Learn

Get your business registered in SAM.gov, the step every federal contractor takes first, and keep it active.

Find your way around the Federal Acquisition Regulation: how it's organized, how competition and set-asides work, contract types, and how to read a solicitation.

Learn how NAICS codes and Product and Service Codes classify what the government buys, how they drive size standards and set-asides, and how to pick and use the right codes for your business.

Use free public data to pick the agencies most likely to buy from you: read spending in USAspending.gov, dig into contract awards in SAM.gov, track agency forecasts and budgets, and work with small business offices to build a focused target list.

Understand how agencies make smaller purchases: the micro-purchase and simplified acquisition thresholds, purchase cards, the small business reserve and commercial buying rules, so you can position your business to win quick orders.

Find and read federal opportunities on SAM.gov with confidence: know what each notice type means, search and save searches that surface the right work, read a notice and its attachments, and keep up with amendments.

Use sources sought notices and requests for information to get in early: understand what agencies do with your answers, decide which notices are worth your time, write responses that influence set-aside and requirement decisions, and follow up afterward.

Work out whether your business is small for federal contracting: how SBA size standards are set by NAICS code, how receipts and employees are counted, how affiliation works, and what happens with size protests and recertification.

Plan your federal pipeline around how money actually flows: understand the fiscal year, how appropriations reach agencies, what continuing resolutions and shutdowns mean for your contracts, and how to be ready for year-end spending.

Create a capability statement government buyers will actually read: choose what to include, write competencies and differentiators that stand out, format it for a quick scan, and tailor it for each agency you target.

Win work as a subcontractor: why primes need you, where to find them, how to approach them, and how teaming agreements work.

Learn how small businesses use joint ventures to compete for set-asides: what a JV is, when it counts as small, what the JV agreement must say, how the ostensible subcontractor rule works, and how the limitations on subcontracting apply.

Learn how SBA's Mentor-Protégé Program works: who can take part, how agreements are structured and approved, how mentor-protégé joint ventures compete for set-asides, and how to keep the relationship compliant and useful.

Understand the federal programs for veteran-owned firms: SDVOSB and VOSB eligibility, SBA VetCert certification, the VA's Vets First program, and how to turn certification into contract awards.

Learn how the HUBZone program works: the principal office and 35% residency rules, how employees are counted, how map changes affect you, and how to use set-asides and the 10% price evaluation preference to win work.

Understand how the SBA 8(a) Business Development program works: who qualifies, what changed in 2025 and 2026, how the nine-year term runs, and how 8(a) firms actually win set-aside and sole-source contracts.

Learn how the Women-Owned Small Business program works: WOSB and EDWOSB eligibility, how to get certified, which industries qualify for set-asides, and how to use the program to win federal work.

Understand the major government-wide vehicles, including OASIS+, Alliant 3, 8(a) STARS III, Polaris and NASA SEWP, where each one stands today, and how to get on one through on-ramps, open seasons or teaming.

Learn how the GSA Multiple Award Schedule works, how to prepare and submit an offer, how schedule pricing is evaluated now that transactional data reporting has replaced commercial sales disclosures, and how to keep your contract active and win orders through eBuy.

Learn how indefinite-delivery contracts and blanket purchase agreements work, how agencies compete orders through fair opportunity, and when you can and can't protest a task order.

Understand when agencies can award a contract without competition, how the 8(a), HUBZone, SDVOSB and WOSB sole-source authorities work, what a justification and approval is, and how to position your certified business for direct awards.

Learn where and when you can challenge a solicitation or award, how the automatic stay works, what a GAO protest involves and costs, how size and status protests differ, and how to decide whether a protest is worth it.

Position your company to win before the solicitation is released: build a pipeline, get to know the customer, size up competitors, form the right team, estimate a price-to-win, and pull it all into a capture plan.

Request debriefings on time, know what the agency must and won't tell you, ask questions that improve your next proposal, and understand how a debriefing starts the protest clock.

Decide which opportunities deserve your time and money: set up decision gates, weigh the criteria that predict a win, score opportunities consistently, and walk away well when the answer is no.

Learn how agencies evaluate past performance, how CPARS ratings are written and how to respond to them, and how to build a strong past performance volume, including with joint venture and subcontract experience.

Take a federal proposal from solicitation to submission: read Sections L and M, build a compliance matrix and outline, run a schedule with color reviews, and get it in on time.

Build a price the government can accept and you can live with: labor rates, indirect costs, profit, and how evaluators judge price.

Give evaluators clear reasons to choose you: find the customer's hot buttons, identify discriminators that hold up, write win themes backed by proof, and carry them consistently through every volume of your proposal.

Write a technical volume evaluators can score highly: show you understand the requirement, explain a specific and credible approach, present your management and staffing plan, and make every strength easy to find.

Get your books ready for cost-type contracts: what makes an accounting system adequate, how the preaward survey works, how to keep timekeeping audit-proof, which costs are unallowable under FAR Part 31, and how to file your annual incurred cost submission.

Keep cash flowing while you perform: size your working capital gap, compare bank lines and SBA loan programs, use factoring and assignment of claims correctly, and ask for progress or performance-based payments when the contract allows.

Get paid correctly and on time: understand how federal payment works, build a proper invoice, submit it through IPP or PIEE, know your Prompt Payment Act rights, and avoid the mistakes that get invoices rejected.

Resolve contract disagreements the right way: know what counts as a claim under the Contract Disputes Act, certify and submit it properly, get a contracting officer's final decision, pick the right forum and meet every deadline.

Start your new contract on solid footing: know who has authority to direct you, run a productive kickoff, manage deliverables and performance ratings, meet your reporting obligations, and stay in scope so your options get exercised.

Run your subcontractors like a prime: write solid subcontract agreements, flow down the right clauses, stay within the limitations on subcontracting, meet subcontracting plan duties and pay your subs on time.

Handle contract changes with confidence: tell bilateral from unilateral modifications, use the Changes clause, spot constructive changes, give timely notice and build a request for equitable adjustment that gets paid.

Handle a contract termination without losing money you're owed: tell convenience from default, take the right steps when a notice arrives, prepare a settlement proposal, respond to cure and show cause notices, and protect your rights on appeal.

Know where your products can come from: how the Buy American Act tests domestic content, when the Trade Agreements Act applies instead, what Section 889 bans, and how to build a sourcing routine that holds up.

Understand the cybersecurity rules that come with defense contracts: the difference between FCI and CUI, what DFARS 252.204-7012 and NIST SP 800-171 require, how SPRS scores work, what each CMMC level means, and where the rollout stands.

Set up an ethics and compliance program that meets federal expectations: what FAR 52.203-13 requires, how gift rules and the Procurement Integrity Act apply, why the False Claims Act matters, and how mandatory disclosure works.

Prepare your company for classified work: how the National Industrial Security Program works, how to get sponsored for a facility clearance, which people need clearances, how foreign ownership is handled, and what a DD Form 254 asks of you.

Spot and manage organizational conflicts of interest before they cost you an award: the three kinds of OCI, how agencies identify them, how to avoid or mitigate them, and how to build a screening routine for your pipeline.

Pay workers correctly on federal service and construction contracts: tell which labor law applies, read a wage determination, handle fringe benefits, file certified payroll, and keep the records that protect you in an audit.

Learn how the Defense Logistics Agency buys parts and supplies, get registered in DIBBS, read and quote RFQs, access technical data, and avoid the mistakes that cost suppliers awards.

Learn how agencies buy construction, the difference between sealed bidding and negotiated awards, Miller Act bonding, design-build and other delivery methods, and the labor rules that shape your bid.

Understand what Other Transaction agreements are, when DoD can use them for prototypes, how consortia and follow-on production work, and how to negotiate terms that protect your business.

Learn how the SBIR and STTR programs fund small business research, where the programs stand after their 2026 reauthorization, who is eligible, how to find topics and write a strong proposal, and how to protect your data and reach Phase III.

Understand how the Department of Defense is organized and buys, work with the DFARS and its cybersecurity rules, find free help from APEX Accelerators and small business offices, and plan a realistic path to your first defense award.

Expand beyond federal work: learn how state, local and education buyers purchase, find their bids, register as a vendor, use DBE and MBE certifications, and sell through cooperative purchasing contracts.