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~ Beth A. Cryderman Moss
Director, Macomb Regional PTAC
Macomb Regional PTAC IMPACT From the Director … April 2015
Focus on Client Success:
Madison Electric 2
Becoming a Responsible Contractor:
The Road to Past Performance 3
Heads Up: Upcoming Changes to the
WOSB Program 4
From the ‘Zypp’ files: Do you know? 5
Events 6
Inside this issue:
Please contact us for more information.
Macomb Community College
Macomb Regional PTAC
7900 Tank Ave, Warren, MI 48092-3936
Phone: 586-498-4122
Email: [email protected]
Please visit us at:
www.macomb.edu/ptac
www.ptacsofmichigan.org
To learn more and keep updated on
government contracting we invite you to
follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
Accelerating Change 1. Rapidly Emerging Technological Breakthroughs, 2. Geopolitical Instability, 3. Wide
Ranging Operating Environments, and 4. Increasing Importance and Vulnerability of the
Global Commons. “The four strategic trends of the emerging global environment warrant
scrutiny, but there is a characteristic common to all that multiplies their significance –
speed.” According to ‘America’s Air Force: A Call to the Future’, the pace of change has
quickened substantially and has picked up most dramatically over the last two decades.
Rapid change is the new norm and has serious implications for the Armed Services. The
pace at which disruptive technologies may appear will result in operational advantages that
are increasingly short-lived. Dynamic and increasingly frequent shifts in the power
balance will have significant implications for basing, posture, and partner capabilities that
may favor flexibility over footprint. Uncertainty has always been a part of strategy
development, and though the anticipated pace of change is expected to continue through
the next 30 years, rapid change need not be a threat. While it will clearly be a vulnerability
to those unable to adapt, it also becomes an enduring advantage to the agile.
It is no surprise that on March 28, 2015 – Secretary of Defense Ash Carter kicked off a
national discussion on building "the force of the future" and what the Department of
Defense must do to change and adapt
to maintain its superiority. During his
first week at the Pentagon as defense
secretary, Carter spoke urgently about
building the force of the future being
one of his top priorities. “We must be
open to change to operate effectively in
an increasingly dynamic world,” Carter
told the Defense Department’s
workforce during his first all-hands
meeting at the Pentagon, “to keep pace
with advances in technology and to
attract new generations of talented and
dedicated Americans to our calling.”
Being open to change means allowing ourselves to be vulnerable, to accept that we may
not know all the answers and that there may be more than one way to get what we need.
Being open to change means being accepting and respectful of other peoples truth,
especially our strategic partners. The most powerful change we can make is to change our
mind. When we change our mind we create lasting changes. Changing the way we see
ourselves, our partners, and our problems can transform our future.
Macomb Regional PTAC, which serves as a Procurement Technical Assistance Center
(PTAC), is funded in part through a cooperative agreement from the Department of
Defense (DoD) through a program that is administered by the Defense Logistics Agency
(DLA). The content of any written materials or verbal communications of the PTAC does
not necessarily reflect the official views of or imply endorsement by DoD or DLA.” The Macomb Regional PTAC provides procurement advise and counseling to Michigan
Resources:
http://airman.dodlive.mil/files/2014/07/AF_30_Year_Strategy_2.pdf
http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=128483
“Any Air Force which does not keep its doctrines ahead
of its equipment, and its vision far into the future, can
only delude the nation into a false sense of security”
General Henry H. “Hap” Arnold, Commanding General, USAA
November 1945
~Beth Cryderman Moss | Director
Focus on Client Success
~Kathy Stockman | Operations Coordinator
Source: Madison Electric
This year Madison Electric celebrates 100 years of service! In 1914
Morris and Max Blumberg started Blumberg Electric. The company
focused its sales on electrical products of the time: light bulbs, fuses,
wire and conduit. In 1931 the Blumberg brothers changed the name to
Madison Electric, a more easily recognizable name. The brothers
retired in the 1950s, and their son-in-laws took over the family
business, thus the second generation of family leadership. After World
War II the economy and construction was booming so they added
HVAC equipment to their offerings. In the 1960's the third generation
of the family joined the business. By the end of the 1970’s they had
diversified into industrial electronics, interconnect products, and
custom-made cable assemblies to serve their automotive
manufacturers, panel shops, industrial designers, and fabricators
customer base. The 1990’s saw the formation of their computer
division to market factory automation products, drives, computers and
sensors. In 1991 the fourth generation of the family, the great-
grandson of Morris Blumberg, Brett Schneider joined the company and
currently serves as the President. As Madison Electric enters its
second century, many more descendants have joined the company.
Even though the company is 100 years old they continue to remain
current and relevant, and are not afraid to reinvent themselves by
adapting to changing customer requirements, technology, and to
expand into new markets such as the Federal Government.
In 2008 Madison Electric started to look at diversifying into the
Federal Government Market, and began working with the Macomb
Regional PTAC. Since then, Madison Electric’s business has grown
from $10-15K to a peak of $3.6M in 2012. Their government sales
have grown from their first award of a couple thousand dollars in 2009
to $11.4M! This growth attributed to their increase in 130 employees
to 144, and of those 144 at least six (6) personnel that interact in the
fulfillment of government orders.
Madison Electric’s management team has accepted aggressive pricing
structures for the DoD because of their ability to quickly pay for
materials. By nature of the DLA bidding process these contracts result
in cost savings to the Federal Government by going to the lowest
bidder. Each and every contract issued by DLA is a rated order as
either DO “Critical to National Defense, or DX “Highest National
Defense Urgency”. The DX rated orders are directly bound for
“Down Range” or deployed units.
Many of the orders Madison Electric completed were in direct support
of Operation Iraqi Freedom, or Operation Enduring Freedom. Locally,
they supported Selfridge ANG Base with power and lighting upgrades.
PTAC Counselors continue to assist Madison Electric in numerous
ways such as: providing support on their SAM profile; searching for
and obtaining specifications/standards; furnishing procurement
histories for pricing; addressing FAR and Hub zone questions;
providing GSA Training, notifying them on events of interest and
networking opportunities; alerting them to set aside opportunities;
assisting them with DLA Procurement Opportunities (DIBBS), in
addition to supplying them with manageable list of opportunities to
quote on through the BIDMATCH system. The no fee BIDMATCH
tool enabled Madison Electric to cast a broader net on government
contracting opportunities. Between DLA, FBO, ASFI, NECO, FED-
CONNECT, FEDBID, etc., there are several procurement “radars” out
there that Madison Electric maintains a watch on. Some of those
radars are more difficult to detect a true opportunity (such as NECO)
and the time spent to look deeper was prohibitive. After collaborating
with PTAC Counselor Mark Ignash, Madison was able to get BID
Match programmers to refine the tool, now if there’s a match – it is
part of their core capability!
Madison Electric has made, and is currently making noteworthy
contributions to their community! They have mentored Jewish
Vocational Services in Southfield in order to increase their capabilities
to package per military requirements, contributed to the Fallen and
Wounded Soldiers Fund yearly, and Madison’s philanthropic fund has
raised over $100K this year to give back to the community in
recognition of the support and valued partnerships forged over the last
100 years, and at least $25K is destined for the Michigan Freedom
Center at the Detroit Metro Airport!
Madison Electric also believes in supporting returning veterans by
working with Mark Meadows from the State of Michigan Disabled
Veterans Outreach Program among other sources. They have hired
8 veterans from several difference branches of services such as Army,
Navy, and Marines. They value veteran’s broad range of experience
from combat tours to full retirement, and are proud to have been a part
of their transition.
Due to Madison Electric’s exceptional efforts in government
contracting, as well as their strong commitment to community,
they were nominated by the Macomb Regional PTAC for the 2015
Michigan Government Contractor of the Year Award. The
Macomb Regional PTAC team would like to take this opportunity to
recognize Madison Electric for all of their success, and to wish them
continued success in all their future endeavors!
To better acquaint yourself with Madison Electric, and to learn more
about their capabilities please visit their website at:
http://www.madisonelectric.com or contact Ron Simpson at
586-825-0200 / [email protected]
Madison Electric’s Federal Team includes: Ron Simpson, Contracting
Lead; Paul Szymanski, Sales Manager; Crystal Vuljaj, Contract
Specialist; Joe Harrison, Inside Sales; Steve Schaible and Lisa Hibbert,
Packaging & Logistics.
Becoming a Responsible Contractor: The Road to Past Performance
Let’s get right down to it; it is federal law for the government to
evaluate past performance when making source selection decisions.
This is described in FAR 9.103(a) which states “purchases shall be
made from, and contracts awarded to, responsible prospective
contractors only.” Take this a step further and ask the FAR to
define responsible. FAR Part 9.104-1 spells out the general
standards of responsibility including: adequate financial resources,
ability to comply with the required delivery schedule, satisfactory
performance record, satisfactory record of integrity and ethics,
organization experience and so on. But take a second and read
further into 9.104-1(c), the past performance piece, which states,
“a prospective contractor shall not be determined responsible or non
responsible solely on the basis of lack of relevant performance
history.” This part of the FAR opens the door for a company to be
determined responsible without any government contracting past
performance.
Now let’s get a few things straight. This does not open the door for
anyone to start a business and immediately be qualified to be a
government contractor. A prospective contractor will still need to
be determined responsible by the source selection committee to be
awarded a contract. This means in order to “bypass the past
performance requirement” of FAR 9.104, a contractor will have to exceed the recommended levels of the additional
requirements including adequate financial resources, ability to comply with the required delivery schedule, satisfactory
record of integrity and ethics, organization experience including accounting, experience, production processes,
technical equipment and knowledge. To wrap this up into lemans terms, you need significant commercial experience
and business resources to outweigh the lack of past government experience.
Furthermore, let’s address FAR 15.3, the rules for source selection. The objective of source selection is for the
government to achieve best value in their procurement. The three main evaluation criteria of source selection are price,
quality and past performance. Now as we stated before, a “new to government contracting” company may be
determined responsible without past performance. However, when it comes to source selection, that “new” company
may be competing for a contract against an experienced government contractor with years of satisfactory past
performance. It will be incredibly difficult for the “new” company to persuade the contracting officer based on lower
price alone. The major take away here is that in order to enter the government marketplace, most companies will have
to start with small contracts and use them to gain past performance. Obviously, there are exceptions to every rule and
by no means will I say that a “new” company cannot be awarded a significant contract, the odds just are not in their
favor. Their time is better spent ramping up their commercial marketplace, making sure they have the resources in
place to be determined responsible. Only then, when the time and opportunity is right, should a company attempt to
diversify into the government marketplace.
Sources:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R41562.pdf
http://www.acquisition.gov/far/html/Subpart%2015_3.html
http://www.acquisition.gov/far/html/Subpart%2042_15.html
~ Mark Birkmeier | Procurement Specialist
Heads Up: Upcoming Changes to the WOSB Program
Each year as the new National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) is crafted and passed it inherently brings change,
and it is up to the savvy contractor to pay close attention to what changes these NDAA’s bring each time as they are
passed. A couple of such changes that may occur in the near future pertain to the Woman Owned Small Businesses
(WOSB) program, and all WOSB concerns (or businesses considering WOSB certification) should know about them.
The first change would be the authorization of sole-source awards to WOSB concerns. Currently, opportunities cannot
be sole-sourced to a business based on WOSB status, so this is a
step towards additional program benefit to eligible small
businesses. Adding an additional degree of benefit to WOSB
concerns, the program would be joining programs such as 8(a),
HUBZone and Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business
(SDVOSB) which already offer potential sole-source awards to
certified business concerns participating in one or more of the
programs. While this is good news, let me note that this change
does not signify that upon implementation we would see a surge of
sole-source contract actions to WOSB concerns – sole-sourcing to
WOSB concerns would simply become an option for contractors
and buying activities to leverage moving forward.
The second change would be the removal of the self-certification process that is currently utilized for businesses that
are eligible for the WOSB program. The current process is fairly straight-forward where WOSB concerns self-certify
WOSB status within their SAM registration and also upload all required documents into the SBA General Login
System (GLS) repository. There is no formal application, and self-certifying can be done expeditiously in comparison
to other programs which utilize a formal certification process. If self-certification ability is removed, the program
would inevitably move towards a formal certification process; however we are unsure as of now what that would look
like, and whether the process would be handled by the SBA or another organization/agency. Currently, WOSB
concerns can (if they so choose) certify via third party certifiers, and it is also currently unknown whether or not third-
party certifiers would still be a part of the formula. We also do not know if currently certified WOSB concerns will be
grandfathered in or if they will have to recertify per the new process. What we do know is this – the trend seems to be
that over time we will see less and less self-certification authority and more formal certification requirements as the
Federal government looks to limit the possibility of fraudulent or poorly-documented self-certifications, and the WOSB
certification process appears to heading in this direction as evidenced by the 2015 NDAA.
Thus, while we don’t know the exact form that the aforementioned changes will take once they are implemented, we do
know that changes are coming and it is best to understand them now in order to prepare for them. The best advice is to
maintain awareness and (based on what we know today) understand how these changes may impact your specific
situation so that you may take action if necessary once they are implemented.
~ Mark Ignash | Procurement Specialist
From the ‘Zypp’ files: Do you know?
Bid4Michigan or Buy4Michigan, which is the official State of Michigan procurement vehicle?
The State of Michigan is fortunate to have more than one procurement vehicle to procure state contracts. Buy4Michigan is the
official site for all state level contracting. https://www.buy4michigan.com/bso/ This state run website is open for the public to
view and does not charge a fee to browse for an opportunity or for government agencies or institutions to post to solicitations
to their site. This site is searched by the Macomb Regional PTAC’s bid matching system based on the keywords you have
selected in your bid match.
Bid4Michigan https://www.bid4michigan.com/ is also a procurement site utilized in the State of Michigan. This search tool
states it has 490 agencies to search for opportunities with. For the most part, school districts and some community colleges
are still utilizing this system. There is a fee for sellers to register for this site; however they do offer a basic viewing for no fee.
Again, if you have a bid match service with the Macomb Regional PTAC, our software scans this site and will alert you
through bid match to any solicitations that matches your keywords.
Which one should you pay attention to? Well both! Buy4Michigan will have all the state of Michigan agencies opportunities
and Bid4Michigan has opportunities for all the school districts. They are both a valuable tool in finding opportunities for small
business to support the State of Michigan.
The White House’s Small Business Dashboard reports good news for small businesses.
In FY 2014, the US government awarded $91.5 billion in contracts to small business, which is a 10% increase from FY 2013 of
$83 billion. If you are interested in more procurement data, go to their website: http://smallbusiness.data.gov/ Here you will be
able to see how each agency fared in their small business goals. Also you can detail into each agency and see their performance
by goal, top 5 types of contracts used, top 5 states by vendor location, and top 5 products or services sold. This website is a great
resource for market research information.
What the top 10 NAICS codes are where federal agencies spend contracting dollars?
The American Small Business Collation via FPDS classified this from Fiscal Year 2014
31-33 Manufacturing $158 billion
54 Professional, Scientific and Technical Services $130 billion
56 Administrative & Support and Waste $39 billion
Management & Remediation Services
23 Construction $32 billion
48-49 Transportation & Warehousing $17 billion
Here is another great website to utilize in your market research: https://www.theasbc.org/news/210304/The-NAICS-Code-
Categories-Where-Federal-Agencies-Spend-Contracting-Dollars--FY2014.htm
~Dorine Vanderzyppe | Project Specialist
Events of Interest
We invite you to visit the following
websites for more upcoming
events!
NDIA MI Chapter
www.ndia-mich.org/index.php/about/
about-ndia
WID MI Chapter
http://www.wid-mi.org/
WWW.MACOMB.EDU/PTAC
To learn more about our
events visit us:
Photo by Kathy Stockman
Your just a click away from joining
the Macomb Regional PTAC
Community to keep informed about
the latest information and events in
local, state and federal government
contracting. Follow us on Facebook
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Follow us!
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Date Time Location Register
Government Contracting 101
*Your business must be located in Macomb County to register for our Government Contracting 101 training.
May 21, 2015 9am - 12pm M-TEC Register Here
Government Contracting 201
August 13, 2015 9am - 12pm M-TEC Register here
Government Contracting Marketing 301
August 27, 2015 9am - 12pm M-TEC Register here
State Contracting 101
September 24, 2015 9am - 12pm M-TEC Register here
Special Events
Introduction to Federal Government Cost and Pricing
April 29, 2015 8am - 1pm
DC3S Meeting and Event Center
7205 Sterling Pond
Sterling Heights, MI
Register here
Dual-Use Technology Briefing (DUTB)
May 14, 2015 9am - 2pm
Navistar Defense
1675 E. Whitcomb Ave.
Madison Heights, MI
Register here
WID Presents: The Race to Supply Autonomous & Connected Vehicle Technologies
May 14, 2015 5pm - 7:30pm Altair
1820 E. Big Beaver, Troy, MI Register here
An Insider’s Guide to Wide Area Workflow (WAWF)
June 4, 2015 8am - 1pm M-TEC Register here
DCAA Accounting Requirements For Federal Contractors
July 23, 2014 9am - 12pm M-TEC Register here
Mark Ignash, CFCM,
Procurement Specialist discusses government
contracting at our Coffee and Contracting 2015
Protect Yourself and Still Win Business event
hosted by GDLS mc2 on March 24, 2015.
On March 5, 2015 Frank Murray, Senior Counsel from FOLEY
& LARDNER LLP discusses with the business community
Federal Bid Protest Procedures, Pointers, and Pitfalls.
Dr. Doug Goetz, CCPM, CF, President and CEO of CP
Consultants; and Robert Koop, Director of Government
Property, GE Aviation share their expertise on Government
Property on April 9, 2015 at Macomb Community College.
Photo by GDLS mc2
