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Federal Market Intelligence for Small Business |
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Column: Get Early Warning of Coming Opportunitiesby Tom Johnson, publisher, Set-Aside AlertIt’s that time of year again when the major agencies are required to post their forecasts for procurements anticipated in the coming year. Section 8(a)12(C) of the Small Business Act requires preparation of the forecast and periodic update throughout the year. These compilations are valuable resources for top management, business development executives, proposal writing teams and small business capture specialists. The content of the forecasts varies from agency-to-agency, but the existence of these plans contributes to the transparency that characterizes the federal market. What’s in the forecast? Forecasts generally contain the following information about each opportunity expected to go to contract in the coming year:
The title or description is usually sufficient to identify requirements that are of targeted interest to you. The title also serves as a valuable label if the contract is a recompete of an expiring contract, or if the contract was previously announced through a Sources Sought or Request for Information notice. If that’s the case, do a keyword search in FedBizOpps’ active or archive file to pull up the statement of work from the prior year. Where are forecasts posted? Finding the forecast for a specific agency can be difficult. Some forecasts are known as “Acquisition Forecast” or “Acquisition Plan” or “FY18 Contracts” list or “Contracting Opportunities” listings. If that search isn’t successful, try “Long-Range Acquisition Estimate.” Most agencies assign the responsibility for producing and publishing the forecast to the Procurement or Acquisition office. Other agencies may assign the publication responsibility to the Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU) or Office of Small Business Programs. A master list of agencies that prepare forecasts and links to their website appears in acquisition.gov. A few of these links are broken but most lead you directly to the intended agency page where you can view the data. Since agencies are expected to post their forecast for the coming year in October of each year, the connecting links might be updated as the new forecast is loaded to the agency website. Alternatively, you can check the Acquisition and Small Business pages of each agency directly. How are the forecasts helpful? At last month’s SmartProc conference in Frederick MD, a panel of OSDBU representatives highlighted their forecasts as the place for companies to identify opportunities and the contact information for contracting specialists and program officials. DHS OSDBU director Kevin Boshears noted that their forecast system is updated dynamically, with new information being posted as to opportunities, contacts and timing. DHS now is posting Acquisition Forecasts for each contract vehicle, broken down into FirstSource, EAGLE, OASIS, PACTS and TABSS. The index page also breaks out cuts by bureau, so you can really target your searches. These assist you in identifying the specific bureau you should be selling to. Bob Connolly, OSDBU at the Department of Justice, noted that their update was being posted on the Internet that week, so fresh data is now available. It is posted in both PDF and Excel formats. Ken Carkhuff, director of NAVAIR’s Office of Small Business Programs, pointed out that major commands post their forecasts separate from Navy’s comprehensive plan. This enables companies to target their searches to specific functional organizations. Jerome Maultsby, small business programs director for U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command, spoke about his command-specific plan and the value it provides to potential contractors. The plan offers estimated values and points of contact with their email addresses. What to watch out for If an agency posts a procurement on its forecast, chances are very high that it is a project they need and intend to pursue. The data provided is good at the time of publication. As the year progresses, contacts may be reassigned and estimated dollar values may be increased or decreased. Serious concerns arise regarding the timing of the expected procurements. The agency procurement shop and the small business office often have little or no control over when a procurement statement of work will be ready or when funding will be available. As a result, the forecasts have been given negative views in the past. Especially in today’s situation where Congress delays passing the budget and institutes continuing resolutions, funding – especially of new projects – is at risk. Furthermore, once the budget is in place and appropriations bills are adopted and signed into law, the Office of Management and Budget may still delay the internal allocation of funds. This also can derail projects. Net-Net Forecasts are key long-range indicators of the procurements the agency intends to pursue. Reviewing these documents can give you months of advance warning about important opportunities down the road. Don’t ignore information that can give you a significant lead over the competition.
Tom Johnson is the publisher of Set-Aside Alert. He can be reached at tjohnson@setasidealert.com.
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