Contracting Officers (COs) are the people responsible for awarding contracts to vendors. They will act as the main point of contact for the full lifecycle of the opportunity and are usually the ones evaluating proposal offerors to determine which company had the most competitive bid. 

Contracting officers get to choose who to award a contract to. They are also able to modify contracts to require certain qualifications such as a Set-Aside or needing to be a local business to where the work is being done. They have a great deal of power and authority, so aspiring vendors should take any opportunity to give them a positive impression of their business. 

Important Note: During the bid evaluation period Contracting Officers are regularly placed into a position of silence. This means that by law they cannot communicate with any private companies or individuals outside their agency about the contract until the award has been made. 

Most contracting officers will be clearly listed in the Point of Contact section of any bid or proposal page. If you would like to search for additional contracting officers, you can use Select Pro to pull the names and emails of hundreds of government contacts who are awarding opportunities in your industry and state. 

Start by searching government agency websites for OSDBU, SADBU, or Small Business Liaison. If there is not a clearly labeled section try searching independently for [Department/Agency Name] OSDBU, [Department/Agency Name] SADBU, or [Department/Agency Name] small business liaison. 

Additionally, Select Pro has links to and information for the majority of agencies and their contacts for you to use. Simply input your desired department or agency into the Search field. From there you will see a list of important links directly from the Agency. Click on the link next to the word SADBU, and you’ll be taken directly to that agency’s dedicated website for their OSDBU representative. 

We will use the Department of Energy (DoE) as a reference to explore the key benefits of signing up with an OSDBU.  

• Technical and Financial assistance from the Prime Contractor, so you can have the knowledge required to be a successful contractor. 

• Coaching on key areas like project equipment, bidding regulations, and networking with government representatives. 

• Eligibility for non-compete subcontracting opportunities. 

• Click here to learn more about the DoE’s Mentor-Protégé Program 

• Click here to see a video on How You Can Register With the Doe’s Mentor-Protégé Program 

Individual Agencies and Departments will often have streamlined methods to award contracts to Pre-Approved Vendors. These Procurement Vehicles are designed specifically to award contracts to small and set-aside businesses without the need for complicated bidding processes or competition from larger companies. 

OSDBU’s regularly host events for small businesses to network with other Primes, federal decision makers, contracting officers, department heads, and other small businesses that are getting started in the contracting world. These events can be purely educational and informative, or function more as an Expo or conference where businesses get to show up and advertise their services to prospective government buyers. 

While it is not technically an OSDBU the GSA also hosts a number of events and conferences for businesses to take advantage of. We highly recommend finding any events in your area (or virtual) and attending them to build your network and learn from experts in both the commercial and government sectors. 

The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is an official legal request of the government to release any of their records into your hands. FOIAs work for any federal agency and allow citizens to have greater access and transparency from the government. For our purposes FOIAs allow businesses to examine past contracts to gain greater insight into the previous contract’s requirements and what has changed, who the incumbent is and what services they provided (unless they are listed as proprietary/redacted), as well as what the terms of the original agreement were. 

For any companies who want to do in-depth research on the opportunities they intend to bid on FOIA’s are a necessary tool. 

Luckily for us, submitting a FOIA is as easy as searching for the Agency’s Name + FOIA in any standard web browser. From there they will either have an official point of contact who you can email a FOIA to or a portal where vendors can submit their requests. 

Here are some links to popular Agency’s FOIA pages to help you get started: 

Before we begin the next module, work with your team to complete the following items.