Opportunities Postponed to June 6

Given the uncertainty many federal agencies and other key partners are facing with the continuing budget resolution and ongoing travel restrictions, we have decided to postpose the Opportunities: Making Dollars and Sense Selling to the Government conference in Asheville to Monday, June 6, 2022. This will also allow us to provide additional information on NC and SC contracting opportunities resulting from the Infrastructure and Jobs Act at the conference.

All other logistical details for the event will remain the same. If you've previously registered and/or made a reservation at the Asheville Renaissance Hotel, we will contact you concerning arrangements for the new date.

Join us on June 6 to market your company directly to prime contractors and government agencies, enhance your government contracting skills, and make connections that can help you move forward with your contracting efforts. For more information, visit the Opportunities Conference website. Please contact Brooklyn Dellinger with any questions.

GCAP Trivia

QUESTION: How many Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses (SDVOSB) are registered in the State of North Carolina in 2022?

See below for the answer to this month's trivia question.

Updating Your SBA Profile

Robin Livingston, GCAP Counselor (Fayetteville, Pembroke & Wilmington)

Your Small Business Administration (SBA) profile is instrumental in making your business visible to government agencies and prime contractors.

Updating your SBA profile with the appropriate North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes adds your business to the Dynamic Small Business Search (DSBS) database. Updating your SBA profile also enables you to receive government contract notifications based off the data from your System for Award Management (SAM) registration and SBA Profile.

When completing your SAM registration, you are given the option at the end of the registration to update your SBA profile. Some business owners skip this option in haste to get their SAM registration active. I recommend to all my clients that they complete the SBA profile during the SAM registration process.

If, for some reason, you didn’t complete your SBA profile during your initial SAM registration you can update it later by using the link in your SAM.gov profile under the Small Business Certification section. You can also access it through SBA’s General Login System (GLS) at this link. Additionally, you can access the DSBS directly here.

Who should register in DSBS?

• Small businesses that want to do business with the federal government
• Small businesses that meet the SBA size standards

Benefits of using DSBS:

• Federal Procurement Officers primary tool to conduct market research and confirm eligibility for SBA's procurement preference programs
• Great tool to identify small and minority business enterprises
• Generate client lead lists
• Identifying business enterprises by industry and other classifications
• Teaming arrangement leads
• Custom searching and sorting by capabilities

For assistance with updating your SBA profile or making your business more visible to government agencies or prime contractors, you can identify your local GCAP Counselor here.

Meet Robin Livingston

GCAP Counselor (Fayetteville, Pembroke & Wilmington)

Q. What motivated you to join GCAP as a Government Procurement Counselor?

A. My experience as a Contracting and Logistical Officer procuring equipment, supplies, products, and services in multiple Commands all over the World for over 25 years drives my motivation to our clients with contracting opportunities. My interest is assisting small, disadvantaged, and minority-owned businesses with securing government contracts to create generational wealth for their families while creating economic growth for the state of North Carolina. Helping to close the wealth gap in America is a personal passion. My role at the SBTDC allows me to use my experience to help entrepreneurs navigate the government contracting landscape. This is my way of giving back while improving my community, North Carolina, and the United States.

Q. What are your sector specialties?

A. I specialize in government procurement. I have extensive knowledge, training, and certifications in procurement actions. I have experience interpreting and implementing guidance from the Federal Acquisition Regulation (CFR) and Code of Federal Regulation (FAR) as it relates to contracting and procurement actions. I have a specific passion with assisting Veteran-Owned Small Business (VOSB) and Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) business owners with their certifications and securing contracting opportunities.

Q. What do you enjoy most about working with small and mid-sized businesses?

A: I enjoy assisting small and mid-sized businesses with pursuing their dreams of growing their business. It is a satisfying occupation watching businesses grow as they implement recommended guidance from our professional GCAP Counselors. I enjoy providing education and resources to help small and mid-sized businesses with government contracting opportunities. An added satisfaction is that our services are free of charge and confidential. This is a huge benefit to entrepreneurs starting a business and pursuing contracting opportunities.

SAM UEI Replacing DUNS on April 4

Starting on April 4, 2022, the usage of DUNS numbers by the System for Award Management (SAM) will cease. The new Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) will replace the DUNS number on all SAM accounts. 

If you have a SAM account, you already have a UEI. To find it, open up your SAM account and your company's UEI will be listed in the upper right corner.

Success Story

Briarwood Cattle Farm, LLC

Robin Livingston, GCAP Counselor (Fayetteville, Pembroke & Wilmington)

Briarwood Cattle Farm is a first-generation cattle farm owned and operated by veteran Marvin Frink and his wife, Tanisha. After serving honorably in the U.S. Army, his father [the late Reverend Kirby Frink] saw that Marvin was suffering from PTSD and knew that farming and raising cattle would help. Living out his father’s wishes, Marvin is now grazing a good healthy herd of Black Angus cattle near Raeford, NC.

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In 2015, a lifelong dream became a reality. To ensure success, Marvin continues to educate himself in cattle ranching. Marvin and Tanisha are committed to supporting veterans and their community. They are doing their part to close the wealth gap in America.

I met Marvin in August of 2019 at a GCAP outreach event we were hosting at the Greater Chamber of Fayetteville. Marvin registered to become a client with SBTDC that very week.

Since then, Briarwood Cattle Farm, LLC has received assistance with their DUNS, SAM registration, business capability statement, and local, state, and federal contracting opportunities. Briarwood Cattle Farm has continued to grow and has expanded their operations to a 27,000 square foot meat processing plant named Briarwood Custom Meats, LLC in Fairmont, NC. Briarwood Custom Meats, LLC is a state-of-the-art processing plant that will be opening its doors in 2022 to all farmers, retailers, and merchants and will provide them with vacuum packed processing for their beef and pork.

Marvin and Tanisha said, “The SBTDC and GCAP is an excellent resource for small and mid-size businesses and have been instrumental in our company’s growing success.”

For more information about Briarwood Cattle Farm, LLC, please visit https://www.briarwoodcattlefarm.com/.

Trivia Answer

As of February 1, there are 1,554 North Carolina-based Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses (SDVOSB) listed in the SBA's Dynamic Small Business Search (DSBS) database.

Of this number, 346 are listed as having won at least one government contract.