Step 10: Pursue subcontracting opportunities
Regardless of what you sell, it is important that you do not neglect the Army’s very large secondary market: Subcontracting.
Details on the Defense Subcontracting Program can be found here.
Large Defense contracts are typically required to have subcontracting plans. Large prime contractors negotiate goals with the contracting activities for subcontracting to small business concerns.
To find subcontracting opportunities:
- Visit the websites of large Defense prime contractors. Locate their Small Business Liaison or Supplier Diversity Office and make contact with them.
- List your firm as an interested party on sources sought notices, requests for information (RFI), and pre-solicitation notices posted on Federal Business Opportunities.
- Search the SBA’s Subcontracting Network, SUB-Net, a database where prime contractors post "solicitations" or "notice of sources sought" for small businesses.