On December 7, the NVTC Small Business and Entrepreneur Committee held their 4^th annual Teaming, Partnering and Contracting event at the Center for Innovative Technology in Herndon, VA.  The event brings together small business government contractors and large prime contractors to facilitate teaming opportunities and to help educate small and emerging contractors on best practices for winning business through teaming arrangements. “Representatives from 17 of the region’s prime contractors educated nearly 150 attendees about teaming opportunities,” said Kristin D’Amore, director of The Entrepreneur Center @NVTC. “Many of the prime contractors have already reported scheduling follow-up meetings with smaller companies they met during the event.”

In the first presentation, John Long of Northrop Grumman, Timothy Lowman of MacAulay-Brown and Greg Baroni of Attain, LLC presented tips for successfully teaming with larger prime contractors to the small businesses in attendance.  A summary of their advice follows.

Get in sync with your targeted prime’s business development process

All of the panelists stated that their contract pursuits begin 12 -18 months in advance of a Request for Proposal being released. Their pursuit process begins with a needs analysis that asks the question, “What is the problem that the customer is trying to solve and how can we help them solve it?”  The prime contractor’s teaming process starts with that question and involves the following analyses:

• Which teaming partners have the technologies that can create synergies for the prime?
• Which teaming partners have the relationships with the customers that create synergies for the prime?
• Which teaming partners have the innovation to present lower-cost solutions that help the prime contractor price to win in an LPTA (lowest price, technically acceptable) environment? For example, a small business that has personnel in Arkansas that can meet the customer’s needs will have a pricing advantage over one whose personnel is in the DC metro area because of the lower wages and cost of living. Another approach would be to bring more junior staff into the proposed solution and use senior staff in a mentoring role.

Simply put, the goal of the business development process is to win and the prime contractors are looking to optimize their offer to bring a creative solution to the customer at a competitive price.  Small businesses that want to team with the prime contractors should have compelling value propositions that increase the prime’s chances of winning business. In order to do so, they need to be talking with the right people at the prime well in advance of the proposal process.

Again, all of this analysis is taking place well in advance of the proposal stage so it’s important to be front of mind with the primes as they are developing their business development strategies.

Nurture relationships with front-line staff at the primes

All of the presenters agreed that while it was great to have relationships with the small business liaisons, business will come by developing relationships with the program managers and their teams that are working day-to-day with customers. The big businesses are in effect a conglomeration of small “businesses” that are working on specific programs and agencies. These are the people that drive the business development process and small businesses need to cultivate those relationships. Put simply, those people need to know what you can do, who you know and what competitive advantage you bring to the table.

Timothy Lowman of MacAulay-Brown summarized it as follows, “We’re looking for people that are working on their business, not in their business.” He expanded on that statement by explaining that people that are working on their business (trying to grow the business) are what they look for in teaming arrangements.  People that work in their business work on contracts they already have and aren’t actively pursuing growth.

In order to be present with those business developers, small businesses need to make sure that they have completed all of the necessary paperwork to team with the primes. All of the primes have web portals that allow small businesses to register. In many cases such as SBA and the Jobs Act, this information is necessary for the prime to be in legal compliance on the contract.  John Long summarized it as follows, “I can’t guarantee that you will get any business if you register with us, but I can guarantee that you won’t get any business if you don’t register with us.”

A professional social media presence is table stakes

All of the presenters encouraged the small businesses to make sure that they have a professional social media presence. They agreed that professional social media presence is an indicator that the small business is innovative and is actively trying to grow with inbound marketing processes.

Timothy Lowman indicated that he regularly searches LinkedIn for potential teaming partners. In order to get found by prime contractors, you need to optimize your social media profile for the keyword terms that describe how you can help customers. Greg Baroni of Attain recommended that small businesses focus on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, in that order.

The panelists recommended that small businesses invest in people and resources to complement strengths and weaknesses. For example, if you’re strong technically, but not good at sales and marketing, you need to hire those resources to grow.

Summary

Teaming with prime contractors is an excellent way for small businesses to grow. The key to success is to focus your efforts by aligning your strengths and capabilities with the prime contractors working in programs and agencies where you can provide synergy with your technology and relationships.