Small Business First

<p>Re-instate the web site www.gsa.gov/cae How to become a contractor videos.</p><p>Looked like a great site but it has been taken down.</p><p>P.S. Really enjoyed the video presentation.</p>

<p>In the short experience I have had so far with the government opportunities, I have found that there is so much information out there, it is vastly overwhelming. The OSBU has been helpful... but only to a point. My &quot;blanket&quot; response (and this does not count for every office/person I have spoken to) has been great at first contact with providing information/answering questions etc but when I follow up with an additional question or try to reconnect, it seems nearly impossible.</p><p>That being said, in regards to the other topic that has been posted, this isn&#39;t an easy process to get work. However, I have been working at it for only a few months and the deeper I get into it, the more opportunities I find, and the closer I feel to closing in on a contract to get the ball rolling.&nbsp;</p><p>The easiest things aren&#39;t always worth obtaining.&nbsp;</p>

<p>GS-27F-0026X is exactly correct Alan. First make sure that you&#39;re squared away with CCR and Orca. SBA is who you work with for 8a status. And lastly, I highly recommend going to the Vendor Support Center vsc.gsa.gov and take their &#39;New Contractor Orientattion Educational Seminar&#39; and get your certification, then take the &#39;Pathway to Success&#39; (which is a prereguisit) and obtain your certification. If you are still not put off of the idea after that, then it is time for the real work to begin.</p><p>Nothing about this is either fast or easy. Its not supposed to be. But it can be highly rewarding if you have the determination to achieve success in government contracting.</p><p>Best wishes.</p>

<p>Alan,</p><p>Your post is a little confusing. &nbsp;From my understanding, GSA does not determine 8(a) status. &nbsp;I believe that is handled by the SBA. &nbsp; As for obtaining a GSA &nbsp;schedule contract, everything you need to know can be accessed at the Vendor Support Site&nbsp;https://vsc.gsa.gov/ &nbsp;It may not look like much to start, but all of the links are there to get you started. &nbsp;Best of luck as from my experience there is not shortcut to securing a GSA contract. &nbsp;And once you have the contract in hand, it is not a guarantee that you will see any business from it. &nbsp;If you don&#39;t want to jump through the GSA hoops to start with, you might want to try your hand at contracting via more open venues like FedBizOps &nbsp;https://www.fbo.gov/ &nbsp;or FedBid &nbsp;http://www.fedbid.com/ &nbsp;You will still have to register with CCR &nbsp;https://www.bpn.gov/ccr/ and keep your ORCA&nbsp;https://orca.bpn.gov/ registration current, but that is nothing compared to securing and managing a GSA schedule contract. &nbsp;Like I said, best of luck. &nbsp;Government contracting can be rewarding and profitable, but it is not easy, fast, simple or sure-fire -even with 8(a) status. &nbsp;</p>

<p>I am working with a Small Business Minority Owned&nbsp;Security Company&nbsp;who recently obtained 8(a) status from GSA.&nbsp; We are seeking information on the best way forward to secure GSA contracts in the DC Metropolitan area.&nbsp; Any advice and/or assistance on the shortest route to securing a government contract would be greatly appreciated as well as gaining access to capital and GSA property, such as surplused vehicles,etc.</p><p>Alan White</p><p>Sentry Security International, licensed in DC, MD &amp; VA</p>