Proudly Certified
In 2010, Xentity received certification and began participating in the Small Business Administration 8(a) Business Development program – commonly referred to as just 8(a). Below is a quick summary on 8(a).
Named for Section 8(a) of the Small Business Act, this program was created to help small and disadvantaged businesses compete in the marketplace. It also helps these companies gain access to federal and private procurement markets. For more information on the program and its requirements, visit the 8(a) Business Development page to learn about benefits, eligibility standards, and goals of the 8(a) Business Development Program.(http://www.sba.gov/content/8a-business-development)
The following is a quick primer on one of the easiest 8(a) contract acquisition vehicles called a Simple Acquisition. Simple Acquisition is great for initial task orders or any task order under $150,000, which is the purchasing threshold. They are designed for relatively simple government requirements, and their use is subject to designated dollar thresholds. Examples of items commonly purchased using Simplified Acquisition Procedures (SAP) include office supplies, computer software, and groundskeeping services.
The Purpose
The purpose of simplified acquisition procedures is to:
- Reduce administrative costs
- Improve opportunities for small, small disadvantaged, women-owned, veteran-owned, HUBZone, and service-disabled veteran-owned small business concerns to obtain a fair proportion of Government contracts
- Promote efficiency and economy in contracting
- Avoid unnecessary burdens for agencies and contractors
The simplified acquisition threshold (SAT) is $150,000.
From our experiences, this vehicle works as advertised. It is by far the easiest way to access Xentity on an initial task order. If your task order exceeds the SAT at $150,000, but you want to begin your work, we find this vehicle to be an excellent method to start the initial work. Meanwhile you can keep working on other longer-term vehicles. For orders over this threshold, and up to $4 million, please review Leveraging Xentity’s 8(A) Certified Status.
What To Do Otherwise
Or, if your contracting office is very familiar with the process. They find it very simple and are usually very aware of how to meet their requirements. Thus, they have incentive to work with you on such a task order request. In some cases, we have even found using this vehicle at times is even easier. Especially than adding a task order onto an existing large contract (i.e. BPA, IDIQ, GWAC). This is particularly in the cases where Xentity and the prime have not worked together. Consequently, many times a prime may see Xentity is a competitor versus a collaborator.
The timing from conception to when work begins can take 30 to 60 days. This is very fast when looking at typical government acquisition terms. This is fast, because Xentity pre-qualifies as an 8(a) contractor, thus we can receive the award as the sole-source, as we are already uniquely qualified for acquisition. Furthermore, we already have GSA-approved rates we can use in many cases which can accelerate the acquisitions office for validating fair and reasonable pricing.
That being said, if you wish acquire any of Xentity’s services on an initial task order for federal government work, we recommend government agencies leverage the simplified acquisition vehicle.
How To Start
If Xentity’s consulting services, products, and training interest you, you acquire them without more than a statement. This statement requests sole source via simplified acquisition on the statement of work basis. It then goes into a request for proposal that requests.