Unlike a natural disaster where damage is confined to a geographical area, the Covid-19 pandemic can be found everywhere. This causes widespread and unique challenges throughout the United States.

Companies that would logically be on the front lines are pharmaceutical and medical supply companies. However, there are many other needs that are important as well such as:

• Staff augmentation at call centers
• Logistics services
• Technical support
• IT services
• Grocers
• Consumer goods
• Delivery/Courier services
• Homecare services
• Decontamination services
• Sanitary supplies
• Non-emergency transportation
• Personal care services
  and many more

Many private sector companies that have never worked with the government in the past will have a role to play due to the widespread nature of this emergency.

Companies that wish to participate should register in the Disaster Response Registry in the Federal Government’s System for Award Management (SAM) to ensure that they are eligible for contract awards. They should also monitor solicitations posted on sam.gov. Many of these contracts will be set-aside for local firms.

SBA Cuts Red-Tape
8(a) firms, due to the nature of sole-source contracts, often can have much quicker response times than even the shortened FEMA action plan. This is because 8(a) Business Development Program participants have the ability to obtain sole-source contracts. In a sole-source contract, the 8(a) firm serves as the subcontractor to the SBA on those contracts. By having the SBA serve as the contractor to the federal agency, the SBA is able to cut the majority of the red-tape associated with contracting with the federal agency. This enables the 8(a) small business to easily obtain large federal contracts relative to the firm’s size. The certification also allows for set-aside contracts and for a price preference on federal contracts.

8(a)/SDB Firms Take Part in Large Federal Spending
In general 8(a) firms account for 7.7% of all Federal Spending, so there is a great deal of reliance placed on 8(a) firms, outside of national emergencies.

Course of Action
A good course of action for minority-owned businesses that would like to help with the Covid-19 pandemic would be to make sure they are monitoring government sites for potential contracts, and being in the process of obtaining their 8(a) Certification, if they haven’t already.

If you need assistance putting your 8(a) Certification to optimal use at these challenging times, or would like to explore becoming 8(a) certified or getting on GSA Schedule, I always recommend contacting an industry expert such ez8a, Advance GSA or Advance 8a. All of the consulting firms do not charge for an initial consultation.