According to SAM.gov, only less than 23% of registered Women-Owned Small Businesses have been awarded prime contracts. This is a great example of how important winning subcontracting awards is for small businesses involved in Federal procurement. EZGovOpps is here to provide some methods for researching subcontracting data, some shortcomings of publicly reported data, and the benefits of using a market intelligence platform for hunting down future subcontracting opportunities for your company.
While prime contractors are required by the Federal government to report their subcontracting data, public portals for whatever they do report are limited. When a prime contractor does report subcontracting information, it is compiled for public access on USASpending.gov. USASpending.gov is an incredibly useful resource for Federal contracting data, and it is the only publicly accessibly source for subcontracting data, which builds upon Federal databases such as eSRS and FPDS-NG. The Electronic Subcontracting Reporting System (eSRS), was launched in 2005 by the Small Business Administration and other agency partners as a unified, paperless system for Federal agencies and contractors to maintain reports on subcontractor performance and subcontracting plans.
These reports are based off of transactions reported through the Federal Procurement Database System -Next Generation (FPDS-NG). USASpending.gov can be used to track certain awards to subcontractors which is a useful tool for gaining a general understanding prime contractors you may want to target. However, some data is limited, and prime contractors may be slow in reporting any subcontracting awards data they may have. USASpending also requires that you search by the prime contractor name or DUNS number, which could lead to a longer search process if you are used to NAICS-centric opportunity searches.
In line with our recent article about building a business development strategy and capture management pipeline, finding possible subcontracting opportunities is easier with a market intelligence platform like EZGovOpps. Collecting data from hundreds of government sources, EZGovOpps allows for a comprehensive view of prime and sub-contracting opportunities across the Federal space. Using the advanced forecasting features of EZGovOpps, you’ll be able to search for prime contractors with subcontracting awards which ended or will end in the future, allowing for a broad look at possible opportunities to unseat a subcontractor if a prime recipient is expected to re-compete for the same opportunity. The EZGovOpps search tool further allows for advanced filtering of these opportunities with criteria such as the relevant NAICS code. However, it is important that the NAICS code for a subcontract can differ greatly from the NAICS code declared for the prime contract. Combining our tips for building a pipeline, our guide to making a strategy, and gathering the right human intelligence will give your company a competitive edge in the Federal marketplace and put you in a better position to win contracts.
Click the images below to see how EZGovOpps allows for advanced searching of subcontracting opportunities:
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