“Competition is definitely increasing,” she observed. “We have a strong focus at the Corps on competitive acquisitions. There are avenues for sole-source procurement but we definitely have a preference for competition, because competitive acquisitions guarantee best price and best value. When you look over the last four years, you can see a significant increase in participation of small businesses. Even as our overall contract obligations and dollars are decreasing as we finish our major BRAC [Base Realignment and Closure 2005] projects and American Recovery and Reinvestment Act projects, we are still increasing the percentage of contracts we give to small businesses.”

Working with USACE also leads to higher levels of business acumen among small firms, Robinson-Burnette said. “Though we want to meet our small business goals, we don’t want to meet them to the detriment of failing to meet the mission.”

The end goal of mission fulfillment is the focus of small business contract awards from the start. Each potential contractor begins the process by registering with the government’s System for Award Management (SAM) website. North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes indicate the type of work a firm will engage in and are needed for contracting purposes. Each NAICS code has an associated size standard expressed in total number of employees or total annual revenue. For instance, a construction firm listed under NAICS code 236220 with less than $33.5 million in average annual revenue over the previous three years is considered a small business.

Firms also identify themselves by subcategories if applicable. Subcategory small businesses can be a woman-owned small business; a service-disabled veteran-owned small business; a veteran-owned small business; an 8(a) small disadvantaged business; a small disadvantaged business; or a historically underutilized business zone business. The subcategory classifications may give such firms a leg-up in competing for contracts, because some contract opportunities are set-aside for subcategory small businesses. In addition, some 8(a) firms can receive contract opportunities non-competitively. However, Robinson-Burnette emphasized that competitive proposals, past performance, and technical capability are the most important determinants.

Small firms are the most innovative players in the private sector, developing processes and technology that larger firms later integrate. They are also the most dynamic employers, producing higher rates of gross job creation. USACE success in obtaining better value while supporting small businesses is attracting more competition for its projects.

This mentality is reflected in the contract award process. After a firm searches the federal business opportunities website for appropriate work and responds to the relevant request for proposal (RFP), the proposal is evaluated and ranked along with other proposals. The evaluation team determines which proposal has the best overall value, not necessarily the one with the lowest price.

A firm’s track record and capability are important considerations in reducing risk. The proposal ranking is visible to a contractor after the award is made. Firms can request a debriefing from the USACE contracting officer. The contracting officer will explain to each firm how it was rated/ranked with respect to the contract requirements of the RFP and the firm that won the award, pointing out substantive differences and explaining any mistakes made. This can be a learning experience for small businesses, not only helping refine their proposal skills but aiding them in better identifying and matching their capabilities to various USACE projects.

“The focus is educating firms so they can submit more competitive proposals,” Robinson-Burnette said.

Placing the emphasis on competition from the start yields benefits further into the mission, she said.

“The quality of the work small businesses are doing is excellent. For instance, a small service-disabled veteran-owned business undertook a contract that required them to construct a LEED® [Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design]-certified Silver building. They actually built it to LEED Gold [certified] standard and it wasn’t required. They’re just doing more. I think that because the economy is in turnaround, they are competing with large businesses and they have to bring value that’s equivalent to that large business.”

In turn, USACE’s small business advisers advocate for small firms with large business prime contractors.

“I encourage small firms to go after smaller subcontracting opportunities with our primes,” Robinson-Burnette said, “and I ask my staff to help facilitate the introduction of small businesses to large primes so they’re not knocking on the door by themselves.

“I sit down with large contractors like Balfour-Beatty, Clark, Parsons – companies that are getting millions of dollars of work from us – and talk with them about their subcontracting programs. What are they doing to train and develop small businesses? How are they responding to the hundreds of small businesses that come to them asking for a piece of the work they’re doing for the Corps of Engineers? How do they vet small firms? I ask them to show us the numbers to confirm they are meeting our subcontracting requirements.”

The numbers show that they are and that USACE is meeting its small business mandate. For FY 2012, while USACE accounted for only 18 percent of the Army’s total obligations, it accounted for an impressive 30 percent of the service’s total dollars placed with small businesses, approximately $7 billion out of the Army’s $22 billion. USACE led the Army for FY 12, and in comparison with other contracting activities that obligated more than $5 billion, USACE had the highest percentage of dollars in awards to small businesses (45.4 percent), small disadvantaged businesses (22 percent), women-owned small businesses (7.1 percent), service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses (5.9 percent), and historically underutilized business zone businesses (11.16 percent).

Each fiscal year, the secretary of the Army’s director of Small Business Programs gives out five major Small Business Program Awards. They include excellence in the subcategories mentioned earlier: Small Business Program, Woman-Owned Small Business Program, Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business Program, Small Disadvantaged Business Program, and Historically Underutilized Business Zone Program.

USACE outperformed all other Army commands earning four of the five major awards on Aug. 3, 2012. In April 2012 the secretary of the Army awarded USACE’s commander with the overall Small Business Excellence Award for exceeding every assigned small business goal. For the first time in the history of the organization, USACE set new records Armywide and exceeded every assigned goal for two consecutive fiscal years.

Small firms are the most innovative players in the private sector, developing processes and technology that larger firms later integrate. They are also the most dynamic employers, producing higher rates of gross job creation. USACE success in obtaining better value while supporting small businesses is attracting more competition for its projects.

Robinson-Burnette stays engaged with USACE industry partners, large and small, and emphasized USACE’s desire to be accessible and transparent to small businesses. For those looking to win USACE contracts, she offered some advice:

“I tell small firms, go after work where you have proven capability and past performance. When you do that, you minimize the risk to the Corps and the government as they consider giving you a contract. Some contractors want to start by going after a multimillion dollar project. There are hundreds of small firms that started with our smaller projects and have worked hard and proven that they can execute a million [dollar] or $2 million project. They offer less risk to us than an inexperienced contractor who is just starting out. We are pushing for small businesses on every contract where small firms prove capability, but we are also making smart business decisions and we are evaluating the risks to project completion.”

This article originally appeared in U.S. Army Corps of Engineers: Building Strong®, Serving the Nation and the Armed Forces 2012-2013 Edition.