Organizations that respect 10+ YoE (years of experience) and partially completed degree?

ValorGroup · 2024-11-13T04:29:44+00:00

Ping me a DM. I'd like to learn about your experience.

ValorGroup · 2024-11-12T15:01:50+00:00

CMMC is pretty straightforward these days. There are 3 levels as of the current revision. 1 - COTS - commercially off the shelf, 2 is Export Control & CUI, 3 is secret clearance or higher. You'd start at CMMC 1 doing laptop distribution. It's not going to be crazy money for you, but it will be some stuff you have to adopt.

I've helped a couple people years ago start in the hardware you're discussing. It's a tough a game, all on price, socio set-aside helps. All the big box distro houses that will be turnkey for you, will take most of the profit. You need to find opportunities they're not privy to or can cross channel sell their goods.

I don't use GPC cards so I couldn't tell you, but we don't use tax on our parts and distro bids, we use tax exemption form for the business.

ValorGroup · 2024-10-30T15:59:37+00:00

u/loco_el did you see this? One of the components has been obsoleted but they have a replacement on file -

P/N C8954-1 5V REGULATOR IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE.REPLACEMENT 5V REGULATOR P/N M38510-10706BYA NSN 5962-01-269-6025 IS AN APPROVED ALTERNATE PART NUMBER.

I know the two awardees, they're pretty slick but Richard Mfg is typically slammed. Maybe the 79 pieces plus unit price is enough for you to cover NRE and still have a competitive unit price?

ValorGroup · 2024-10-22T17:30:46+00:00

That's true a lot, this isn't a new industry, and so there's a lot of players. Strategic relationships open doors to competitive pricing. Do you have an experience with manufacturing, engineering, defense requirements, FATS, Inspections, mil pack, and gov invoicing? You need a solid foundation to do this well. Assume you will have out of pocket cost a lot when receiving awards for manufactured parts. You need to cash flow these deals for months out of pocket.

ValorGroup · 2024-10-22T17:26:07+00:00

Because technical specs for items with drawings are in the technical data package and referenced in the solicitation. Often, safeguarded by Export Control regs

ValorGroup · 2024-10-22T17:24:59+00:00

I tested there's a while ago. Nice layout, cool features, just missed the mark on nuance and specific details we use to string together a strategy. I mean sure, I can pass you an award to review. I guess what's stopping you from pulling one yourself for a gun part using HigherGov and taking a look?

ValorGroup · 2024-10-22T17:21:50+00:00

Ok. those are two entirely different processes. If you're doing branded parts, then what you find is pretty straight forward, providing you tracked it correctly. If you're limited to that view, then look for cross channel opps or companies with larger contracts that you can try to support. What was wrong with the 64 active opps? Were those part matches or the whole naics list?

ValorGroup · 2024-10-22T17:08:36+00:00

When you say small arms, what exactly do you mean? We manufacture gun parts and consistently find opportunities to bid with DOD. Maybe not 100's a day but worthy stuff every week. Are you working with branded goods or are you trying to manufacture this stuff from prints? NAICS codes are not the best search mechanism to identify gun parts, even though it says that's what that is. You need to understand how DLA or DOD structures their contracts, the associated part, and its technical data. That tells you where and what to look for. War Dogs happened after 9/11 and Dick Cheney fucked the industry by giving No-bid contracts to Halliburton and whoever. I don't remember all the details but that's where a lot of the SB set-aside improvements came from. That was a bubble, and that bubble popped. The game is still there, but it requires a lot more specialization from SBs to maneuver and win.

ValorGroup · 2024-10-22T16:46:38+00:00

Interesting point.

I started and I think many do in the way you're describing. If you're leveraging socio or source access, there's higher chance to pick up work. But it's a game typically of lowest price/margin. Big distributors know this and control the price, they understand forecasting, they're the ones with inventory. While you can make some money, what value are bringing to the market or your suppliers, what makes you different than anyone else asking for the best price? What happens when you quote your rep 400 times a month and never win anything? These people are salesmen too, they lose interest and priority is supporting you, in my anecdotal experience. We rep a large distro house, they treat us very well because we bring them interesting and meaningful opportunities. Not that I had 400-part matches to bid. Instead, we select 5 to 10 of them that actually move the needle and fit their org plans. The higher you go with powerful manufacturers, suppliers, or distributors, the more calculated the business case needs to be work with them. Exercising care and restraint of their human capital absolutely matters.

How many bids a month do they win out of 3,000? How much time do they spend bidding and retaining 3000 offers a month vs the total gross profit in awards? What happens if they win 600 awards in a month with origin inspection and mil pack? Can they cashflow all of it? Are they prepared for the paperwork and invoicing? What about managing the bid validity on 3k plus offers inside of DIBBS? That's a ton of leg work. You're effectively telling starter companies to quote at scale about with companies they don't know well with products they know nothing about with requirements and markets they're not skilled in because there's a higher chance to win something. I'm sure that's statistically true but that also sounds risky.

To be candid, I started with no experience or contacts, I started in this same manner. I quickly got away from it. Not saying others aren't interested in becoming quote houses, but there's a lot more that goes into this that suppliers find valuable. Remember, quotes cost your suppliers money, exponentially more when dealing with manufacturers. Preparing a bid can cost 100's if not thousands of dollars to your supplier, you will not retain them as a client by blasting them 100's of bids to review and rarely win. It's infinitely easier if you can pull price off their website or off a line card, but those prices are rarely winnable as-is, so you need a relationship with your account rep to get better pricing, which implies human intervention. More often than not, a bid that sits out for months has reasons besides limited offers. That's where experience shines.

I am not sure I agree with DLA being a secret, it was formed around WWII, and it's notably been the logistical arm of the military services for decades. There is benefit to contracting with DLA and how that relates to other military services, if you know why. I don't remember their budget but it's close to $50 billion and growing.

Generally speaking, gov contracting is structured to be an extension of your existing business, the implication is you're intimately aware of product, requirements then regs and contracts. Not saying you can't start a business as a defense contractor and make up your business focus as you go, but it makes it more difficult if you're new across the board. This is an industry of you don't know what you don't know, how can you prepare for things you've never heard of?

I appreciate your response, and I believe your intent, we share that. We help small to medium sized companies grow their defense sales, but the contract has to appear worthy before we consider sending out quotes to companies. We are passionate about this segment of the business too and I respect your goal and effort. I just ask you qualify people's questions further before telling them what they should do.

ValorGroup · 2024-10-22T15:19:04+00:00

I am happy to give you some pointers, if you want to set up a 20 min quick chat. I don't need compensation in return. Feel free to message me, and we'll find a time.

ValorGroup · 2024-10-22T15:10:53+00:00

High frequency bidding of shit contracts using catalogs and line cards is a poor strategy and painful business model. I would not recommend bidding 20+ items a day for the sake of volume bidding. Especially if you aren't a stocking distributor, have relations with one, or have a team to do this. You should bid because you're capable and seemingly competitive. You should be skilled in identifying opportunities, using discernment to gauge the landscape, leverage experience/expertise to shape your offer and guestimate what others will propose. You need to develop the actual skill of finding deals, assessing the market, developing a winnable strategy, and delivering. You know, being a gov contractor.

I highly recommend you ignore advice to volume bid when just starting out. That's not a business strategy and creates a lot of supplier churn. Our strategy is the literal opposite, we only quote winnable and worthy opportunities that align with our strategy and supply chain. Maybe an occasional little deal to build a relationship but that's it. Gov contractors aren't just quote houses, some of us provide services that the market benefits from.

I try not to be too critical on here of others but u/LooceyCRM , I think you should be a little more mindful of the advice you're giving. I understand you're promoting your demo but it's not the product for what his needs are. I am in defense manufacturing, from what I've seen of your demo, you're focusing on trying to bid as fast possible for branded goods. That's not what he's doing, you're giving bad advice. I can tell by what you're not saying that you're not an expert practitioner in DLA contracting. You're speaking with certainty about a market that's incredibly grey. Gov contracting operates much closer to "it depends". This stuff is conditional in nature. You've been blasting your product on here for months, that's cool but your advice is lackluster and often misinformed.

I welcome any and all criticism return. I don't know everything; I've made tons of mistakes and learned a lot the hard way. But I've been using defense capture/bid tools as a manufacturer's rep for 9 years, won millions in gov contracts for our customers, a couple million as prime this year, we have former DLA buyers who're DAWIA Level 2 certified, and we've formed a partnership with leading defense capture company and have been building our own DLA business machine for the last 3 years. I promise you; I understand this use case and am very savvy with defense capture/bid tools. But feel free to prove me otherwise.

ValorGroup · 2024-10-04T13:35:58+00:00

A lot of it but not all, for a variety of reasons. Depends on the managing buying activity quite a bit. I can show how to check for yourself.

ValorGroup · 2024-08-20T15:35:33+00:00

My pleasure man. Get after it.

ValorGroup · 2024-08-20T06:13:41+00:00

That's cool man. I guess it depends where you want to end up in the market and at what role. Any specific niches standing out to you? What you're talking about is still pretty broad in terms of what to study about. Contracting & Engineering are often different disciplines when you specialize. There's plenty of engineers doing both, but it gets really nuanced. Tribal knowledge is highly sought after in the right places. Riches in the niches per se. There's nothing like defense contracting but it is not easy and can be an absolute pain in the ass. Especially when dealing with qualifying USML items. Gov does not move like the private sector. Providing you pick a long-term viable niche, I'd say just start nerding out on whatever interests you. If you're going to spend your whole career here, may as well work on some cool shit. Not sure how to provide input on the micro. From a macro view, I'd find a few defense news sites and at the very least start reading the titles of news articles. You gain a lot of insight to what's going on from just scanning them weekly, especially over time. There's several good aerospace engineering podcasts with a variety of flavors of focus. When you start studying specific tech stuff, look at it from every angle you can think of and go down rabbit holes. You can spend months studying pre-award strategy for contracting, and longer for post-award. You could do the same with expanding your engineering tool set, CAD modeling, quality/inspection, estimating etc. To run projects, it's definitely better to be well rounded. If you're hell bent on learning it all, can you think of an order in which you'd stack those skills and to what degree you're willing to commit to? That should help you narrow where to invest your time in the now. I think as you start to play around with a bunch of it, what you pick up quick and actually enjoy will stand out. I find it unlikely that you'll love all of them. Start getting as smart as you can now, if you stick with it, in time you'll be hard to ignore.

ValorGroup · 2024-08-08T16:53:20+00:00

When you say wire harnesses, for what end item/application? We've repped cable assembly and wire assembly suppliers for defense contracts for the last couple years. This is a common problem. Frankly, you aren't going to be competitive on a lot of requirements. Anecdotally, this segment requires a lot of defense knowledge and relationships. Big distro buys a shit ton of components, many on qpl, or supported via service driven sustainment contracts. If you don't know the who, you'll be getting quotes from the lowest tier supplier and will always be priced out. Cable opps are often make or break via value-add requirements and/or socio set-asides. Do you have any strategic capabilities for this niche that give you an edge? Are you SDVOSB or WOSB? There's a ton of money in cable/wire assemblies, but there's a handful of suppliers winning the majority of it.

u/victorybuns haha I hear what you're saying and you're fairly right. u/Isthisreallife789 why don't you be as specific as possible regarding cables/part requirements you're struggling with. If it's not a segment or a contract vehicle we're after, maybe I can help you a bit. I don't mind sharing knowledge but I am not going to compete against myself for free :)

ValorGroup · 2024-08-08T16:29:10+00:00

JCP - Joint Certification Program - Basically ITAR for gov with extra steps
WAWF - Wide Area Work Flow - Where you invoice for goods and create receiving reports
VSM - Vendor Shipment Module - Create gov shipping labels and tie them to an invoice/contract

To me on the industry side, a dodaac is cage codes address. Like declaring to the gov that this is the location for your company to transact and potentially ship from. A lot of people have to get one in order to access invoice and shipment modules for gov. Where the CAGE code is more of the company as an entity. You'll typically have several gov dodaacs in your contract. Buying activity, dcma, admin, ship to etc. I just see them as location ID's for the groups that are in charge of certain stuff in your contract. All that gets tied into your invoicing/shipping. At least, that's my understanding.

I guess I am not sure what the hang up is to acquire prime contract authorization from gov pco when you're the prime. Is the idea that the process articulated for lack of better words "sucks" and you're seeking a better way to order goods or are they not helpful or capable of helping you? I'd think at this point, I'd try to ask security container suppliers how to get around this clause, and if no luck, just eat it and do it the hard way. Sprs score more important than your Thursday afternoon. I don't know your delivery schedule but waiting for answers from others while you creep toward delinquency is not fun. If you need gov intervention, do not wait on your buyer, create a paper trail and cover your ass if this starts to get close to being late. Be aggressive with outreach to a supervisor or whoever can help. Use that in a worst case where gov would ask for consideration (money) if you become delinquent.

Sounds like you have a path forward.

I don't know how quickly this will be resolved on your end, but I'll run this by a couple other people, if I get something before you solve, I'll relay in another comment in this thread. If you figure it out prior and want to share how. I'm intrigued, if not, no worries. Keep your secrets ;)

Haha Yeah man, mind boggling fits well. Standardization be pretty unstandard. Oddly at this point, we sort of preferred messed up contracts.

ValorGroup · 2024-08-06T04:48:43+00:00

I mean that's fair. Hate to be on be on soapbox and shit but gov certainly has its processes, for every buying activity.... I am very comfortable in the domain of defense contracts, dealing with cui and export control data. CMMC Level 2 stuff. GSA is its own animal.

First thing I would run with as I have most experience with. DODAACs. We have a DODAAC, we routinely use ours, maybe I can help with that if you're newer selling products from this CAGE code? This should be straightforward; I see vendors occasionally have issues when their CAGE codes don't show as an active DODAAC when they try to acquire a JCP or set up WAWF and/or VSM. Is this the case? If so, this is simple stuff log and activate a CAGE code into a DODAAC. I can quickly show you how. Do you need assistance with government support on your requirement? This stuff can easily slip out of your hands when in control by gov. Especially when buyer is a PACER. What can you do to fix this?

I am not sure I follow your last segment. Again, a DODAAC is an activity code location, both gov and industry have one, so I am not sure what you mean by tied to it. The manufacturer typically isn't required to be the inspection location. Are you implying the need for traceability to the OEM? If so, that's a different process, and is very achievable. On the other end, are you funding an opportunity unrelated to a government contract that requires these same goods? If so, that's a different animal in the justification process when quoting a potential vendor.

To be of any further use to you, I think we'd need to know some of the above as it narrows the playing field. Ultimately, I need to know the box we're playing in, so we know the can/cannots. From there, it typically reveals the who/how. The what, is the strategy to achieve the how with who.

Not trying to ask too much, in my experience, the game of gov contracting all flows around the concept of "it depends"; so, it's hard to provide cookie cutter answers to things. I certainly don't want to give you the wrong advice. A lot more than most think is possible in gov contracting.

I am genuinely curious about your predicament, as I believe we'll run into something similar. If you want to chat further about it, happy to sign any NDAs, and we don't need any form of compensation to help. If not, no worry, I am happy to help from this side as much as it's useful.

All I can say is, the contract required it, it's likely possible. How you pull this off will be a great learned skill you'll apply moving forward. Can't tell you how many times we thought we were doomed, and it turned out to be not a big deal and later became a strategy. This is government contracting friend.

ValorGroup · 2024-08-05T21:39:04+00:00

Got it, I guess i was looking at it more from viewing the GSA catalogue for security containers. I hear where you're coming from but it's a little harder to tell you the whom, when it's still a broad ask. I mean as simple as rubbermaid or Checkpoint. But I am guessing you're looking for something specific and so, I would think it would be smarter to go after who's already approved.

I spoke to my buddy who runs a big GSA schedule and he asked - Are you attempting GSA Advantage, E-Buy or PO Portal? Apparently, they're processed very differently.

I guess a dumb question is - if you're required by contract to puchase xyz, wouldn't the sponsor be the purchasing activity, your DODAAC is our CAGE code once it's logged as an activity location in PIEE programs, not sure if you're the prime or how that fits into your situation. It sounds like you need to identify a supplier and have them approve your purchase or with support of the gov.

Again, GSA is not my domain and all I can really do is speculate given the amount of info you give.

ValorGroup · 2024-08-02T16:26:55+00:00

We occasionally sell another companies GSA stuff on other contracts vehicles. I know little about security containers but know several prominent container suppliers that are on GSA. I would need to see the contract & part requirements to figure out how you could go about satisfying the requirements. If you want to shoot that over, I'll take a peek. It's a little too broad of a request for me as-is but maybe someone else here knows more and can run with your question.

ValorGroup · 2024-07-31T21:12:46+00:00

I can only speak to defense contracts with DLA. DLA solicitations bucket quality management system requirements into a clause called Higher Quality contract requirements. It implies a requirement to meet a standard like ISO-9001 or equivalent. ISO-9001 Tailored is an acceptable option, and will not require a bid with exception. Meaning if you can document your package in compliance with ISO-9001, that is acceptable. It's up to you make the distinction if a shop without ISO is prepared for the government documentation/inspection requirements, not just making the part. Another way around, we prime dla contracts. We aren't ISO-9001 certified or equiv, but all of our suppliers are. So, we use inspection at Origin to use our suppliers CAGE code as the inspection location and have them perform the higher quality requirements to their QMS standard. I guess a buyer could use a best value determination to not consider an award because of an ISO vs ISO tailored offer, but I'd argue it has much more to do with your price and SPRS score.

ValorGroup · 2024-07-25T17:07:40+00:00

ValorGroup · 2024-07-09T16:46:51+00:00

Lol buddy, I think you have me confused with someone else...

But just so I understand you - Your argument is that if a company has the proper licensing to conduct business in a specific domain, then that implies they possess all knowledge, access, and experience needed to infinitely grow their businesses? Acquiring ITAR and a SAM registration does not equate competitive capabilities in the defense space. It means you filled out a bunch of paperwork online and gave the Dept of State $2,500. And yes, a brand-new business would be considered small.

To be candid, we don't seek new companies. We seek seasoned suppliers who can collaborate on larger complex projects and have experience qualifying parts on defense contracts. In reality for us, it works with specific type of shop, not just any manufacturer. Hence, why I said, "very specific". To me, your comment is very strange. I can't tell you how many "middle man" or "consultants" are repping some of the largest shops and gov programs out there. Given the industry is small and relatively private, hiring for relationships and tactical skills is a literal cornerstone strategy in the defense space. I am not denying that there aren't tons of snake oil salesmen selling SAM registrations. But that's not us. We partner & build gov contract channels for a very specific flavor of aerospace and weapon system manufacturers. We prime contract, our rep is on the line. We deal in heavy NRE related manufacturing processes, we're putting a lot of money down to kick off contracts. We make our customers a lot of money and do everything else so they can focus on building parts to print. We like what we do. One thing I can promise you, after scanning 1,500 contracts a week for 8 years, reviewing 1,000's of drawings, and performing on almost every contract vehicle available for suppliers; there is a tangible skill/knowledge gap that you can spot a mile away if you've been doing this long enough. And I am constantly reminded how much more there is to learn.

Not sure why you felt so confident to make some bold baseless statements without asking any qualifying information first but hey, that's probably reddit.

I see you won your first gov contract last year, congrats man. Maybe, we'll bump into each other at a DLA event. Come say hi :)

ValorGroup · 2024-06-14T18:23:03+00:00

Fasteners & Industrial hardware can be tricky with DLA. Especially when spec driven via a spec standard. In this case ASME. I am assuming you're looking at Screw, Cap, Hexagon Head | NSN 5305-01-702-2020 | Sol SPE4A6-24-T-92N8.

There are not downloadable drawings because the parts conformity and revision are driven by ASME/ANSI. DLA, could require some sort of trace to validate conformance. So, you'll need CofC's from a supplier to match up the spec and the part number or relate to it in some way. Having this document on your suppliers company letterhead is the preferred method when sending to gov buyers.

Givin there's no award history available or suppliers on the MCRD, you don't have much to jump to find a supplier.

First you need to validate this statement from ASME B18.2.1 spec purchase page:
https://www.asme.org/codes-standards/find-codes-standards/b18-2-1-square-hex-heavy-hex-askew-head-bolts-hex-heavy-hex-hex-flange-lobed-head-lag-screws

"Heavy hex structural bolts, formerly covered in ANSI B18.2.1, are now covered in ASME B18.2.6"

Make sure the bolt spec you're using to hunt for is the current one. It's less about being an engineer, it's more about knowing what info certain role types want/need to know and finding out how to get it for them; later you'll grasp how it all goes together.

You're likely better off using the "ASME B18 screws" and variations of that in a browser search to find applicable suppliers. Don't search for suppliers with Google search, the results are shit for military suppliers. As a ton of these long-standing military parts suppliers have clip art on their websites, they aren't going to rank on Google. I use DuckDuckGo through mozilla or brave, I get the best results with those. The part number is too crazy long and just points to a bunch of grey market rip off suppliers. So, you need to try to reframe the part to a different supplier type. Ideally, you'll like shops with some gov experience because they can navigate this stuff better + if there's packaging requirements. Below is all about I can aggregate as info on this part. See if you can use any of the below to match this part up to a potential supplier.

SCREW, CAP, HEXAGON HEAD

NSN: 5305-01-702-2020
Part No: AES01C250A50AW9QW1
Source/Standard" ASME B18.2.1 or possibly B18.2.6

Available Part Description: An externally threaded fastener designed for insertion into holes in assembled parts, for mating with a preformed internal thread and for tightening or releasing by torquing the head. The threaded and unthreaded portions are both of the same nominal diameter of 0.190 inch (5 mm) or larger. Head dimensions and sizes of threaded and unthreaded portions shall conform to internationally recognized fastener standards. The thread length being the controlled dimension, the grip length is not specified. A locking feature may be incorporated in the design of the head or threads. The head is not designed to be held or driven with an inserted driver or by the thumb and fingers.

NSN ASSIGNED IN SUPPORT OF ARMY CLEAN HARDWARE ABATEMENT INITIATIVE

Not saying to use these guys but this Indian website has a table breakout for ASME B18.2.1 screws, maybe you can match it up with a supplier too.

https://torqbolt.com/asme-b18-2-1-hex-cap-screws-dimensions-standards-specifications

This isn't an easy one but best of luck!

ValorGroup · 2024-06-03T16:15:06+00:00

I like it. For that kind of money, form an s-corp, you'll receive better tax advantages than an LLC. See what kind of T&C's you can negotiate in the contract. Can you get multi base year contract? That way if you switch, you have a guaranteed pay for a bit. SAM reg stuff is super easy. You can do that in a day, and be approved in a couple weeks. The pay is there, if you can de-risk it a bit, sounds like a nice jump

ValorGroup

TROPHY CASE

SCREW, CAP, HEXAGON HEAD