Insight 1: 8(a) Certified Firm’s Average Sales Data
| 8(a) Certification | Total 8(a) Federal Sales | Number of 8(a) Firms | Average 8(a) Sales |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8(a) Totals / Averages | 27,490,719,468 | 5,739 | 4,790,342 |
8(a) firms have a nine years of program eligibility and after that point in time they are graduated and are ineligible for future 8(a) work.
Following our best practices is critical to taking full advantage of your time in the 8(a) program.
Call now for a brief strategy discussion or continue reading for more insights!
Insight 2: 8(a) Certification Qualifications
Below is a link to our 8(a) Certification Qualification Tool. It allows you to self assess your eligibility for the 8(a) program. For questions or issues please feel free to give us a call and we can work through any questions you have with you.
- The firm must be a small business in its Primary NAICS Code. Please view the list of NAICS and their length requirements for verification. Click here for the table of small business size standards. https://www.sba.gov/document/support-table-size-standards
Insight 3: 8(a) Sole Source Contracts
8(a) firms are permitted to obtain direct award contracts from federal buyers called sole source contracts.
Sole Source Contracts provide benefit to both the 8(a) firm and the federal buyers. Using a Sole-source contract reduces the amount of time from months to a few weeks.
The contracting officer must believe the procurement is being made at or near market rates.
The procurement must be less than $4,000,000.
8(a) firms are awarded between $10-15 billion dollars in contracts per year through the Sole Source Method.
Pro-Tip: Procurement officers will generally build relationships with reliable 8(a) firms and then use a few different 8(a) contractors making multiple Sole Source Awards on a routine basis. Getting on this rotation is key to 8(a) Success.
Insight 4: 8(a) Certification + GSA Schedule Average Sales
| 8(a) Certification | Total 8(a) + GSA Federal Sales | Number of 8(a) Firms | Average 8(a) Sales |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8(a) Certification + GSA Schedule Contract (Totals / Averages) | 17,694,435,193 | 1,492 | 11,863,199 |
8(a) firms that take the next step and obtain a GSA Schedule have 2.5x the sales as their non-GSA counterparts.
Pro-Tip: The lead time for obtaining a GSA Schedule is generally slightly longer than the timeframe for being accepted into the 8(a) Program so keep this in mind when you are working through your firm’s 8(a) Marketing Strategy.
We get hundreds of clients a GSA/MAS Contract each year.
Insight 5: 8(a) Certification + GSA Sales Industry Data
Sales vary between industries for 8(a) Certified firms
Click on your industry below to see specific industry related 8(a) sales data.
- Accounting
- Architectural
- Computer Hardware
- Computer Services
- Construction General Contractor (GC)
- Construction Trade
- Custodial / Landscaping / Janitorial Services
- Engineering
- Environmental
- Financial
- Legal
- Management Consulting Services
- Manufacturing
- Medical Offices / Doctors Offices
- Medical Supply
- Real Estate Firms
- Security
- Staffing
- Translation
- Wholesale
- Totals / Average
Totals / Average
| 8(a) Average Sales this Industry | GSA Schedule Sales for a firm with an 8(a) in this Industry | Synergy (Generally adding an 8(a) to a GSA Creates More Sales than from the GSA Schedule Alone) | Synergy Ratio | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8(a) Industry Grouping | Total 8(a) Federal Sales | Number of 8(a) Firms | Average 8(a) Sales | GSA Schedule Only Sales 8(a) Firms | Number of 8(a) Firms w/ GSA Schedule | Average 8(a) Sales Directly from the GSA Schedule System | Total Federal Sales 8(a) GSA Contract Holders | Number of 8(a) Firms w/ GSA Schedule | Average Total 8(a) Federal Sales for firms with a GSA Schedule | GSA Schedule Sales Advantage | |||
Insight 6: Building a Contracting Officer Hot List
How to Build an 8(a) Hot List – Awarded contracts for the past two-years can be found in the sam.gov database. Finding awarded contracts in your service area and industry and contacting the procurement officer that awarded your target contract is a great way to find future “hidden” procurements that match your firm’s capabilities.
Once you land a contract with one of your target agencies we recommend focusing on that agency. The federal government is very large and spreading yourself to thin generally reduces your sales effectiveness.
Once you master working with that initial agency you can leverage that past performance to move to other agencies. Typically, our most successful client's contract with three agencies or less.
Pro-tip: In the dsbs.gov you can look up who are the existing 8(a) firms in your industry and in your geographic location, as well as their 9-year 8(a) program graduation date. Because many 8(a) firm’s contracts are awarded on a recurring basis contacting the federal buyers who will need a new 8(a) firm to replace their graduating 8(a) vendor can be a good strategy.
Insight 7: Set-aside Contracts for 8(a) Firms
Set-aside Contracts Explained – 8(a) Set-aside Contracts are limited so that only 8(a) firms are permitted to bid on them. This means that to bid on the contract your firm must have the 8(a) designation.
Opportunity Dollar Value – The federal government awards more than $15 billion dollars annually to 8(a) firms via Set-aside Contracts.
We find that many of our clients start off winning Sole Source Contracts and as they grow take advantage of the larger Set-aside contracts because this strategy grows their revenue faster.
Pro-tip: Monitoring RFIs (Request for Information) in your industry can be key. Once the RFI is issued if enough 8(a) firms express interest in the procurement the procurement officer can switch the procurement from an Open-Source Contract to a Set-aside Contract depending on interest. This benefits the federal contracting officer because Set-aside contracts are less work and faster to award than Open-Source Contracts.
Insight 8: “Excellent” Past Performance is the Key to Your Future
One of the biggest mistakes we see 8(a) firms make is to not safeguard their Past Performance Ranking. A federal contractors past performance is their currency for obtaining future work and therefore having adequate communication with the contracting officer to ensure that they are pleased with your work is a critical safeguard we recommend all 8(a) firms follow.
Federal performance usually grades the following items: quality, timeliness, performance and business relations. The scale is (5) Excellent, (4) Good, (3) Acceptable, (2) Poor, and (1) Unacceptable. Obtaining an “Excellent” rating makes winning your next contract that much easier and fosters building a solid relationship with that agency.
Pro-Tip: An “Excellent” rated firm can generally charge about 5-7% more than a “Good” rate firm and still win the procurement. So, there is value in providing quality.
Insight 9: GWACs, IDIQ, and BPAs are “STAR Procurements”
A great way for 8(a) firms to leverage their capabilities and past performance is to obtain positions on GWAC contracts. This method of procurement is so popular that there is even a special GWAC that is only for 8(a) IT firms called 8(a) STARS. A position on this contract alone can be worth several million dollars per year in IT contracts. These contracts provide your firm with access to a large “bucket” of money that have a finite number of potential vendors.
Pro-Tip: Many of these multi-agency contracts have reserved places for 8(a) firms. Therefore, obtaining a position on these contracts reduces your competition to the few 8(a) firms that were awarded a position on that contract.
We are experts at helping clients obtain positions on these contracting vehicles and complete hundreds of varying GWAC, IDIQ, and BPA contracts annually for our clients.
Insight 10: Using Joint Venture to Expanding your Capabilities
8(a) firms use Joint Venture and the Mentor Protégé program in a variety of different ways. New 8(a) firms often partner with recently graduated firms to share in the graduated firms existing contracts. In other cases, 8(a) firms team up with larger firms to meet the capabilities needed for large procurements.
| 8(a) Industry Group | 2023 JV Federal Sales | Number of 8(a) JV Firms | Average 8(a) JV Sales |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8(a) JV (Totals / Averages) | $ 3,710,406,710 | 983 | $ 3,774,574 |
One of the requirement for an 8(a) Joint Venture is that the 8(a) firm will receive at least 40% of the revenue and profit from the arrangement.
Firms where management has strong ties before going into the JV agreement generally work best because trust and rapport is needed for a successful JV.
Pro-Tip: JV Arrangement work very well for obtaining positions on certain GWAC Contracts.
Strong Track Record of Client Approval
| Our 8a Clients | 8a Overall | |
|---|---|---|
| 8a Approval Rates | 99%+ | 25% (According to the SBA) |
| Success Once in the 8a Program | Our Clients Have Billions Per Year in Federal Sales | 20-25% of 8(a) Firms Never Obtain a Single Contract |
Strong Track Record of Client Success
Our Clients have over $1 billion dollars federal sales per year.
Our Role in Helping Clients Succeed!
We can make the process of transitioning into federal contracting faster, easier, with a greater ROI then completing these processes on your own.
- 8(a) Certifications
- WBENC and State WBE Applications
- All other SBA Certifications and State Applications
- GSA Schedule Applications
- Federal Bid Monitoring
- Subcontractor Registrations
- Building your Hot List of Federal Contractors
- GWACs (Major) – such as OASIS, ALLIANT, SEAPORT, SEWP, FedMall, Polaris
- All other BPA and IDIQ contracts
- Joint Venture SBA Applications
- Strategic Guidance for what has worked for making federal sales in your Industry.