GUIDE FOR SMALL BUSINESSES WANTING TO WORK WITH AMC Nancy D. Small, director of AMC’s Office of Small Business Programs (OSBP), offered the following steps for small businesses to follow in preparing for and seeking contracts with AMC:
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dentify the product or service: Know your codes • Federal Supply Classification Code (FSC) www.dlis. dla.mil/H2/search.aspx, and • North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code www.census.gov/eos/www/naics/ Register your business: Acquire a CAGE code or DUNS number • Contact the Defense Logistics Services Center to request a CAGE Code: www.dlis.dla.mil/cage_welcome.asp. • Required is the Data Universal Number System (DUNS) number. The DUNS is available through Duns and Bradstreet; call 1-800-333-0505 or 610882-7000. • Your business must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM), www.sam.gov/portal/ SAM/##11, to be awarded a Department of Defense (DOD) contract. SAM is a database designed to hold information relevant to procurement and financial transactions. SAM affords the opportunity for fast electronic payment of your invoices. • “Dynamic Small Business Search” (dsbs.sba. gov/dsbs/search/dsp_dsbs.cfm) is an additional tool used by contracting officers and contract specialists to locate small business concerns.
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Identify your target market: • Utilize DLA (Defense Logistics Agency www.dla. mil/) to find the best match for your business. For instance, if I’m a logistics organization and you want to sell medical supplies to the government, I don’t buy medical supplies, so you need to use the product service code to identify the proper government office to deal with for your product or service.
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Identify current procurement opportunities: • Identify current procurement opportunities in your product or service area by checking the electronic version of the Federal Business Opportunities website (www.fbo.gov) as the Army’s single Web face to industry and where we advertise opportunities by type, organization, and what they are trying to buy. Also visit the Small Business Innovation & Research Information website, www.arl.army.mil/www/default.cfm?page=29.
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Familiarize yourself with the Army contracting procedures: • It is impossible to do business with the federal government if you don’t understand the rules and regulations required for the contracting process. This information can be obtained in the Defense Procurement and Acquisition Policy website (www.acq.osd.mil/dpap/). • Be familiar with both the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) (acquisition.gov/far/) and the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) www.dcaa.mil/dfars.html.
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Investigate Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) contracts: • Many DOD purchases are, in fact, orders on Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) contracts. Contact the General Services Administration (GSA) about how to obtain an FSS contract (www.gsa.gov/schedules).
Seek additional assistance as needed: There are several important resources available to assist industry in the Army marketplace: • Procurement Technology Assistance Centers (PTACs) (www.aptac-us.org/contracting- assistance/), located in most states and are partially funded by DOD to provide small business concerns with information on how to do business with the Department of Defense. PTACs provide training and counseling on marketing, financial, and contracting issues at minimal or no cost. • Small Business Specialists (SBS): The military services and some defense agencies have small business specialists at each of their procurement and contract management offices to assist small businesses, including veteran-owned, service-disabled veteran-owned, HUBZone, small disadvantage, and woman-owned small business