Opportunity in the Federal Government abounds for Small Businesses right now!  According to an article by Set-Aside Alert, contract dollars awarded to Small Business Prime Contractors have risen almost 30% in the last three years

while, conversely, the number of Small Business Prime contracts awarded during the same period has declined almost 15% …. What does this mean? The size of a Small Business prime contract is growing at historic rates …. Why is this occurring?

A few thoughts, historically when the overall economy is strong and contractors have choices, interest in working for the Federal Government declines. In addition, Federal work is frequently not worth the hassle due to the relative complexity of compliance requirements and the so-called “red-tape”, when compared to commercial work compliance requirements.

Another thought is the brain drain of acquisition personnel due to retiring “baby boomers” and the relatively low re-hire rate of those positions. This means that there are less procurement officers available to process procurements. As a result, acquisition groups must aggregate requirements into larger procurements in order to meet the demand of the budget and must meet these requirements with a static or shrinking workforce, resulting in larger contract values and the prevalence of multiple award contracts that require less effort per task for acquisition personnel.

How can your company participate and thrive in these unprecedented acquisition times? The Small Business firms thriving right now are adapting to this new paradigm by combining resources and capabilities through teaming, joint ventures, and other effective strategic relationships.  Small Business construction firms must acquire access to bonding at higher program levels than ever before in order to participate in increasingly larger projects. Business Development efforts need to be targeted and be effective as there are less people with a limited amount of time making decisions. Hiring and retaining personnel to perform not only your current work, but work that requires experience in executing larger and more diverse projects are crucial for qualifying to win those multiple award contracts. Be aware, adapt to changing times, be ACTIV and be Bold!