Besides certification as a small business or minority- or woman-owned
small business, you may need to register to do business with some
government agencies:For
all Department of Defense agencies, contracting requires registration:
www.ccr.gov.
There you will
be given the opportunity to get a DUNS Number for free from Dun and
Bradstreet. You will also be assigned a CAGE (Commercial And Government
Entity) Code. Before leaving the CCR site be sure to like to the
PRO-Net site (described below).
The Federal Government’s Small Business
Administration has a site
pro-net.sba.gov
which allows you to register and get access to multiple electronic
sources of procurement assistance, access to registered subcontractors
or access to subcontracting opportunities.
In addition to
registering with the SBA’s PRO-Net for Federal contracting, you may also
want to register for commercial contracting through the Connectory at
www.connectory.com.
The
Connectory.com® Buyer-Supplier Network is a business-to-business
marketing and communication tool for all of California and the Baja
California region.
Advice from
experienced contractors: Have patience in dealing with public agencies.
Bureaucracies can be very frustrating and paper-oriented (a certain
amount of this is necessary to assure governments that their rules and
procedures are being followed and there is accountability at all levels,
so just go with the flow). You may not understand why they are requiring
specific information, but take a deep breath, and don’t hesitate to ask
for help in completing whatever forms are required.
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