U.S. General Services Administration
R9 OSDBU Events Showcase Small-Businesses, Shares Info For Success
The R9 Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU) closed out Fiscal Year 2021 (FY21) by pointing small business owners toward the GSA Schedule as a vehicle to gain a share of the billions of dollars the federal government spends annually for goods and services.
“One of the things I always like to share is that 90 to 95 percent of our budget goes to contracts,” said Acting Regional Administrator Dan Brown during the Construction Network virtual event on September 16. He briefed 22 small business owners about regional contracting opportunities, including work at 14 land ports of entry located in California and Arizona. “We’re at a very busy time and 30 to 40 percent of the work, annually, we are proud to say, goes to small business. We have statutory requirements for small business and we meet our goals in R9 every year. We’re proud of that. We support small business and all small business socio economic categories.”
During FY21, the R9 OSDBU team delivered 36 virtual marketing and capabilities briefings attended by 144 businesses operating in four states (California, Arizona, Nevada and Hawaii). In addition, OSDBU participated in over 75 virtual events reaching approximately 6600 small businesses.
“Our OSDBU front door is often referred to as the front door of small businesses,” said R9 OSDBU Director Pamela Smith-Cressel during the September 16 presentation. “If you’re looking to do business with GSA and you’re a small business, you would reach out to our office because we promote the increased access to GSA’s nationwide procurement opportunities in our acquisition forecast. Small businesses are always our top priority as we continue to increase participation in our acquisitions and as we advocate for socioeconomic programs.”
OSDBU monitors and implements small business policies and manages a range of programs mandated by law. These programs include:
- Small Business Prime and Subcontracting Goaling Program
- Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB)
- 8(a) Business Development Program
- Women-owned Small Business (WOSB) Program
- Veteran-owned Small Business and Service Disabled Veteran-owned Small Business (SDVOSB) Programs
- Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone) Program
- Subcontracting Program
GSA’s annual goal is to award a minimum of five percent of federal contracting dollars to small disadvantaged businesses. For the past 11 years, GSA has exceeded this goal. While FY21 final figures have not yet been released, GSA concluded FY 20 at 22 percent which equated to $1.2 billion awarded to small disadvantaged businesses.
During this current fiscal year, Region 9, in partnership with its prime contractors, has awarded more than $108 million to small businesses with $73 million, so far, going to 8a small disadvantaged businesses.
“Region 9 is famous for reaching our small business goals for the socio-economic program,” said Smith-Cressel. “Our team promotes opportunity by hosting activities for the small business community to interact with key contracting experts and to receive counseling on the federal procurement process.”
Feedback from small business owners who participated in recent virtual events indicates this is more than people staring into a computer screen as subject-matter experts guide attendees through the maze of contracting rules and regulations.
Here’s what the president of a woman-owned business in Nevada had to say about her company’s participation in a recently held GSA Small Business event:
“In a time when meeting and marketing face to face is nonexistent, the GSA Region 9 Capabilities Briefing provided an opportunity to present our company to contracting staff,” said the Nevada-based company’s president. “Those we had been working with for the past months were able to put a face to the name/email/voice. We were able to elaborate on our capabilities to open up contracting opportunities which may not have made it our way otherwise. We were able to make new contacts and connections for future work.”
There are other good-news stories including one from the owner of a California-based, veteran-owned business, who participated in an event last year.
“The virtual meeting allowed us to present our capabilities, past performance, and company history,” said the California-based business owner. “I look forward to continuing to build our reputation as a trusted contractor. On behalf of everyone at our company, I thank everyone at GSA for the opportunity to showcase the work we do.”
In addition to Smith-Cressel, the R9 OSDBU team includes Small Business Specialists Lori Falkenstrom and Anthony Caruso. OSDBU works closely with GSA’s service lines to maximize small-business participation in each of their procurements to ensure that GSA meets or exceeds its prime and subcontracting small and socioeconomic small-business goals.