Federal Contracts - Essay Example

Introduction

As much as federal and state agencies play an essential role in supporting small entrepreneurs to compete in the global market, they do not give grants for starting businesses. However, it is essential for a person with an interest in a particular field to provide the relevant information that may help economically disadvantaged entrepreneurs to gain access to the economic mainstream of American society. For this particular case, whereby an individual is interested in developing small control aircraft to expand his/her business by competing for Department of Homeland Security contracts; there are numerous low-interest loan programs that offer startup financing. This move is extremely essential for small entrepreneurs to expand their businesses. This paper analyzes the federal act's support for small businesspersons with the aim of expanding their businesses. It further provides an organizational chart that supports working with the federal contracting system.

Federal Contracts under a given Business Development Program

The federal government only provides support to businesspersons or prime contractors that are performing at least one active EPA contract. In addition, they must also be eligible for the award of federal contracts. The other parties who are bound to receive assistance are companies whose corporate policy is to promote, develop and implement subcontracting opportunities for the sector of socioeconomic. In order to help such small businesses that are still starting, but have a viable idea; the SBA came up with the 8(a) Business Development Program.

What is the 8(a) Business Development Program?

Business Development Program is an assistance program for small-disadvantaged businesspersons with bigger ideas. This program also offers a broad scope of assistance to firms under people who are economically disadvantaged. This program is essential in offering disadvantaged individuals gain access to the economic mainstream of American society. In fact, this program offers help to the hundreds of thousands of aspiring industrialists to gain a foothold in state or federal contracting. It is worth noting that this program has two major phases over nine years (Scot & Marius, 2010). It also has a four-year development stage accompanied by a five-year transition stage.

Business Development Program Benefits

The Business Development Program assists inspiring entrepreneurs greatly since participants are able to receive sole-source contracts of roughly $4 million for goods and services. Concerning manufacturing, the participants receive a total of $6.5 million, which is to assist in the establishment and expansion of already existing businesses. Additionally, as much as this program helps, 8(a) still assists in the building of competitive advantage. This program also helps in the improvement of institutional expertise by assisting participants to take part in competitive acquisitions (Ralph & John, 1995).

Firms under the 8(a) program are capable of forming joint ventures that assist them in teaming up to bid contracts. This process enhances the ability of most firms to perform larger prime contracts and overcome the effects of contract bundling. It is also possible for such companies to combine and form one large contract as highlighted in the Mentor Protégé Program.

There are usually the requirements and the objectives of the 8(a) Business Development Program, which involves the graduation of firms to a higher notch of competitive advantage. This process assures organizations of thriving in a competitive business environment. The goal of this program is to help firms maintain a balance between their commercial and government businesses. As stipulated in the NAICS code, it also provides the limit on the amount of dollar value of sole-source contracts that individual participant is likely to receive while taking part in the program, which is roughly $100 million. The requirements include the following:

1. Systematic evaluations
2. Yearly reviews
3. Business planning

Additionally, the participants in this program are likely to benefit from specialized counseling, business training, high-level executive development by the SBA, and marketing assistance. This program further guarantees an inspiring individual willing and ready to work on a project like developing remote control aircraft access to surplus federal government support. Some of these include SBA – guaranteed loans and bonding assistance.

Organization of the Federal Reserve System

The Federal Reserve System has a unique structure that supports both the private and the public. The description of this structure is one that operates independently within the government and independent of it. This system does not require government funding because of its uniqueness. It derives its purpose and authority from the Federal Reserve Act that Congress passed in 1913 (Murphy, 2005). Below is a structure that highlights an organizational diagram that would best support working within the federal contracting system.

Organizational Chart that Supports Working within the Federal Contracting System

The diagram shows the duties of various departments within the organization. The contracting officer carries out the duty of ensuring that the operations. Government Contracts Regulations and Commissions perform numerous duties such as facilitating the acquisition of the contract under the federal contracting requirements. This is an essential part of the contracting process since it allows the executive to allocate a certain amount of money to a given person or group. This process is not an exception to the requirements of the policy and must seek approval from the Treasury Board.

Conclusion 

The contracting process via the Federal Contract system and structure is a complex process; however, it supports inspiring entrepreneurs. In this case, it is necessary for the government of the United States to establish clear rules. Firms under the 8(a) program are capable of forming joint ventures to help them in bidding contracts. This process enhances the ability of most firms to perform larger prime contracts, which is very essential in such as situation.