I’ve posted on LinkedIn a lot recently about ways to be seen as a little fish in the big pond that is the Federal marketplace. Every GovCon consultant has a take on the best entry points with agencies. My take is there is only one place small businesses MUST put their best foot forward to be quickly and easily seen by Federal buyers for potential opportunities and influence small business set-asides.
The Small Business Administration (SBA) Dynamic Small Business Search (DSBS) is THE PLACE you must be on your A-game.
The Dynamic Small Business Search (DSBS) is a database in which SBA houses the authoritative information on the certification status of small businesses. However, small businesses that do not have certifications or are self-certified, may also create a profile in this database. The DSBS is used by contracting officers, small business specialists, and large prime contractors to find small businesses to meet requirements and identify businesses that can help the Government (or a prime contractor) meet its small business goals. DSBS is one of the first--and often only--sources used in market research by agencies to determine the numbers of small businesses able to provide products or services by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code.
You can see why this might be an important place to pay attention to, eh?
Businesses have forgotten about the DSBS in the last few years because SAM.gov no longer sends small business registrants directly to DSBS at the end of their registration to complete the profile like it used to. I HUGE bummer. Businesses now must wait for their SAM.gov registration to be activated, then they can establish an SBA Connect account, claim their entity record, and create a shell in the DSBS system. Once those steps are completed, it’s time to complete the information that Federal buyers are looking for as part of their market research.
DSBS isn’t only for market research.
Even more importantly, the DSBS shows Federal buyers the status of any pending certification applications for the purpose of determining whether you are eligible to compete for a set-aside action. For example, an Economically Disadvantaged Woman Owned Small Business (EDWOSB) can still submit an offer for an WOSB set-aside even with a pending application for certification showing in the DSBS. Also, prior to award, Contracting Officers are required to use DSBS as the authoritative source to confirm the socioeconomic certification status and 8(a) program participation.
While DSBS automatically sends socioeconomic certification status to SAM.gov and updates the requisite reps and certs to reflect the correct socioeconomic status, in recent months that migration has taken extended periods of time to complete. WOSBs and EDWOSBs have reported not seeing their correct socioeconomic status reflected in their SAM entity record. You’ll find the status reflected under “Entity Types” directly under the Business Types table, as shown below.
Businesses should always check their SAM entity record to ensure that the proper status is shown within a reasonable time after receipt of an active certification status; usually within 14 business days. If the record is not accurately reflected, you can contact answerdesk@sba.gov or the SBA socioeconomic program under which your business was certified for assistance. If a Contracting Officer says that your SAM record does not reflect the status claimed, ask the Contracting Officer to check the authoritative database, DSBS for the more accurate information.
So now let’s talk about becoming a “Dynamic Business” in DSBS and walk through each part of the registration.
FedSubK has created a step-by-step guide that shows you how to request an SBA Connect login, claim your entity from SAM, and create the shell record. The guide, How to Update Information in SBA’s Dynamic Small Business Search (DSBS), can be found under the FedSubK.com Resource Library menu at Guides and Templates (fedsubk.com/guides-and-templates).
Understanding how to maximize the fields in DSBS is how you can make the best possible first impression so that Federal buyers want to learn more about YOU!
The Key Words
Often businesses pluck these from thin air and over-generalized based on what they think the Government wants to see. Key words need to reflect and incorporate aspects of your primary NAICS, secondary NAICS, and what you can provide under those NAICS. If you use key words that don’t reflect your primary NAICS, you’ll leave the Government scratching their head about you. They won’t understand the message you’re sending about your company. Be consistent and specific with key words while tying into your NAICS codes in order to leave the best impression.
The Website
Be sure that you include the URL for any website you have. Make it be more than a landing page. It needs to tell your story. It needs to include information about your company, what you sell, past customers, and products or solutions you provide. And most of all, it must be polished. Scrub your site hard for formatting, typos, grammatical errors, etc. Acquisition personnel using the DSBS will often quickly click on the site to see just how polished it is. When it looks good, they get the impression you know your stuff and pay attention to details.
The Capabilities Narrative
This is the written equivalent of your elevator pitch. This section should include all the things you’d include in that two-minute speech. Hit hard on what your company specialized in and its core product or service areas. Show the business’s focus and avoid being all over the map by overpromising on the breadth of work the business performs.
Near the end of the capabilities narrative, list any socioeconomic certifications Why not lead with it? Because that certification is only part of your business, and it alone does not get you interest from the Contracting Officer. End with that information so the Contracting Officer can easily see it in a quick query and get your business into their market research counts.
Lastly, identify any government contract vehicle or GSA Schedule your company may hold. If you can catch their eye that you have an existing GSA Schedule or your business participates in the 8(a) program, you’ll get counted and likely get a look in terms of the Contracting Officer wanting to know more. If they need to meet a socioeconomic goal, they can see quickly. You’re helping the Contracting Officer do their job. They LOVE that! (And made another great first impression!)
DSBS now also includes a field immediately below the capabilities narrative to add a link to your online capabilities statement. Use it!
The “Extras” You Should Never Skip
Special Equipment / Materials
Don’t use or have any? Don’t scroll past this space without using it to take advantage of more characters to tell your story! Tell more about your business here by adding all the other things you’d say if you got a longer elevator ride to do that pitch. Talk about your management approach, innovative ideas or solutions to solve identified Government needs, regulatory compliance, and outcomes. Differentiators go here; set yourself apart!
References
I cannot say this enough…if you have references, list them! Don’t play the “they’ll see that when I propose” game. Showing performance history—even if it is minimal or commercial and not Government--helps. How? It proves the viability of the business and the size and types of projects you’ve completed. Those goes a long way to determining eligibility of the business based on performance on same / similar work of a same / similar dollar value (“Rule of Two” stuff – you can read more about that here).
Review Your Profile
Go out to the DSBS site and do a query for your primary NAICS code and see how your profile measures up to your competitors. At dsbs.sba.gov/search/dsp_dsbs.cfm run a simple query. Now click on the competitors whose query results make you curious to know more and ask yourself...why. Look at their records and see what they did you haven’t. Use the good ideas of others, but don’t plagiarize. Contracting Officers will see that and that won’t look good for either of you.
Keep Evolving
Your DSBS isn’t something that you can just set and forget either. Make reviewing your profile in DSBS something you do when you renew your SAM.gov registration every year. If something major changes in your business focus, NAICS, or socioeconomic status, make associated changes in DSBS.
What GovCon doesn't always talk about -- The DSBS Influence
When doing market research and trying to determine if an acquisition should be set-aside for small businesses, the Government is not only counting about the numbers of small businesses that claim they can do the work under a NAICS code in DSBS. They are analyzing your DSBS profile to see if your business could be one of the "... two or more responsible small business concerns that are competitive in terms of fair market prices, quality, and delivery" and they have “…a reasonable expectation of obtaining an offer…” from you. (There’s that pesky “Rule of Two” again.)
In other words, based on what they see, could you submit a proposal likely to win? And how does a Contracting Officer determine that? Simply put...by your answers to everything we just covered.
Completing your profile helps tip the market research scales toward a small businesses set-aside and possibly a specific socioeconomic set-aside. If you're all over the map in your DSBS narrative, the Government will not consider you viable eligible contractor towards that “Rule of Two” and could possible choose to go another way with their acquisition strategy, away from a small business set-aside. Or worse, they set it aside but remember your name from the market research as one of the businesses that didn’t make their initial market analysis cut.
Influence where you can! DSBS is the place where you have a lot of influence!
Have I convinced you to get out there and create or update your DSBS profile yet?
Life is dynamic, business is dynamic, and your DSBS profile should be dynamic, too. Get it completed ASAP. You can’t afford not to.
Remember again, DSBS IS WHERE FEDERAL BUYERS GO TO FIND SMALL BUSINESSES and where other small businesses go to find teaming partners and subcontractors.
Get out there, GET NOTICED and BE DYNAMIC!
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