8a Certification

8a Certification is required before the GSA will give a minority owned or woman owned small business the benefits of federal contracts that have been set-aside for such businesses.  The process can be long and tedious if you do it yourself.  It can be much quicker and cheaper (in the long run) to hire a company that specializes in federal government contracting and 8a Certification.  The reason it can be longer and more tedious is because a simple mistake at the beginning (like entering the wrong procurement classification code) and your whole application can be processed incorrectly.  Companies that specialize in 8a Certfication have seen the potential areas for messing up an application and know up front what questions to ask you so that your application is processed correctly from the beginning. 

This GSA Website has a ton of information dealing with 8a Certification, Central Contracor Registration, Set Asides for Small Businesses, DUNS Numbers, Form 1010 and GSA Contracts.

8a Certified Business

An 8a Certified Business is a small business which has been registered with the GSA as being economically or socially disadvantaged. In general, most 8a businesses are either minority owned or women owned. The GSA has identified a number of races as qualifying for minority status. These include: African-Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Pacific Americans, Native Americans (American Indians, Eskimos, Aleuts, or Native Hawaiians), and Subcontinent Asian Americans. If you are not a member of one of these groups you may still be able to show that you are socially disadvantaged to receive 8a consideration.

Check out this GSA Website for more articles on 8a Certification, CCR Registration, Small Business Set Asides, DUNS Numbers, and GSA Contracts. 

Your Business Needs a GSA Contract

In June, 2006, I posted about how I helped an online business selling thermal underwear obtain a contract through GSA. The online business recently informed me that the federal government placed two substantial orders for thermal underwear in the middle of June. Not quite selling ice cream to an eskimo but pretty close. The orders were placed through the online catalog GSA has made available to every federal and state government agency in the United States (now that's free advertising on a nationwide scale!).

For more information on obtaining a GSA Contract for your company check out this article titled What is GSA.

Apparently selling thermal underwear (and probably a million other products) is only seasonal if you do not have a contract to sell to the federal government. What does this mean to you? It should mean that you need a GSA contract for your business.

Get Your GSA Schedule

One of my retail clients contacted me several years ago about setting them up with a GSA Schedule.  A GSA Schedule is what the Federal Government calls it when your business is added to its approved list of private contractors entitled to sell goods and services to the Federal Government. The list basically filters the massive numbers of non-GSA businesses from the relatively small list of GSA businesses and gives preference to the GSA businesses. GSA businesses are added to a searchable Google-like database where Federal Procurement Officers (like the Armed Services and different Departments) can search for GSA approved businesses and products. A GSA schedule makes it easier for a business to contact government purchasers and market their products to the Federal government.

My client wanted to sell winter clothing to the Federal Government and felt that being added to the GSA Schedule list would give them a better chance at doing so.  We filled out the paperwork and after several months of back and forth with our contract officer and an on-site inspection my client was awarded a GSA Contract.  Now that my client has been added to the GSA list they are selling tens of thousands of dollars worth of clothing to the Federal Government each year. In case you are wondering who my client is their GSA Contract number is GS07F9374S.

In addition to the standard GSA Contract Schedule, it is also possible to have your business listed as an "8a Contractor" or "8a Business" which increases your opportunities to sell to the Federal Government even more.  In brief, an 8a contractor is a minority owned business or woman owned business that has been socially or economically disadvantaged.