I highly recommend reading the full text of the article from the NAVOBA site on Larry Cotton, and how he built his SDVOB from a 1-man operation into an 8 million dollar business. He seems to embrace the kind of teaming approach that VOB108 is committed to.
What we’ve found is that many contracts that are offered by the government are beyond our reach thanks to “contract bundling” and just today, a $14 million dollar RFP came to me from the VA- asking for expertise in a scope and scale that would stop most small business dead.
National Veteran-Owned Business Association – Veterans Business Journal – January/February 2006
VBJ.. What is contract bundling?Cotton:: Contract Bundling is the practice of aggregating contract spends within a service, product or commodity class, which is a sound fiscal policy for the enterprise community. Yet, when applied to a Government Procurement model this practice produces a disenfranchising effect on the small business community at large.
VBJ.. How does contract bundling negatively impact SDVOBs?
Cotton:: Contract bundling:
Moves the scope of most agency contracts outside the reach of most small businesses, as large businesses become the only qualified vendor class;
- Imposes a geographic coverage requirement on the contract that is also outside of the reach of most small businesses;
- Places a financial demand on contract performance that is not readily available to the small business community (i.e., bonding, letters of credit); and
- Pushes the contract ‘Past Performance’ requirement to a level that is unattainable under any small disadvantaged business standard.
If you are interested in growing your Veteran Owned Business- and are located in SW Ohio, please consider joining VOB108.
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