Wyoming Business Tips for July 1

A weekly look at issues facing Wyoming business owners and entrepreneurs from the Wyoming Small Business Development Center (SBDC) Network, a collection of business assistance programs at the University of Wyoming.

By Andi Lewis, procurement specialist, Wyoming SBDC Network

You may be surprised at the types of products and services the federal government is looking to buy from small businesses in Wyoming. Whether it’s supplying food to firefighters, providing maintenance to buildings on federal land or renting out your spare acreage for horse grazing, there are many ways to expand your market. The U.S. government is the largest customer in the world, and many opportunities in Wyoming are reserved for small businesses.

The official government “point of entry” for posting and finding federal contract opportunities is the Federal Business Opportunities website at www.fbo.gov. While all contracting opportunities estimated to be over $25,000 are required to be posted on this website, there are several small contracts that can be harder to find. That’s where third-party providers such as FedConnect can come in handy.

Registration on FedConnect is free, and assistance is available through the Wyoming SBDC Network to help you through the entire process -- all at no cost. You can search the available opportunities for your business even without creating an account, but there are benefits to registering for a free account. Once registered, you will be able to:

-- Receive alerts about postings, opportunities and awards.

-- Receive opportunities and awards that are directed specifically to your organization.

-- Participate in reverse auctions, and submit proposals and applications electronically.

-- Receive updates, amendments and modifications for opportunities and awards.

-- Take advantage of FedConnect’s secure messaging system to communicate with the government about specific opportunities and awards.

-- Submit post-award reports and deliverables.

To get started with FedConnect, you’ll need a Data Universal Numbering System number and a registration in the System for Award Management (SAM), available at www.sam.gov. You also need to know your SAM Marketing Partner ID Number. This may seem like a lot to do, but no-cost assistance is available through the Wyoming SBDC Network’s Procurement Technical Assistance Center to help you with each step of these registrations as well.

FedConnect will pull some of your SAM registration data into its system. For this reason, setting up your SAM registration thoroughly and accurately is very important. Also, if you change your information in SAM, you will be able to update your registration in FedConnect. 

Once you’re registered, searching for opportunities can be done several ways within FedConnect. One drawback is that the system will not sort by location, such as state. It is sortable by the codes you will have set up in SAM, issuing date, type of opportunity and other filters.

If you’d like some help navigating the FedConnect system -- or with anything else dealing with federal, state or local government procurement -- contact your local Wyoming SBDC Network adviser at www.wyomingsbdc.org.

The Wyoming SBDC Network offers business expertise to help Wyoming residents think about, launch, grow, reinvent or exit their businesses. The Wyoming SBDC Network is hosted by UW with state funds from the Wyoming Business Council and funded, in part, through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration.

To ask a question, call 1-800-348-5194, email wsbdc@uwyo.edu, or write 1000 E. University Ave., Dept. 3922, Laramie, WY, 82071-3922.