It's not just for start-ups

Since its founding in 2004, theAmerican Small Business Coalitionhas grown from a loose networkinggroup whose members exchanged tips onwinning government contracts to a membershiporganization that includes contractingprofessionals and even some largeorganizations.Members include Cisco Systems Inc.,Concurrent Technologies Corp. (CTC), theCenter for Naval Analysis and MasterCard."Each of those companies is workingwith us specifically because of theirinvolvement in providing products andservices to government agencies," said GuyTimberlake, founder and chief executiveofficer of ASBC. They view the Columbia,Md.-based group as an opportunity toincrease business for themselves and thesmall-business members, he added.Arrow Electronics Inc. came up with theidea of buying memberships for its small-businesspartners in 2007, Timberlakesaid. "They came on board and paid for 10of their companies at the time to workwith us."Chris Marin, manager of channel operationsand advanced technology and small-businessstrategy at Cisco, met Timberlakeat a trade show last year.Cisco was seeking to expand its small-businessstrategy and provide the toolsand resources its partners needed, Marinsaid. "We wanted to ensure that we had analliance with someone who could provideadditional advisory services to a coregroup of our small- and disadvantaged-businesspartners.""Unlike some of our prime contractingpartners, within our federal organizationwe do not have a small-business staff,"Marin said. So he convinced his superiorsat Cisco of the merits of joining ASBC.Managers saw the value of the coalition,and the Blue Bell, Pa.-based companyjoined ASBC in January.As a member of the coalition's PrimeConnection Program, Cisco's governmentdivision can use ASBC to identify newsmall-business partners.Marin's team also looked for businessesthat already had government contracts,were well known within the federal communityor had the small-business credentialsCisco's partners and governmentcustomers wanted, such as 8(a) certificationor ownership by a woman or service-disabledveteran.As a result, 20 small-business partnerscan now take advantage of ASBC's servicesto expand their market share. "And thatobviously benefits Cisco because thatmeans their people are selling more products,"Timberlake said.The coalition has provided a venue forsmall businesses to meet government contractingprofessionals, Marin said.ASBC also provides the kind of go-to-marketstrategies and advice that seniorbusiness developers provide within theircompanies. "The process involves the vettingof a company's strategy by some peoplewho have a lot of experience within the federalmarket, specifically the ASBC board,which is made up of former generals andadmirals and the like," Marin said.Stacy Trammell, president of ZavdaTechnologies LLC, of Glenn Dale, Md.,joined ASBC two years ago because shewanted to better understand federal contractingand find ways to grow her disabled-veteran,woman-owned small business."They actually helped me understandand set up my [human resources], andthey have members who are able to providelegal advice and accounting advice,"she said. "They told me about some of thethings they did to get their businessesestablished."Trammell said she learned how to focuson those government agencies that wouldbe most likely to contract for her informationtechnology services. "That helpedkeep me from running all over the placeand stretching myself too thin," she said. "Soon after joining, I got my first contract."Trammell said she also discovered thatother small-businesseswere experiencingthe sameproblems she was,such as finding contractsthey couldwin, getting a fairshare of the workfrom their partnersand sometimes feelingthey were beingtaken advantage ofby their prime contractorsbecause oftheir small-businessset-aside status.CTC, a nonprofit,applied scientificresearch and development organizationin Johnstown, Pa., has been an ASBCmember for three years. CTC had$160 million in government contractsin 2007.One of CTC's business objectives is tohelp small businesses and socioeconomicallydisadvantaged companies partnerwith large government contractors. So ithas been a key sponsor of ASBC's SmallBusiness Intelligence CommunityWorking Group."CTC provides free space for those folksto work out of, and we host a lot of theirmeetings so they can collaborate," saidChris Strasser, executive director ofnational intelligence solutions at CTC.The company also has helped ASBCmembers with security clearance issues,marketing strategies and recruiting qualifiedemployees.Last year, with ASBC's help, CTC pursuedand won one of eight Solutions forIntelligence Analysis contracts from theDefense Intelligence Agency, which wereawarded in April. The five-year awardsare worth a total of $1 billion."We worked with [CTC] for about sixmonths prior to that contract win specificallyto assemble a small-business team,"Timberlake said.The idea was for CTC and ASBC to actas a clearinghouse that would form acoalition of smallbusinesses capableof competing withsome of the largersystems integrators,Strausser said."It can be verychallenging to workwith small businessessometimesbecause you don'tknow what you'regetting," he said."There are a lot ofthem, and they varyfrom a mom-and-pop[shop] that justwants [a contract]handed to them to very competitive, veryaggressive entrepreneurial folks who aregoing to make a tremendous difference inyour projects and programs."Timberlake helped CTC build a small-businessteam of more than 30 partnersby personally vetting many of them,including some that were not ASBCmembers. In the end, 10 nonmembersmall businesses were selected. "Theyspecifically had capabilities we were lookingat under the proposals we hadworked up," Strasser said.ASBC's greatest asset is that it offerssmall businesses "completely independentfeedback that tells them where they fitin the [government] spectrum and whatthe value of their offering really is," headded. "So they can either hone theirskills and improve their offering or targettheir offering at the right place so they getthe full benefit of it."