Health and Human Services Dept. small business advocate Teresa Lewis is a straight talker when it comes to advising small businesses on how to sell to the government.

“If you come to me and say, ‘Hey, I’m great. Look at all the great information technology I can provide,’ I might say back to you, ‘ So what? We are not buying that kind of IT at my agency,’” Lewis told small business owners at a recent breakfast hosted by Set-Aside Alert.

Her point was that all contractors, even the smallest ones, need to know as much as possible about their customer’s mission needs before proceeding to try to sell a product or service. If the sales pitch is not targeted, it won’t be effective, Lewis said.

If the sales pitch is not targeted, it won’t be effective, Lewis said.

Lewis is the director of the HHS’ Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU). HHS is one of the largest departments for small business contracting, spending about $4.5 billion on small business in fiscal 2011, according to figures reported to the Small Business Administration. HHS exceeded its target for contracting with small vendors, with 24% of contracts going to small firms in 2011.

Lewis said small vendors should familiarize themselves with the Code of Federal Regulations, Federal Register and Federal Acquisition Regulation so they have a general understanding of the procurement rules governing the programs they are aiming for.

Another key document is each federal agency’s Budget in Brief, published annually as a justification for the president’s budget request to Congress. “That is the best place to start,” Lewis suggested. Business owners should review the Budget in Brief carefully to get an idea of how much money is likely to be available for the types of products and services they offer.

Another important step is to identify which agency’s buying office to target. Lewis recommended performing searches of your firm’s NAICS (North American Industry Classification System) code or codes in the Federal Procurement Data System to identify which buying offices are purchasing services in those codes.

When you seek help from the OSDBU, it’s good to identify which buying offices you are targeting, Lewis said. “Help us to help you,” she said. “I don’t have time to do your homework for you.”

It is critical for small businesses to be registered and identified in the appropriate federal registries, including SAM.gov. Lewis also recommended including your NAICS codes in all profiles and capabilities statements.

However, she cautioned against listing too many NAICS codes. Once, while she was searching for a small accounting firm to refer to a contracting officer, she found a firm with about 15 NAICS codes. When she called the owner, she was told that one worker knows administration, another knows IT, and so on, and NAICS codes were added for each skill.

“I didn’t refer that company,” Lewis said. Too many NAICS codes means “we won’t know what you do. Therefore, we don’t trust you can fulfill the requirements,” she said.

Other tips from Lewis:

• Check your online profile with SAM.gov for accuracy and completeness. It is still a new system and there have been unconfirmed reports of missing data.
• Get certified (as 8(a), veteran-owned, women-owned, etc.) if you qualify, but don’t mention it when you first walk in the door to speak with a federal acquisition representatifve or a prime contractor. Save it for last, after a thorough discussion of requirements, capabilities and what differentiates you from the competition.
• Check agency websites for information on upcoming programs and the annual Procurement Forecast. At HHS, Lewis said she has a team restructuring HHS’ annual forecast so it will have more helpful information needed by contractors.