Why small business partnerships are now even more important for large contractors

Gettyimages,com/Colin Anderson Productions pty ltd

The growth of small business contracting and the Biden administration's focus on small business as a priority make it an imperative that large businesses put more of a focus on their relationships.

Today, more than ever before, there are immense benefits for large contractors to team with small businesses. Supporting small businesses in government contracting is vital for the nation’s citizenry to ensure our government is working to its fullest potential while promoting competition and innovation.

Small business partnerships are certainly not new, but their importance has grown due to current administration priorities. Likewise, as federal agencies focus more of their time, energy, and, most importantly, budget toward work with small businesses, we are seeing increased goals and targets for small business participation.

This July, we found out the exact scope of this spending increase when the Small Business Administration announced that federal agencies spent a record-breaking $154 billion on contracts with small business in fiscal year 2021. Notably, agencies set a new record that year by awarding 27.2 percent of total federal contracting awards to small businesses, exceeding the White House goal of 23 percent.

There is one troubling piece of news buried in the excitement of the new targets and spending to support small business utilization. The actual number of small businesses, women-owned small businesses and small disadvantaged businesses fell, as part of a years-long trend. In short, there is more money targeted but a fewer number of small businesses that can serve as prime contractors due to limitations on services they can offer.

As we look toward the future of federal contracting, it’s becoming clear that large government contractors will want to continue and increase their partnerships with current small businesses as well as new small business entrants to the market. Establishing and cultivating long -term partnerships that are built upon mutual trust bring many advantages including diverse thinking, new skills, and increased responsiveness. Maximizing participation and performance in government contracting for small business helps to create new jobs, expands entrepreneurship, and brings forth untapped innovation.

During my career, I’ve been fortunate to work with and support a wide variety of small and various socioeconomic businesses. These partnerships and resulting business growth have lasted for years with huge benefits for both parties. And during that time, I’ve learned some valuable lessons, which are best explained by CEO Thomas A. Duckenfield III, CEO of TDB Communications, a service-disabled, veteran-owned small business and an 8a.

“The best partnerships between small business and large contractors are based on a shared culture and alignment,” said Duckenfield. “There is no one-size-fits-all approach to these relationships. It’s about developing partnerships that benefit both parties, while establishing trust between the two companies to better serve federal agencies and their constituents.”

Additionally, working with small businesses can create an opportunity to introduce new ideas, innovative solutions or infuse new technology capabilities to the mutual benefit of both companies as well as within government programs. These current and future partnerships are important because small businesses can bring a different set of ideas, new capabilities, and customer knowledge that large contractors may not have. They often provide keen customer insights with the government agencies. This can also lend agility to a team to move faster to respond and to deliver performance results. By combining the organization's different skillsets, these combined entities can compete for small business set aside work and can be differentiated to help position and win new contracts with government agencies.

The most successful partnerships are developed when two companies are open and transparent which creates a trusted relationship. New partnerships, whether to deepen or expand current partnerships, require both parties to understand what each other brings to the “communal table.” Messaging, capabilities, and skill sets must be aligned to provide complimentary support and additional capacity for federal agencies.

Mentoring provided to a small business entity by the large business whether its informal or through mentor protegee relationships is key to success and growth.   Understanding both strengths and weaknesses is important to develop a trusted partnership relationship.  This is a critical piece, and one that comes together over time.  The overall objective should always be to deliver excellent outcomes for their customers mission while increasing growth opportunities for both companies.

There is a no secret sauce or a single magic bullet to making small and large business partnerships successful. Every small business partnership is unique. For small businesses, it’s critical to find a large government contractor partner who understands your culture, provides an avenue for mutual support, and uplifts your entire business. That’s a win-win for both companies as well as for the Federal agencies.

Working with small business is a priority from the White House and combined with an increased focus and spending from federal agencies, it shows no signs of slowing down. With great opportunity comes great challenges. By having the right small business partner in your corner, you may be able to identify new opportunities and together benefit from new market growth and expansion.


Lisa Veith is a senior vice president of Maximus.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.