21 Feb, 2012
U.S. Introduces Legislation to Help Small Businesses Win Govt Contracts
St. Petersburg, FL (PRWEB) February 19, 2012 — The Contractor Opportunity Protection (COP) Act, introduced to the House yesterday, will battle government contract bundling in order to protect small businesses. Sponsored by Republican lawmakers Small Business Committee Chairman Sam Graves (R-Mo) and Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.), the COP will require government agencies to justify and defend when contracts are bundled and awarded to large companies.
When government contracts are bundled, they contain requirements that were originally spread across several contracts and require the need for multiple unrelated goods or services that have been lumped together to form a single contract. Contract bundling creates a disadvantage for small businesses that may have otherwise been able to carry out the contract, but are unable with the multitude of required services.
The COP will allow the Small Business Administration the ability to formally appeal bundled contracts to the Civilian Board of Contract Appeals, which will then determine whether contracts should be unbundled in order to take bids from small businesses. If the SBA declines to appeal a bundling decision, the COP will allow third parties such as small businesses or small business advocacy groups to bring complaints before the General Accounting Office.
House representative Allen West was quoted in an article by the Washington Post saying, “Thousands of small businesses around the country seek federal contracts every year and often have a difficult time navigating the process.”
The quickest, easiest and cheapest way for small businesses to find out what government contracts they qualify for is by requesting a free Government Contracting Profitability Assessment. This gives businesses a quick snapshot of how much money the federal government spends in certain industries. Businesses can also perform some additional research on FBO.gov and the Federal Procurement Data System in order to check out their competitors and see what services are in demand by government agencies.
In order to do business with the federal government, whether it’s contracts or grants, you must complete CCR registration. ORCA filing is also required for vendors looking for contracts. There are two ways to complete this step. You can take courses to learn how to complete the CCR and ORCA correctly which can take as much as 20 hours to complete and then file your CCR and ORCA on your own. However, if you’re in a rush to get registered and you want to be certain of an accurate registration, you can have a case manager assigned by a third party firm to complete and file your registration on your behalf. An experienced third party can complete your CCR registration quickly and a case manager knows how to avoid common CCR registration mistakes. Using a third party firm may have other perks as well, such as allowing you to qualify for the Verified Vendor Seal.
US Federal Contractor Registration is a third party registration firm that has helped thousands of businesses complete their CCR registration and bid on contracts. US Federal Contractor Registration pairs businesses with a dedicated case manager who helps them every step of the way from initial registration to bidding on contracts. To request a free evaluation and assessment by a Placement Specialist for your business, call the Contractor Helpline at (877) 252-2700 ext 1 or visit https://www.uscontractorregistration.com/.
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