that these plans are verifiable.

Review any technical data and publications that may be required under the proposed contract and make sure you understand them. If the contract is a type other than a firm-fixed price or if you have requested progress payments, prepare adequate accounting documentation for review. Review your quality control program and make sure that it is workable and consistent with the quality requirements stated in the contract.

PROPOSAL FACT FINDING
Fact-finding usually involves the government requesting additional information to supplement that which was submitted by you in your proposal. These areas of interest are early indications of where the negotiator is looking for weaknesses in your cost justifications or disconnects between your technical approach and the cost you are estimating to do the job. If you have subcontractors or major material suppliers, the government may ask for copies of your vendor proposal evaluations. The government may wish to examine cost history for the last time you performed similar efforts.

Keep in mind that most government agencies put together an independent cost estimate of what they feel the item or service should cost. These are commonly called "Should Cost Estimates". The additional requests for information during fact finding are feeding the should cost estimate. The Procurement Contracting Officer (PCO ) typically has an end user for the product or service internal to his organization who will become the Contracting Officer's Technical Representative (COTR) when the contract is awarded.

The COTR has a strong influence on the negotiations and will usually be present when negotiations commence. On many occasions, the COTR is the real internal customer at the agency. He has fiscal, technical and schedule responsibilities to his management for the program you are servicing. He simply cannot sign for the government.

The PCO has the agency warrant to commit the government and knows the most about public law and the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) as it is applied to contracts the agency undertakes. It is the COTR who is likely feeding the PCO requests for fact-finding data. Keep in mind that the COTR and the PCO are formulating their assessment of the cost and the risk associated with the program during the fact-finding process. Cost is the first item of negotiation and risk has a direct influence on the government's position on profit.

The contacting officer may order a Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) audit. The Request for Proposal (RFP) to which you responded may in fact have ordered a copy of your proposal be submitted to the DCAA Office nearest your location. If you are a new supplier to the government, DCAA may ask for a copy of your long-range plan containing your direct and indirect rate structure. They will verify the rates utilized in your proposal against your LRP, evaluate escalation factors utilized for long term projects and check the math. For guidance on these matters, please see the following article:

DCAA Audits And Small Business Job Cost Accounting Systems

The auditor will ask for copies of major material and travel quotations and insure that government per diem rates are utilized for lodging and meals in the cost proposal. DCAA may also visit your facility to check compliance with Cost Accounting Standards insuring that the company sets up each new government contract on job cost accounting in the identical manner in which it was proposed; in effect identifying direct labor, direct material and other direct costs to each contract monthly and allocating overhead and G&A utilizing the same numerator and denominator relationships upon which the contract was originally estimated.

DCAA is paid by the PCO to perform the audit. The audit does not extend to negotiations and at the audit conclusion the auditor files a report with the PCO. The report will contain information on any errors uncovered and findings on the adequacy of the accounting and long range planning systems. DCAA will not express an opinion on the cost content of the proposal in terms of a value judgment regarding prices for prospective supplies and services. If the auditor does not offer an exit interview, ask for one. Better yet, ask for a copy of the audit report to the PCO. Many DCAA offices will provide a copy to audited contractors. DCAA does not have the authority to direct a proposal revision based on audit findings. An astute contractor will immediately correct any errors found by the auditor in the proposal and examine other audit findings in preparation for negotiations.

SUMMARY
With adequate preparation and understanding of what the processes involve, the small enterprise can succeed in passing government agency or prime contractor site surveys and fact finding.

Remember that these encounters are extensions of your image as presented in your proposal. They are building block in nature and serve to establish, reinforce or change a customer’s view of your company and your proposal.