What Are Small Business Liaison Officers Seeking In A Subcontractor?

What do Small Business Liaison Officers (SBLOs) and subcontracting officers look for in their small business suppliers? If you said knowledge of the FAR, or ISO registration, or participation in SBA programs such as Mentor Protégé, or any other technical qualifications, you'd be right, but that isn't the whole story. In a recent informal survey designed to uncover the top ten best traits a small business vendor needs in order to be successful with the primes, the same words kept appearing: responsive, reasonable, knowledgeable, solid, dependable, cooperative, accountable, responsible.

In other words, the primes, just like buyers in any company, are looking for small businesses that understand and model good business practices. That starts with providing a quality product or service at a reasonable price, delivered on time. But there are additional steps a small business can take to give them a leg up.

Here are some of the specific suggestions the survey respondents had for their small business vendors who wanted to be among the best:

• To begin, take care of the basic prep work. Register in the Central Contractor Registration database at www.ccr.gov. If eligible, participate in small business initiatives and certification programs, such as the Small Disadvantaged Business or HUBZone programs.
• Complete bids and proposals in strict accordance with the instructions and pay attention to closing deadlines.
• Keep in frequent communication with the buyer. Small businesses that email or call back the same day win points. Inform the buyer of any changes that occur within your company.
• Provide the exact product or service as outlined in the specifications. Keep organized records so that expediters can quickly and easily check on orders.
• When it is time to deliver materials, follow the exact instructions for packing, shipping and invoicing and make sure all documentation is correct and accurate. If delivery will be delayed, provide advance notification whenever possible. Be able to explain the cause of the delay and also what you are doing to avoid problems in the future.
• Run a solid operation and maintain a secure financial position. Implement document, process and quality control systems for traceability, repeatability and consistency.
• Be e-commerce savvy: more and more bids, contracts, invoices and payments are processed electronically.

SBLOs and buyers who want to help their small business vendors improve their business know-how can send them to their local NC Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC) for no-cost assistance. To contact a your nearest NC PTAC counselor, please call 800.258.0862 or review our counselor listing.

Jacquline Taylor, Houston, TX SBDC

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