1. Lesson 3: Assisting Small Businesses
February 2017
The SBP must be familiar with various methods for educating small businesses about opportunities to do business with their agency at the prime and subcontracting levels.
Lesson 3: Assisting Small Businesses

2. How SBPs Assist Small Businesses
What type of assistance have you provided to small businesses?
What have you found to be key topics of interest to small businesses?
What types of questions do you typically get from small businesses?
Intermediate Small Business Programs
Assisting Small Business

3. Contracting Process for Acquisitions
Pre-Solicitation
Solicitation-Award
Post-Award
Education, Outreach, and Counseling
Pre-Solicitation
Post-Award
Solicitation-Award
Initial Planning/Form the Team
Solicitation (RFQ, IFB, RFP)
Monitor Performance
Market Research
Evaluation
Deliverables
Payments
Define Requirements (PWS, SOW, SOO)
Negotiation
Determining an acquisition strategy that involves subcontracting occurs during the Pre-Solicitation phase of the contracting process as the acquisition team, including the SBP, participates in:
Pre-solicitation planning for the acquisition
Conducting market research
Defining requirements
Recommending an acquisition strategy
Acquisition Business Strategy
Closeouts
Award
Subcontracting
3-3

4. Terminal Learning Objective
Provide assistance to small businesses in finding Government prime contract and subcontracting opportunities
The lesson focus is providing small businesses with assistance in finding government prime contract and subcontracting opportunities.
Intermediate Small Business Programs
Assisting Small Business

5. Enabling Learning Objectives
Given a scenario, counsel small businesses to find prime contracting opportunities
Given a scenario, counsel small businesses to find subcontracting opportunities
Intermediate Small Business Programs
Assisting Small Business

6. SBP Review Presentation: Assisting Small Businesses
SBP 201 Module 1: The Big Picture
SBP 201 Module 2: Small Business Special Programs and Initiatives
SBP 201 Module 3: The Small Business Professional
Intermediate Small Business Programs
Assisting Small Business

7. Assisting Small Business
Q & A Review
Intermediate Small Business Programs
Assisting Small Business

8. Value of Small Businesses in U.S. Economy?
Small Businesses Comprise:
99.9% of all firms
99.7% of firms with paid employees
80% of firms with no employees (23M)
99.7% of exporting firms (297K)
33.6% of known export value ($471B)
48.0% of private-sector employees (57M)
41.2% of private-sector payroll
Small Businesses Yield:
63.3% of net new jobs
Source: SBA Office of Advocacy FAQ, June 2016
When a small business receives a federal contract one outcome is potential increased revenue to grow and create jobs, which contributes to the economy of the region, as well as the country. The government, in turn, gains the advantage of receiving goods and services from the country’s greatest economic resource – small businesses.
As an SBP, counseling small businesses includes knowing what information to give or assistance to provide, as well as what not to do. For example, SBPs are not responsible for conducting marketing, developing marketing materials or assisting with writing business plans for those businesses.
The Federal Government exceeded the statutory goal of 23 percent of contracts awarded to small businesses in 2014 for the first time in seven years in large part, due to DoD exceeding its small business goal.
What happens when DoD does not meet its goal?
Intermediate Small Business Programs
Assisting Small Business

9. Value of Small Businesses to DoD?
Small businesses offer:
Flexibility to maneuver quickly, adapt to changes in markets, deliver timely products and services
Diversity of choice and options in affordable solutions which translates into innovation and technological advances
Increased competition which reduces cost and opens doors for more affordable solutions
In addition to fueling growth in the economy through small business contracting, small businesses offer solutions to DoD resulting from:
Their flexibility to maneuver quickly to adapt to changes in the market, which results in the ability of small businesses to deliver products faster. Many large businesses have to deal with their own bureaucracies, which can influence their ability to respond quickly.
Diversity resulting from the fact that there are more small businesses than large ones. As a result, small businesses approach finding solutions from different perspectives and use different methods to produce results, and that translates into more competition and innovation.
Increased competition, particularly in a tight fiscal environment, that produces increases in affordability.
Intermediate Small Business Programs
Assisting Small Business

10. Activity 3.1: Counseling Small Businesses
Advise small businesses in a variety of key areas related to maximizing procurement opportunities in DoD acquisitions
Because of their value to our economy and the Department of Defense, the Small Business Professionals role as counselor responsible for advising small businesses is a very important one.
In some of the 100-level courses, you practiced providing basic advice to small businesses. In this activity, you will practice providing advice and assistance in some more complex situations.
Intermediate Small Business Programs
Assisting Small Business

11. Activity 3.1: Counseling Small Businesses Instructions
Role-play conversations between:
SBP
Company representative
Do two scenarios
Rotate through both roles
Take notes about ideal SBP response
During this activity you will have an opportunity to role-play various counseling situations involving small businesses.
Intermediate Small Business Programs
Assisting Small Business

12. Activity 3.1: Counseling Small Businesses Rubrics
Demonstrates knowledge of small business programs, regulations, policies, and resources to provide assistance to small business
Applies knowledge of programs, regulations, and resources appropriate to the given situation
Listens carefully to issues and concerns expressed by others
Responds to concerns and requests with sound advice that addresses the issue
Learning Objective:
Given a scenario, counsel a small business on some aspect of Government contracting/subcontracting opportunities.
Directions:
As you complete this activity, rate yourself on how effectively you demonstrated the desired behaviors. Add comments to clarify your self-assessment, especially in areas in which you feel you need further development. You can refer to these notes as you complete your Action Plan at the end of the lesson to help you identify the things you might do differently.
Include additional comments regarding your performance in the Notes area below:
Desired Behaviors
Rating
Rate how effectively you demonstrated each behavior:
1 – Poor 2 – Fair 3 – Neutral 4 – Good 5 – Excellent
Comments
Demonstrates knowledge of small business programs, regulations, policies, and resources to provide assistance to small business 1 2 3 4 5
Applies knowledge of programs, regulations, and resources appropriate to the given situation
Listens carefully to issues and concerns expressed by others
Responds to concerns and requests with sound advice that addresses the issue
Intermediate Small Business Programs
Assisting Small Business

13. Assisting Small Business
Questions?
Intermediate Small Business Programs
Assisting Small Business

14. Assisting Small Business
Activity Debrief
How did the role-play help you understand the positions of the business owners and SBPs?
What was your biggest challenge as a SBP in counseling the small business owner?
What concerns did you have as a small business owner?
Who do you think had an easier time: the SBP or the business owner?
Did you learn anything as a result of this activity that would help you improve your ability to counsel small businesses?
Intermediate Small Business Programs
Assisting Small Business

15. SBPs’ Counseling Key Points
Know subject matter being discussed and refer companies to other advocacy orgs when applicable
Know small business programs, Agency acquisition policies and procedures
Know the Do’s and Don’ts of your responsibilities
Be professional and courteous at all times
Represent the Agency well – you are the Agency’s face to small businesses, the rest of industry, and other Government agencies
Maintain contact and a working relationship with other SBPs and external agencies’ small business advocates
Other SB Advocacy Orgs
Small Business Development Centers (SBDC)
Procurement Technical Assistance Centers (PTACs)
SCORE
Intermediate Small Business Programs
Assisting Small Business

16. Assisting Small Businesses Best Practices
Standardize small business program outreach marketing materials for increased effectiveness and efficiency (i.e., business cards, brochures, booklets, pamphlets, training, etc.)
Establish structured, recurring counseling/outreach sessions to get the upper hand on time management and create a more effective and efficient small business program
Intermediate Small Business Programs
Assisting Small Business

17. Assisting Small Business
Lesson Summary
What are your key insights about assisting small businesses in doing business with DoD?
The following was covered in this lesson:
Review of SBP 201 content related to this topic.
Applying knowledge of small business programs contracting regulations to counsel small businesses.
Do you have any takeaways to add? .
SBP Content Review
Counseling Small Businesses
Intermediate Small Business Programs
Assisting Small Business

18. Small Business Challenges
Think of one or more actual small business challenges you have encountered in your location
Describe it on a notecard
Keep it anonymous if you wish
The class will discuss some of the issues in Lesson 8
Write down actual complex small business issues you have encountered in your location on the notecards.
Intermediate Small Business Programs, Part B
Assisting Small Business

19. Assisting Small Business
Action Planning
Review what you’ve already done on the job
Identify ways to improve
Plan next steps
Implement your plans
Your role-playing partners will be your action planning accountability partners for this course.
It is important to apply new skills immediately upon returning to your jobs. Your ultimate goal is to operate within the acquisition and contracting process to maximize opportunities for small businesses to execute the agency’s mission to ultimately support the warfighter.
Intermediate Small Business Programs
Assisting Small Business