Types of Set-Asides

• 8(A) Set-Aside - Only certified firms can compete. In order to be qualified, you must contact the small business administration (SBA) in your area for information, or go to their website. 8(a) firms are also eligible to receive sole source contracts through the 8(a) program.

• HUBZone Set-Aside - Only certified firms can compete. In order to be qualified, you must contact the SBA in your area for information, or go to their website for information. 
• Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Set-Aside - Only offers from service-disabled veteran-owned small business firms will be accepted. Each solicitation package will specify the size standard that applies. Firms self-certify their size status at the time they submit their offer. No prequalification from the Corps, SBA, or any other agency is required. However, in order to protect our Veterans, their families and survivors who have Veteran-owned small businesses (VOSB), President Obama Signed the Veterans Small Business Verification Act contained in the Veterans Benefits Act of 2010 on October 13, 2010.  This law expands VA’s requirement to verify business status as owned and operated by Veterans, service-disabled Veterans or eligible surviving spouses.  To learn more about the verification process, go to CVE website.
• Women-Owned Set-Aside - The Women-Owned Small Business Federal Contract Program provides equal access to federal contracting opportunities for women-owned small businesses (WOSB) and economically disadvantaged women-owned small businesses (EDWOSBs). The program allows contracting officers to set aside specific federal contracts for WOSBs and EDWOSBs.  To learn more about the WOSB and EDWOSBs programs, go to the SBA website.
• Small Business Set-Aside - Only offers from small business firms will be accepted. Each solicitation package will specify the size standard that applies. Firms self-certify their size status at the time they submit their offer. No prequalification from the Corps, SBA, or any other agency is required. Small Business firms are encouraged to contact SBA to see if they qualify to be certified as a HUBZone or 8(a) firm. Firms who receive HUBZone or 8(a) certification are eligible for business development assistance from SBA. 

The Corps of Engineers buys a variety of supplies, services, construction and engineering services. Examples of some of these acquisitions are provided below:

CONSTRUCTION: Barracks, dining facilities, maintenance shops, hangers, hospitals, airfields, roads, levees, dams, hazardous and toxic waste remediation, and dredging.

ENGINEERING SERVICES: Concept studies, master planning, engineering studies, all types of surveying and mapping, engineering design and construction and inspection services.

OTHER SERVICES: Trash collection, grass mowing, janitorial, oversee and maintain recreational parks, stenographic, and real estate appraisal.

SUPPLIES AND EQUIPMENT: Generators, turbines, heating, ventilation and air conditioning equipment, kitchen equipment, electronic gear, petroleum products, repair parts, lumber, cement, computers and peripheral equipment, and publications.

The Army Corps of Engineers is very interested in doing business with qualified small, small disadvantaged, veteran-owned, service-disabled veteran owned small business,  woman-owned  and HUBZone small business business concerns. Below are tips to selling/marketing to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

1. Visit the web site for the District(s) with which you desire to do business in order to learn about the district's missions and the types of services/supplies each procures. Call, write or visit the Corps of Engineers Deputy for Small Business with each district.

2. Discuss your capabilities, interest and capacities to perform with the Deputy for Small Business.

3. Be alert to the announcements of Business Opportunity Conferences, Trade Fairs and other federally attended or sponsored liaison meetings in your area. Make it a point to attend whenever possible. The Corps of Engineers is represented at most such meetings. This is an excellent opportunity to meet on a person-to-person basis with procurement and small business specialists who can assist small and small disadvantaged businesses with the selling of their services or products.

4. Visit the Corps of Engineers websites. The Headquarters site is located at http://www.usace.army.mil. The New York District website also contains information about upcoming New York District projects on www.fbo.gov and other general information of interest to firms seeking business opportunities with the federal government.

5. The Federal Government requires all contractors to create a user account and register in the System for Award Management (SAM) database. Contractors must be registered in the SAM before they can be awarded a DoD contract. The only exceptions will be for purchases made with the Government wide commercial purchase card, contracting offices located outside the U.S., classified contacts, and contracts executed to support contingency or emergency operations. Create an Individual User Account to perform tasks such as register/update your entity (legacy CCR/FedReg and ORCA functionality).
 
6. DUN and Bradstreet (DUNS) numbers and Contractor Entity Codes (CECs) can be obtained by calling 800-333-0505 (8am-6pm EST). Both the call and service are free. DUNS numbers can be obtained online at http://fedgov.dnb.com/webform.

In order to certify itself as a small disadvantaged business for prime contract awards, firms must be certified by the Small Business Administration (SBA). See information on this certification requirement,  http://www.sba.gov

The Department of Defense (DoD) requires that its prime contractors make the maximum use possible of small, small disadvantaged (to include HBCU/MIs), women-owned small business, HUBZone, Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned and Veteran-Owned firms in its subcontracting program. Large business awarded federal contracts, valued at more than $1.5 million for construction or $650,000.00 for other than construction, are required to submit subcontracting plans designed to maximize the participation of small and small disadvantaged business concerns and subcontractors. Personnel from the DoD and the Small Business Administration make periodic reviews at contractor's plants to verify compliance with this program.

When submitting subcontract plans in response to Corps of Engineers solicitations, large prime contractors are encouraged to review Army Federal Acquisition Regulation, Appendix DD, SUBCONTRACTING PLAN EVALUATION GUIDE. This guide provides a methodology for uniform and consistent evaluation of subcontracting plans within the Army, and is available at http://www.arnet.gov/far/ , click on AFARS. Additional instructions on how to complete the subcontracting reports can be obtained from the Deputy for Small Business. Subcontracting reports are submitted electronically through the electronic subcontracting reporting system at www.esrs.gov.

A listing of all Department of Defense Prime Contractors with Subcontract Plans is located at the SBA internet address stated on the front page of this booklet.  Large business concerns receiving contract awards valued in excess of the following are required to submit small business subcontracting plans for review by the Deputy for Small Business and approval by the Contracting Officer.

* $1,500,000 for construction
* $650,000 for other than construction

The plans include dollar and percent goals for small business, small disadvantaged business, veteran-owned small business, services-disabled veteran-owned small business, woman-owned business, historically black colleges/universities and minority institutions, and HUBZone small business.

- Firms can locate small, small disadvantaged, and small women-owned business firms for subcontracting by accessing SBA Dynamic Small Business search, http://web.sba.gov/pro-net/search/dsp_dsbs.cfm. Firms can be searched for by NAICS codes, key words, location, government and self certifications, business type, socio-economic category and more.

It is recommended that all small business firms search the U.S. Small Business Administration Subcontracting Network, http://web.sba.gov/subnet/search/index.cfm?CFID=27011629&CFTOKEN=4959e1bbaa38d3b-43A3661C-EA2F-7377-E74BEFE7FA58DF50 .  Small business should list their interest for subcontracting in the Interested Vendor tab of www.fbo.gov and after searching with W912DS as a keyword/solicitation number search. 

In order to be awarded a Federal Government prime contract;  contractors are required to register in System for Award Management (SAM). https://www.sam.gov/portal/public/SAM/.  

1.    Standard Forms 330 are available on the Internet at: http://www.gsa.gov/forms. Under Standard and Optional Forms, click on Forms by Number, and continue through the listing to the A-E forms.

They are in both Adobe Acrobat PDF and FormFlow formats. With either format, the forms can be filled in on the screen and printed out.  However, the format of the forms can not be altered. This site also tells how to order the hard copy forms from the Government Printing Office.

2.       Engineer Pamphlet (EP) 715-1-7, How to Obtain Consideration for Architect-Engineer Contracts with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, dated Feburary 2012, can be found here.

The pamphlet describes the Corps' A-E acquisition procedures, including how primary and secondary selection criteria are applied by preselection and selection boards, debriefings of unsuccessful firms and performance evaluations. It also contains a listing of Internet addresses relevant to A-E Contracting. This EP is very useful information for firms seeking A-E contracts with the Corps.

150,000 and less

GSA Multiple Award orders are solicited using eBuy:
http://www.gsa.gov/portal/content/104675

- Simplified purchasing procedures are utilized.

- FAR Part 13 and its supplements apply.

Acquisitions valued at $3,000 or less do not require competition and are classified
as micro-purchase requirements. These requirements are generally purchased
using the Government wide purchase card.

a) Solicitation, evaluation of quotations, and award.

(1) To the extent practicable, micro-purchases shall be distributed equitably among qualified suppliers.

(2) Micro-purchases may be awarded without soliciting competitive quotations if the contracting officer or individual appointed in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 1.603-3(b) considers the price to be reasonable.

(3) The administrative cost of verifying the reasonableness of the price for purchases may more than offset potential savings from detecting instances of overpricing. Therefore, action to verify price reasonableness need only be taken if --

(i) The contracting officer or individual appointed in accordance with 1.603-3 (b) suspects or has information to indicate that the price may not be reasonable (e.g., comparison to the previous price paid or personal knowledge of the supply or service); or

(ii) Purchasing a supply or service for which no comparable pricing information is readily available (e.g., a supply or service that is not the same as, or is not similar to, other supplies or services that have recently been purchased on a competitive basis).

Location and Point of contact    

These individuals can assist small business firms in learning how to do business with the Federal Government. They can also provide information to large business firms on subcontract plan requirements and small business sources.

Using the SBA Dynamic Small Business Search and SBA SUB-NET, large business prime contractors can locate SB, SDB, VOSB, SDVOSB, WOB, and HUBZone SB firms.   

You may obtain a listing of all Corps of Engineers Deputies for Small Business through the Organization icon at the USACE HQ internet address on the front page of this booklet.

• HQ, Corps of Engineers

• Small Business Admin

  Loan information; listing of Federal subcontracting opportunities; SBA office listings; 8(a) program information; upcoming small business workshops; search capability for 8(a) contractors; POCs for identification of woman-owned business firms. Information is available on PRO-NET, SBA's new tool for locating small, disadvantaged, and woman-owned business concerns.  Small Business Firms can register on-line through the SBA website.  The SBA Women-Owned Business Center is located at http://www.onlinewbc.org.

   

• DoD SADBU

  Listing of offices; SBIR and STTR information; HBCU/MI and WOSB information; mentor-protegee program.

   

• SAM.GOV

  Listing of all Federal Government acquisitions in excess of $100,000.00.

   

• Federal Employment Opportunities
  Listing of Federal job opportunities. 
   

• US Navy Activities:

  U.S. Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC). Combined Acquisition Office Procurement Opportunities: call 904-542-5571, x101.  

For firms who feel they have been unfairly treated contact Regulatory Enforcement Fairness, Office of the National Ombudsman, U.S. Small Business Administration.

409 3rd Street, S.W.,

Washington, DC 20416,

telephone: (886) 734-3247

http://www.sba.gov/ombudsman.