Should Your Business be Public or Private on SAM.gov?

Bryan Wallace, Procurement Counselor

When registering your business in the System for Awards Management (SAM) there is a question about making your record public and searchable. I typically advise clients on this question and give them a moment to think it through. If you make you entity “public” everyone will be able to find you. That includes other business looking to charge you a fee for services. Some of these might be well-intentioned consultants, but some are just outright scams! Right in the middle of the home page, the SAM website states, “There is no cost to use SAM”. But understand, once your entity is listed, you will be emailed and you will be called by individuals trying to make a quick buck. They want to get you to pay them to do something you and your PTAC counselor could do for free. Some of these look and sound very official, and they may try scare tactics to get you to talk to one of their counselors to renew or expedite your registration. Don’t buy into it. Trust me, at some point, they’ll tell you that you need to pay! Make sure any communication is from a .gov or .mil email address.

At this point you’re probably thinking, “I should just go back in change that question in SAM so my entity is NOT public”. A word of caution; while you will be not be found by consultants, you potentially won’t be found by contracting officers, or by organizations looking to subcontract work, or by organizations looking to partner or create a joint-venture for a project. Lastly, your PTAC counselor won’t be able to see you registration either.

If you have any doubts about an email, you can always feel free to forward it on to your PTAC counselor and ask “is this legit?” Not sure who you should contact? Visit our website to determine the PTAC counselor for your area.

The Cost to Complete Government Vendor Registrations

Dana Delano, Procurement Counselor

They just won’t go away, the ‘for profit’ companies sending emails to potential government contractors offering assistance with federal registrations, GSA Schedules, and ‘NEW’ federal directories. What they don’t mention up front is they are not FREE. Commercial websites (.com websites) are just that - commercial. When a commercial website advertises to help you with the process of registering to do business with the government, there will be a fee involved…to do work that there is no cost to complete.  Government websites (typically designated as .gov or .mil) offer free advice and registration. And typically, a push to contact your local PTAC for assistance at no cost.

Before and during the annual ‘Hurricane Season’, one commercial site runs aggressive campaigns directed at businesses interested in working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency or FEMA. To become a “FEMA vendor”, they ask you to fill out a “FEMA Contract Registration Form.” Once completed and submitted on-line, applicants receive the following message: “Thank you for submitting your information. We will be in contact with you shortly. Click below to make a payment of $500 for this service.” Clicking on the “Buy Now” button will direct you to a site requesting $500 via a PayPal account for “FEMA Registration.” The fact is FEMA does not charge any money to register as a vendor to do business with them. Nor does any other government agency. Do not get pulled into these scams. Pay attention to the email address of the sender and if it is not a .gov or .mil email, send it to your PTAC counselor to confirm if it is legitimate. 99% of the time, it is not.

To receive assistance with any aspect of vendor registration with any government agency at no cost, contact Maine PTAC, it is what we do.

Sources Sought Notices: What are They and is Responding to Them Beneficial?

Miranda Pelkey, Procurement Counselor

 

When searching for government contract opportunities, many business owners come across Sources Sought notices and either mistake them for RFPs or dismiss them as not worth responding to. So what exactly is a Sources Sought notice? Sources Sought is essentially a way for government agencies to conduct market research to determine what the capabilities and interests are of the marketplace. Sources Sought notices are not an actual bid or proposal solicitation.

A common question is, “If this is not an opportunity for an actual contract, why would I invest the time to respond?” That is a very valid question as responding to a Sources Sought notice will take some time and as we know, time is valuable. However, there are some note-worthy reasons why small business owners might want to respond to Sources Sought notices. The first one being that contracting officers often report a small number of responses to their Sources Sought notices. Because of this, responding to a Sources Sought notice might differentiate you from your competitors in the event of a contract going up for bid. Furthermore, you will be beginning to build a relationship with that contracting officer and in business, relationships are one of the most important assets one can have. Another benefit of responding to these types of solicitations is that the information you provide may influence the way that contracting officer chooses to package the solicitation in the future, and often this can be in your favor. Finally, if the contracting officer can’t find enough qualified firms (because no one responded) they will probably allow large businesses to compete on it.

Should you decide you would like to respond to a Sources Sought Notice and have questions about how to do so, your local PTAC Counselor is always here to help!

What is a TIN and What Does it Mean for My Business?

Katie Bragg, Procurement Counselor

 

A TIN is a Taxpayer Identification Number. There are 5 different types of Taxpayer Identification Numbers.

If you are the only employee of the business, then using your SSN may be the right option for you. And even if you are the only employee, you may want to have another form of TIN to separate you from your business. There are reasons that you might want to have and EIN/TIN other than your SSN. The biggest reason is if you think that you would like to hire employees in the future, then you will need to have an EIN.

This process is very easy and quite painless. You can do it online and have your new EIN printed out in minutes.  Use this link and follow the step by step instructions. Or contact your PTAC counselor and they will help you through it.

If you are contemplating which is best for your company, just know that it is easier to make that decision before you get registered in sam.gov. Changing this after the fact can be a process that takes some time, while not impossible, just easier to make the change before doing your registration.

For more assistance with this process, contact your PTAC counselor and they will be happy to help you with this process.

The Defense Logistics Agency - Finding Additional DLA Procurement Opportunities

Ed Dahl, Procurement Counselor

 

Maine PTAC clients are familiar with Federal Contract Opportunities posted to the beta.sam website, a resource for finding DoD and Federal government procurement solicitations over $25,000.  The Defense Logistic Agency’s DLA Internet Bid Board System (DIBBS) website also allows searches for RFQs, and provides a means to submit secure quotes for National Stock Number (NSN) and non-NSN items, and services. Both beta.sam and DIBBS are interrogated daily by Maine PTAC’s bid match service.

 

Last week I was conducting research at the DIBBS website to refresh Maine PTAC’s training materials and noted some additional DLA procurement resources which may be of value to our clients, especially those involved in defense-related and aviation-related hardware and systems support. The following procurement resources are accessible at the DIBBS website: