In the world of government contracting, small businesses have many opportunities to increase their access to government contract opportunities. Some examples include: partnering, teaming and mentor-protégé programs. The Small Business Association (SBA) works with federal agencies to attempt to award, at minimum, 23% of all contract dollars to small businesses, making sure that they have an equal chance at success as larger companies with typically more resources.

Our government analysis team has brought you all the information you need to know about Alliant 2 and Alliant Small Business (SB) 2 as well as an in-depth look at how the new Health IT SIN is shaking up the OASIS contract in the federal marketplace as part of our ten-part Government Wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) series. This week, we’ll be discussing one of the most beneficial contracts for businesses selling IT products.

Back in 2010, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) tasked the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to lead a government-wide effort to ensure that there were sufficient cybersecurity measures in place for each agency. These security protocols needed to be both risk-based and cost-effective in nature.

This spring we’ll be anxiously awaiting the release of Alliant 2 and Alliant 2 Small Business (SB). These GWACs are specific to comprehensive information technology solutions with a total estimated value of $65 trillion between FY2018 and FY2028.

Ask any government contractor what they think of partnering or teaming and they will probably murmur something close to, “It’s probably a good idea.” There are a lot of benefits to partnering and almost every government contractor understands the basic concept. However, many also have false perceptions of what it takes to form a partnership, believing it’s daunting, difficult and not a priority for their government sales strategy.

Government contractors are painfully aware of the amount of time it takes to search for opportunities that are a good fit for their business. However, while research is an acknowledged key to success, rarely do contractors dedicate enough time for it. Why is this? Probably because knowing how much time to spend with each resource is a mystery to most.