On Monday, January 6th, 2020 the Small Business Administration's (SBA) final rule to implement a 2018 law took effect. The 2018 Small Business Runway Extension Act allows small businesses to calculate their revenue over 5 years instead of 3 years. The goal of this change is to allow more businesses to participate in small business set asides. This will allow the government to meet its goals for small business spending while allowing small businesses to better transition from small to large.

[This article was last updated on June 27, 2020] It’s no secret that the U.S. federal government has a great need for Drone and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in today’s day and age. If your company offers these products, then your 2020 resolution should be to get involved with the ASTRO program!

There are many ways for your business to sell to the federal government, one of which includes holding your own GSA Schedule contract. A common alternative to holding your own GSA Schedule contract is to sell your products to the government through a reseller. Many companies choose this approach for a myriad of reasons including: when a company does not have the internal resources to support a GSA Schedule contract, or if a company does not qualify directly for a GSA Schedule contract. Regardless of the reason, many small businesses build a successful federal sales practice through partnerships with companies that act as resellers to the government.

In April 2019, the Small Business Administration (SBA) released a plan to enact revised size standards for small businesses. According to the SBA, a size standard is usually defined by the number of employees or average annual receipts and represents the largest size that a business, including subsidiaries and affiliates, may be to remain classified as a small business for SBA and federal contract programs. In 2010, the United States Congress passed the Small Business Jobs Act (Jobs Act) which requires the SBA to review all size standards every five years. Under the Jobs Act, the SBA is also required to adjust to reflect market conditions as needed, including inflation.

The U.S. Small Business Administration has just announced its findings on the Federal Government’s 2018 fiscal year, and it is great news for American small businesses. 2018 marks the 6th consecutive year the Federal Government has met their small business contracting goals. Not only did the federal government meet this goal in 2018, they surpassed it by $15 billion.

In 2017, U.S. Senators Mac Thornberry (R-TX) and Adam Smith (D-WA) proposed a bill known as the Saving Federal Dollars Through Better Use of Government Purchase and Travel Cards Act of 2017 that concentrated on reducing waste, fraud, and abuse of Government spending on travel and when using purchase cards. This bill passed through the House and Senate when it was incorporated into the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018 (or NDAA 2018). The Saving Federal Dollars Through Better Use of Government Purchase and Travel Cards Act of 2017 addressed three key issues with Government spends: (1) improper payments, (2) questionable transactions, and (3) strategic sourcing. Our focus today will be strategic sourcing.