tangled up in red tape

My husband loves Bob Dylan. One of his favorite songs is "Tangled up in Blue." I never understood the song, but I'm learning the true meaning of tangled up in red tape. I’ve spent two days this week trying to navigate the government CCR, reviewing opportunities on Fedbizopps and trying to figure out whether I qualify as a “certified” small business. . I am a woman, who owns a small consulting business with six employees, average revenue is under $500K/yr. Our business is primarily focused on white collar, mortgage fraud, toxic tort and litigation support. My first comment: In reviewing the SBA guidelines for size restrictions to determine whether or not a business is considered “small” I found that the most categories require that a company’s revenue be less than $7 million per year. It also appears that companies can be set up so that an individual subsidiary or joint venture can qualify as a small business as long as it doesn’t make over $7 million per year. Who are they kidding? A true small business cannot compete at that level. I would like to see a category or set aside program for truly small business entrepreneurs, i.e., those that that have revenue of less than $1 million/yr. Second: There is a huge disconnect between government contractors who contract with small business or have set aside programs and the SBA. In trying to register as a subcontractor with some of the companies who do win government contracts, I am asked if my company is “certified” as a small business by the SBA and if so, the date of certification and the certificate number. In checking the SBA website I found that a business can self-certify if it’s under the size restrictions just mentioned, and a woman owned business is no longer considered disadvantaged so it cannot be certified unless it qualifies under a hubzone, 7a, of vet owned business. So who’s on first? We no longer need certification cause we can self certify and are no longer considered “disadvantaged,” but we can’t register as a subcontractor until we are certified. Finally, I find that the SBA is useless. . . I don’t want a mentor, I don’t want to join another woman’s organization, I don’t want statistics, I don’t even want a loan, I just want to know how to do business with the government or how to subcontract to do business with the government. Frustrating to say the least….

allatwitter

I've always said that I would never let myself get caught up in blogging, but here I am and I must say I'm allatwitter, so many possibilities....