Posts Tagged ‘Government Contracts’

Did you know that the United States Government has contracts with small businesses worth over $1 trillion a year? They are the single largest “customer” for the janitorial industry. Add state and local government contracts to this and you have huge potential to add to your client base. Before you start the application process, you need to understand how getting a government contract works. As with most government decisions, winning a janitorial contract requires going through bureaucracy involving very specific procedures and requirements. Learn the steps in order to get a government contract. You may find that your business is not eligible for government contracts or that you don’t even want to try.

To obtain federal government contracts, you first need to register with the Central Contractor Registration (CCR), which is basically a database the government creates that collects, validates, stores, and disseminates data necessary to award contracts to businesses. To do this, you need what is called a DUNS number, which is a unique number assigned to your business to identify you. If you do not have one, you can get one at http://fedgov.dnb.com/webform. You will also need your Tax Identification Number (TIN), Taxpayer Name, Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) information, and statistical information about your business. To resister, go to https://www.bpn.gov/ccr/default.aspx where you can also get answers to specific questions. As you can see, this is already a tedious and meticulous process, but a necessary one.

The next thing to do depends on your specific company makeup. If your company has 51% or more ownership by someone who is “socially or economically disadvantaged” or woman-owned, you need to register as “disadvantaged” or Sec. 8(a) certified. Many government contracts are awarded specifically to those companies who meet these criteria. You can find more information at the Small Business Administration (www.sba.com) on how to register for this status.

Another thing you can do is apply for a government grant. This is not a very common occurrence in this industry, but is not unheard of. For example, if your company hires the mentally-challenged individuals or ex-convicts, there may be some help to be found. Here is a link to an article on our site about grants that you may find helpful.

You can also sign up for PRO-NET, which is basically a listing from which government contracting officers choose vendors to meet their needs. PRO-NET is a free service offered through the SBA website at http://pro-net.sba.gov/ .  It is integrated with the CCR, therefore has access to the information you have already submitted when you registered. Believe it or not, they actually made this easy for you!

Another SBA-sponsored program is called The HUBzone Empowerment Contracting Program. The intent of this program is to provide federal contracting opportunities for businesses located in distressed areas. As long as you meet the specified criteria, this program maintains a list of preferred vendors from which Federal agencies choose their contractors. Again, the SBA website tells you how to obtain this status for qualified applicants. As you can see, the SBA is a valuable resource in your efforts to obtain government contracts.

Now that you have a feel for what is involved in just becoming ELIGIBLE for government contracts, our next article will move on to the specifics on how you actually bid them.

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Steve and Jean Hanson helps owners of small cleaning companies build a more profitable and successful cleaning business through his online community at TheJanitorialStore.com. Read inspirational cleaning success stories at http://www.cleaning-success.com, and sign up for weekly cleaning tips at http://www.thejanitorialstore.com.