Actions Required for a Firm to Participate in Government Contracting Options - Term Paper Example

Firm Research: Five Guys (Add (Add (Add Firm Research: Five Guys Introduction The US federal government is the world’s largest buyer of goods and services. The US government gives extensive exposure to the country’s business firms to do business with federal government. This paper will discuss actions required for a firm to participate in government contracting options and a firm’s ability to meet the expected governmental requirements. Federal government contracting process Five Guys is a fast food chain headquartered at Lorton in the United States that offers food items including hot dogs, hamburgers, and French fries. The company was founded by Jerry and Janie Murrell and their sons in 1986 and since then the food chain has been successful. In order to spread its business across the United States, the company follows a franchising business expansion strategy. Five Guys increased its number of locations 6 in 2002 to more than 670 in 2010 (Restaurant News.com, 2011). The company has received several awards for its quality foods and service efficiency. Although Five Guys was rated as one of the fast developing and most profitable food chains in US in recent years, it still does little amount of business the federal government. Since Five Guys is a small business, the company has to take several actions to be able to participate in federal government contracting actions. Firstly, Five Guys has to register with the Central Contractor Registration (CCR) in order to be a federal contractor. The CCR is an online data-base of companies maintained by the federal government so as to find firms wanted to do business with the government. Governmental agencies will search this database to choose prospective partners. Once this registration process is completed, the company should enter its business profile information on the Dynamic Small Business Search page. As per SBA guidelines, by creating a business profile in CCR and Dynamic Small Business Search and keeping the profile information up to date, Five Guys can ensure that it has access to various federal contracting opportunities. Five Guys’ business profile containing detailed business information would assist contracting officers, prime contractors, and state and local government buyers to learn well about the organization. If the organization has competitive strengths and capabilities over other, it will be chosen immediately (U. S. Small Business Administration, n.d). It is a general misconception that small business organizations have to compete head to head with large corporations to win contracts. In reality, the federal government has created wide categories of contract opportunities specifically for small businesses. Therefore, Five Guys does not have to directly compete with other multinational corporations. By fulfilling the above mentioned procedures, the company can access different federal government contracting options. Generally, steps required to enable a firm to participate in federal government contracting actions vary in accordance with the nature of the contracting option chosen. Regardless of the size and nature of the business, it is necessary for the firm to register with the Central Contractor Registration so as to enter into any type of business contract. Subcontracting to a Prime Vendor would be a better way to get access to government contracting opportunities. Here, the firm makes agreements with the prime vendor. GSA Schedules is another federal contracting opportunity under which long term government wide contracts are made with commercial firms so as to give access to large volume of products and services at volume discount pricing. In order to be a GSA Schedule contractor, firstly an organization has to make an offer in response to GSA Schedule solicitation. GSA schedule vendors’ contract proposals, offers, and modifications can be submitted through an internet based GSA eOffer system; this online submission procedure simplifies the contracting process to a great extent (U. S. General Service Administration, 2012). For every business organization, it is essential to update its business profile in order to get access to most potential government contracting opportunities. In addition, firms have to strictly comply with the federal government laws and regulations to be able to run business with the government. As Drabkin and Thai (2003) point out, the US federal procurement process reflects the government’s need for acquiring goods, services, and interests in the real property. As Worthington and Goldsman (1998) reflect, under this process, key participants (organizations or vendors) are required to deliver quality supplies while also meeting certain socioeconomic goals like environmental sustainability and social welfare. The participants must ensure that they can supply the required goods and services uninterruptedly. While analyzing Five Guys’ supply chain efficiency, it seems that the company takes more time to deliver its products even though they are of superior quality. This time delay in product delivery may adversely affect the organization’s ability to supply required product quantities within the specified time. It seems that the company keeps its stores clean, and its supply chain operations never hurt environmental safety. In short, it can be stated that Five Guys can effectively meet the expected requirements for federal contracting participants if it resolves its time delay in product delivery. While analyzing the operations and functions of the key participants in the federal procurement process, it seems that most of the firms would struggle to meet the expected requirements. It would be a challenging task for a firm to integrate product/service quality, delivery efficiency, price affordability, and socioeconomic responsibility at a time. Admittedly, as compared to small businesses, such issues would heavily affect large corporations. Obviously, large business concerns need to deal with huge volume of transactions and may have a complex supply chain; hence, they may find difficulty with satisfying the expected requirements. In contrast, since small business houses focus on a small market segment, their supply chain activities would be more efficient. In short, small business enterprises can better meet the expected requirements as compared to multinational corporations. Furthermore, small business can devote more time for doing business with the government. Conclusions The above discussion clearly points out various ways that enable a firm to participate in government contract actions. Five Guys can better meet the expected requirements if it pays specific attention to its product delivery efficiency. In addition, small business can take more advantages of government contracting opportunities on the strength of their supply chain simplicity. References Drabkin, D & Thai, K. V. (2003). U, S. Federal government procurement: Structure, process and current issues, 1-29. Retrieved from http://www.toronto.ca/inquiry/inquiry_site/cd/gg/add_pdf/77/Procurement/Electronic_Documents/US_Jurisdictions/Fed_Govt_Issues.pdf Restaurant News.com. (2011). Why five guys, Chipotle are on the rise. Retrieved from http://www.restaurantnews.com/tag/five-guys-burgers-and-fries/page/2/ U. S. Small Business Administration. (n.d). Opening small business opportunities. Opening Doors: Small Business Opportunities in Federal Government Contracting, 1-5. Retrieved from http://archive.sba.gov/idc/groups/public/documents/sba_homepage/serv_pub_contracting.pdf U. S. General Service Administration. (2012). GSA schedules. Retrieved from http://www.gsa.gov/portal/category/100611 Worthington, M. M & Goldsman, L. P. (1998). Contracting with the Federal Government. USA: John Wiley and Sons. Read More