"SMALLTOFEDS" By Ken Larson " There are approaches to develop a product and/or a service to the point where it can be marketed in the small business federal government contracting venue and gain government participation in growing an idea into a company ." ________________________________________________________________________-_______ "Individuals usually succeed by forming a company, separating it from their personal assets and then developing the company and its product(s)
“ DEFENSE NEWS” By Mac Thornberry “In certain fields, the private sector is far surpassing the government in developing new technologies. We will lose partners quickly if DOD’s culture is not open to working with both traditional and non-traditional suppliers. When the government makes it difficult, costly and unwelcoming in some cases to support our national security, the partners we need to protect the country will point their business resources in a different direction.”..
“SMALLTOFEDS” By Ken Larson 1. A mix of commercial and government business is good. In fact, most small business federal government contractors who move from commercial to government work, remain in commercial business. They separate government from commercial work in unique cost centers of the company for pricing and cost control purposes, recognizing the market and competitive differences in the two venues. Cost Center Strategic Planning 2. Your marketing efforts must be
“DEFENSE ONE” By Phil Zabriskie “ The killing a country does through its soldiers is part of its fabric and identity. The less it is examined, the less a country will know about itself, its impulses, and the impact of what it has trained and dispatched its sons and daughters to do. “ _______________________________________________________________________________ “If a war fails to achieve its stated objectives—as Vietnam did—it can make the reasons for killing even harder to
“SMALLTOFEDS” By Ken larson “ A 19 year Veteran Mentor’s critical review of the SCORE and MicroMentor non-profit small business mentoring web sites and the role of social networking .” _________________________________________________________________________________ SCORE “From 2006 to 2011, I supported SCORE as a volunteer counselor. During some years I had several hundred clients. The web site was dynamic, fast, easily accessed and fairly simple. SCORE is a nonprofit orga
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“WASHINGTON TECHNOLOGY” By Alan P. Balutis And Dennis Lucey “There seems to be a few common “truths,” some “givens,” and a whole lot of conventional wisdom spoken as to how to get into the door of government . A quick overview of eight basic (and true) rules to gain your first foothold with the customer.” _______________________________________________________________________________ “Know what the agency does and what it’s looking for. Bring specific ideas, not a panoply of
“SMALLTOFEDS” By Ken Larson “For small businesses involved in development and manufacturing efforts under government contracts, or those who are pursing research and development involving large scale systems, the government property topic often arises.” _______________________________________________________________________________ “In general, government contractors are required to provide all that is necessary to fulfill the scope of work on a government contract. However,
WASHINGTON TECHNOLOGY By Frank Konkel “The 20 largest civilian federal agencies collectively spent 63% less money in October 2025 — during the government shutdown — compared to October 2024, according to reported spending data pulled from the Federal Procurement Data System by Deltek in mid-November. _________________________________________________________________________________ Reported spending at some large agencies, including NASA and the departments of State and Energ
“ SMALLTOFEDS” By Ken Larson “Both the contractor and the government must come to an understanding regarding the scope of effort to be performed. Signing off on a poorly written SOW results in a difficult contract to manage and a high probability for disputes during the performance period.” _______________________________________________________________________________ “Part 1, Section C, is where the technical specifications and statement of work are located in your governme
“FOREIGN POLICY” By Rosa Brooks “ Asking warriors to do everything poses great dangers for our country — and the military. Our armed services have become the one-stop shop for America’s policymakers. If Your only tool is a hammer then everything looks like a nail “ ______________________________________________________________________________ “When my mother came for lunch at the Pentagon, I shepherded her through the visitor’s entrance, maneuvered her onto the escalator,
“SCORE Southeast Minnesota” By Dean L. Swanson “Success requires consistent planning, grit, and strategic execution. You also need to recognize resources that can help you amplify your growth with continuous business planning and evolution for survival.” _________________________________________________________________________________ “A new CEO and reader of this column emailed me and said, “How can I grow my business and assure its survival? I started my new business seve
“WASHINGTON TECHNOLOGY” By Erik Swabb, Matthew Olsen and Stephanie Evans “The defense market offers an opportunity for significant commercial upside due to the geopolitical developments driving up demand. Companies that carefully evaluate the various factors at issue early—and establish robust compliance and contracting strategies—will be in a position to succeed.” _________________________________________________________________________________ “The surge of capital in defen
“ SMALLTOFEDS ” – By Ken Larson “ Involve the employees in the training process and encourage mentoring. “ _____________________________________________________________________________ “Involve the employees in the training process and encourage mentoring. The organization mission is conveyed by continuous organization training. Internal experts can be very entrepreneurial in training approaches. Recognize and reward them for doing so and place them in lead positions in trai
“The General Services Administration (GSA) is publishing Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Deviations as a part of their Revolutionary FAR Overhaul (RFO) . GSA has now published deviations for all FAR parts and new, non-regulatory guidance to contracting officers to help them navigate the changes. The “Coalition for Common Sense in Government Procurement” has submitted comments to GSA, which are published here, on each deviation” _________________________________________
“SMALLTOFEDS” – By Ken Larson “ SETA contracting is often utilized by the government to enhance small business contracting participation by firms that hold set aside designations who can offer quality services in support of internal agency facilities or operations. SETA efforts may involve long term contracts to perform acquisition assistance, project management, price or program analysis, independent estimates, administrative support, computer and data base operations, techn
“WASHINGTON TECHNOLOGY” By Scott Flesch and Joshua Drew of the law firm Miller & Chevalier “Coordination among Human Resources , Legal and Business Development is needed to understand post-employment restrictions and possible conflicts before they derail your contracting opportunities” _________________________________________________________________________________ “Current and former government employees have a wealth of knowledge and experience that provides a critical ad
