Apr 16, 2010 -
The first American Express OPEN Victory in Procurement (VIP) Small Business survey was released, reporting on findings from more than 1,500 business owners listed in the Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS) and registered on the Central Contractor Registration (CCR), the primary vendor database for the federal government.
Including active contractors, currently inactive, and non-contractors1, the survey revealed compelling best practices for small businesses to succeed in government contracting. The two most important pieces of advice that successful contractors offered are to start with small contracts since they can lead to larger opportunities and to be persistent.
Active contractors made an estimated $86,000 investment in time and money in 2009 seeking federal contracts. The median sales for active small business contractors was between $1 and $4.9 million, and federal contracts accounted for 38% of their revenues.
Many small business owners who have not yet won their first prime contract are just getting started. Four in ten (42%) non-contractors have started pursuing federal contracting only recently, having registered on the CCR (a necessary first step in the federal procurement process) in 2008 or later. Thus, many of them will become successful – if they keep bidding – over the next year.
The survey also found that getting on the General Services Administration (GSA) Schedule can be an important strategy for winning federal government business. The GSA Schedule is a list of approved vendors for the products and services the government procures. One-third (34%) of active small business contractors are on the GSA Schedule while only 13% of currently inactive contractors are on it. There is a significant gender difference in the firms who are seeking procurement opportunities through the GSA Schedule: 40% of women business owners who are active contractors are on the GSA Schedule versus 31% of men business owners.
In another marker of success, fully 80% of active small business contractors who are on the GSA Schedule have annual revenues of $1 million or more and derive 47% of their annual revenues – at least $500,000 per year – from federal contracts.
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With the bulk of the construction projects being funded with ARRA (American Recovery & Reinvestment Act OR Recovery Act) money; more and more contractors are making the leap from residential or commercial construction projects to government funded construction projects.
While there is a lot of really good information out there on HOW to do business with the government and getting yourself into the government construction arena – the one thing that seems to be missing in preparing contractors for this type of work – is the simple fact that these jobs require the submission of a Weekly Certified Payroll Report.
Almost anyone will tell you that completing a certified payroll report on a weekly basis is a time-consuming, error-prone, and frustrating task!
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Form WH-347 and WH-348 is one of the simplest forms to complete, however, they estimate that it will take 1 hour to complete a form containing information about eight employees for a single job.
You need to realize that a weekly certified payroll report is only one of the many possible reports that, you as a contractor working on Federal, State, or ARRA funded construction projects, will have to submit — other required forms, such as Fringe Benefit Reports, EEOC/Work Utilization Reports, and ARRA Reports; are an important piece of your overall cash flow management.
When you screw up your certified payroll reports, bad things happen; none of which put you in good standing with the Project Owner/General Contractor, Department of Labor, etc. and can damage the overall cash position of your company.
Download this article, which will help you to complete a certified payroll report
OR
Sign up for our monthly 2-hour live webinar ($69.00 per person) to learn more.
Beginning in June, Sunburst will be offering a monthly, live and on-line, certified payroll training class.
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