Small Business in Government Contracting
Assignment 3: Encouragement of Small Business
Diana ALTOFT
Professor Whitney Davis
LEG440
11/13/2012
Government contracting can be a very lucrative endeavor for the small business owner, especially if you fall in one of the minority groups supported by the government’s socioeconomic programs. The encouragement of small business is an important goal of the government that is addressed by the Federal Acquisition Regulations. As stated in Feldman (2012), although the government’s primary interest in procuring goods and services is to obtain them on a competitive, best value basis, the government has also implemented through the procurement process policies to ensure that various basic socioeconomic objectives are met. Because of this, programs have been created which provide specific contracting and sub-contracting preferences to small businesses, small disadvantaged businesses, woman- and veteran- owned small businesses and small businesses located in historically underutilized business zones (HUBZones). The most common method by which the government gives preference in its procurements to small business concerns is by “setting aside” proposed contracts; i.e., reserving, all or part of a proposed procurement for exclusive participation by small business only. In order to qualify for these preferential programs, your small business must meet certain requirements and criteria to be eligible, but we’ll get to those requirements in a moment. So, if you’re a small business owner, interested in becoming involved in government contracting, and perhaps even fall into one of the preferred small business groups, you owe it to yourself to learn more about how to get involved in the government acquisition process.
First, let’s talk more about the preferred contracting groups. To begin with, you must be sure you qualify as a small business so you can take advantage of valuable government contracting opportunities reserved for small businesses concerns. To
Diana ALTOFT
Professor Whitney Davis
LEG440
11/13/2012
Government contracting can be a very lucrative endeavor for the small business owner, especially if you fall in one of the minority groups supported by the government’s socioeconomic programs. The encouragement of small business is an important goal of the government that is addressed by the Federal Acquisition Regulations. As stated in Feldman (2012), although the government’s primary interest in procuring goods and services is to obtain them on a competitive, best value basis, the government has also implemented through the procurement process policies to ensure that various basic socioeconomic objectives are met. Because of this, programs have been created which provide specific contracting and sub-contracting preferences to small businesses, small disadvantaged businesses, woman- and veteran- owned small businesses and small businesses located in historically underutilized business zones (HUBZones). The most common method by which the government gives preference in its procurements to small business concerns is by “setting aside” proposed contracts; i.e., reserving, all or part of a proposed procurement for exclusive participation by small business only. In order to qualify for these preferential programs, your small business must meet certain requirements and criteria to be eligible, but we’ll get to those requirements in a moment. So, if you’re a small business owner, interested in becoming involved in government contracting, and perhaps even fall into one of the preferred small business groups, you owe it to yourself to learn more about how to get involved in the government acquisition process.
First, let’s talk more about the preferred contracting groups. To begin with, you must be sure you qualify as a small business so you can take advantage of valuable government contracting opportunities reserved for small businesses concerns. To
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