Help with GOV contracting.

[as9100d]

Who wants to do non dod gov work? That's like making fidget spinners...

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[tomato coupe]

Who wants to do non did gov work?

That's like making fidget spinners...

Sure, whatever. It's not like the Department of Energy, Department of Commerce, or Department of Agriculture buy anything.

 

[as9100d]

We do department of energy items, guess what you need.... JCP

Can't download and view cui without it

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[Plater47]

Who wants to do non did gov work? That's like making fidget spinners...

I think the same thing about all you DOD widget makers. To each their own.

HM/LV work for DOE & DOT is more suited to our capabilities and expertise.

 

[tomato coupe]

We do department of energy items, guess what you need.... JCP

The OP asked about doing government contracting, not DOD or DOE specifically. (Even then, not all DOD and DOE work requires JCP.)

 

[as9100d]

The OP asked about doing government contracting, not DOD or DOE specifically. (Even then, not all DOD and DOE work requires JCP.)

Might want to read his original post again. He has been on dibbs and looking at DOD work.

Sure not all DOD or doe work needs JCP but...most of it requires JCP to view the documents during the bidding process.

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[JackatSDS]

Hi AS9100d.

Thank-you for the response. The machine shop is registered in SAM, the rest of the items do need to be checked off. Would love to pick your brain more about this as well. Thank you and happy New Year!!

 

[as9100d]

Hi AS9100d.

Thank-you for the response. The machine shop is registered in SAM, the rest of the items do need to be checked off. Would love to pick your brain more about this as well. Thank you and happy New Year!!

Pick away either here or you can pm me.

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[Hillside Fab]

Government contracting is actually rather easy, but the government tries to make it hard. A few simple facts...if you make large or small parts, the government has huge demand. The hot spot for demand is Defense Logistics Agency (DLA). They issue several thousand new solicitations each day. You can find their daily lists at https://www.dibbs.bsm.dla.mil/RFQ/RFQDates.aspx?category=recent. You submit your bid electronically on their website and awards are made usually in less than 10 days. In order to bid you need three free registrations...CAGE code, DIBBS and C-Folders. The CAGE takes some time (30 min or so) but the other two take only a minute or two. The CAGE registers you as a govt supplier, DIBBS is where you bid and C-Folders is where all the drawings and spec reside. All these registrations are FREE. Just register, sort thru opportunities and bid. There are some useful instructions on these registrations at Registration Guide

Nope.

1) not that much machined stuff on dibbs out of the 1000s of of daily solicitations.

2) Cage code/SAM takes a week or 2

3) Dibbs mails a postcard to verify, 2 wks min

4) C-folders requires JCP, 2months min

Then there are contractual details 20+ pages deep on jobs with all sorts of requirements never seen in the civilian world.

I started the process back in April this year. Only got to see prints a coupe wks ago (Dec). Haven't won any jobs yet because everything has some weird plating or paint that I cant get quotes back in 10 days or ever.

edit:
5) everything more complex than a tooth pick requires some kind of quality system

 

[plutoniumsalmon]

Hello.

I am really interested in all of this. I do art and weird stuff primarily, but would like to do some government work. Can you please provide me some websites where I can begin registering all of this. I looked online and it's a little confusing what domain is legit and what is not. Also is itar registration free. I'll do more research I am very new to this.

 

[Hillside Fab]

Hello.

I am really interested in all of this. I do art and weird stuff primarily, but would like to do some government work. Can you please provide me some websites where I can begin registering all of this. I looked online and it's a little confusing what domain is legit and what is not. Also is itar registration free. I'll do more research I am very new to this.

The "weird"is MIL spec finishes from 1958 that nobody is currently certified for.

As far as the websites go, if you cant figure them out from previous posts, try searching for your local PTAC.

 

[Bobw]

The "weird"is MIL spec finishes from 1958 that nobody is currently certified for.

Or are so dangerous they are out lawed.

Material specs that haven't been used since the 40's.

Sourced components from a company that has been out of business
since the 70's

Prints where "Best Copy Available" looks like it was found at the bottom of
a bird cage.

Contracts where 3/4 of the pages are all about how to package the stupid thing...

Quick story on packaging. Place I used to work at. Kid in sales bids on 14,000
O-rings. Quick $1000 profit.. Right? WRONG!!!!!

These were big o-rings, and had to be fastened to a piece of "Mil-Spec" cardboard
in a certain way with "Mil Spec" tape at certain points, then into a heat sealed
plastic bag, then into the heat sealed paper bag with a printed sticker on it.

The packaging showed up on a Semi. 3 or 4 pallets, 8 feet tall $3700. It took
everybody on the warehouse side almost 2 months to get all of those o-rings packaged,
and they were even taking the stuff home at night. One of the ladies in packaging
worked at my local watering hole, and there she was bartending on a slow Saturday,
taping O-rings to cardboard. Ended up being about a $14k loss due to packaging.

 

[Hillside Fab]

Bob, your PM box is full. Curious about tier 2/3 work.

 

[Guest]

Or are so dangerous they are out lawed.

Material specs that haven't been used since the 40's.

Sourced components from a company that has been out of business
since the 70's

Prints where "Best Copy Available" looks like it was found at the bottom of
a bird cage.

Contracts where 3/4 of the pages are all about how to package the stupid thing...

Quick story on packaging. Place I used to work at. Kid in sales bids on 14,000
O-rings. Quick $1000 profit.. Right? WRONG!!!!!

These were big o-rings, and had to be fastened to a piece of "Mil-Spec" cardboard
in a certain way with "Mil Spec" tape at certain points, then into a heat sealed
plastic bag, then into the heat sealed paper bag with a printed sticker on it.

The packaging showed up on a Semi. 3 or 4 pallets, 8 feet tall $3700. It took
everybody on the warehouse side almost 2 months to get all of those o-rings packaged,
and they were even taking the stuff home at night. One of the ladies in packaging
worked at my local watering hole, and there she was bartending on a slow Saturday,
taping O-rings to cardboard. Ended up being about a $14k loss due to packaging.

My favorite were always the small fasteners that needed individual bag and tag, when you know someone on the other end was probably using dozens at a time or maybe hundreds. I last did DOD work in 2012 and back then they were starting to require RFID tags on a lot of shipments, since the government never makes anything easier on vendors I would assume everything needs them now. So figure $2k + for a printer to sell machined parts to the government

Bumping this thread made me forget all about AS9100 being an expert DOD contractor who made the big bucks.

 

[Bobw]

My favorite were always the small fasteners that needed individual bag and tag, when you know someone on the other end was probably using dozens at a time or maybe hundreds. I last did DOD work in 2012 and back then they were starting to require RFID tags on a lot of shipments, since the government never makes anything easier on vendors I would assume everything needs them now. So figure $2k + for a printer to sell machined parts to the government

Used to get parts for assemblies, a lot of it bought off the shelf stuff, already packaged. A lot of times it took longer to unpackage all the stuff than it did to do the assembly, and then you had 3 weeks of full dumpsters just trying to get rid of it all.

The RFID thing. I remember when that came in, and it wasn't on everything at first, the company I worked for at the time would just buy them, they were like 100 for $99 or something. I didn't pay much attention to it.

Bob, your PM box is full. Curious about tier 2/3 work.

Just find some customers and get busy. I have 2 customers that don't make anything, they just buy and ship. They also deal with all the BS.. *Most* of the time they supply material so they have better control over it, they deal with the heat treats and the coatings and the packaging, and the shipping and all that other garbage that I don't want to deal with. For some of them, depending on the final destination, or depending on what it is, I do have to at least keep quality control logs and inspection reports. For most jobs, I just record my dimensions right on the print.

I'm not certified to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and my customers know that, but they also have their own QC departments, so they aren't just buying my parts on my word, they actually verify... Have you ever had to explain to somebody that the parts are correct, and the problem is that they are reading the depth mic backwards?

 

[Guest]

The RFID thing. I remember when that came in, and it wasn't on everything at first, the company I worked for at the time would just buy them, they were like 100 for $99 or something. I didn't pay much attention to it.

I remember a buck a piece just covering the cost of the blank tags. At the time places were charging $60 each to make tags up or of course you cough up $2k+ for a printer.

 

[Hillside Fab]

... Have you ever had to explain to somebody that the parts are correct, and the problem is that they are reading the depth mic backwards?

Sadly, yes.

So in my limited time in Govt work, it seems like there are a lot of "companies" that just leach off of anyone that produces anything. I'd say it's similar to the used machine tool market, and walking in having never made a chip. Do you have any suggestions of who might be a trustworthy middleman?

 

[Guest]

Sadly, yes.

So in my limited time in Govt work, it seems like there are a lot of "companies" that just leach off of anyone that produces anything. I'd say it's similar to the used machine tool market, and walking in having never made a chip. Do you have any suggestions of who might be a trustworthy middleman?

The problem is as long as a company meets all the qualifications for a job and there are hordes of them where no special certifications are required, a company can bid direct. If you get one of those jobs through a middleman you have obviously provided services way under market rate. No one has any special inside leverage to get small contract government jobs, anyone who claims they can is lying to try to sell you a service that is going to leech money from you. Spend the time, sign up and learn the system, it won't cost you a dime.
I remember the steps taking me about a week of calendar days and about 10-15 hours research and paperwork to get approved for DOD work. You can search jobs and look at the procurement history to see what they went for in the past.

I used DOD work to fill open time and it took a while to find my niche where I could make decent money, which ended up being short run screw machine jobs. I was forced to stop when I moved to Virginia as at the time the only available internet did not get along with the DOD website security due to signal latency.

If you read through various threads like this one ignore the claimed success and advice of AS9100, he is a poser and a con man, 99% of what he has posted here are lies and exaggerations.

 

[DanielG]

You can search jobs and look at the procurement history to see what they went for in the past.

Your local PTAC probably has a free service where you give them a list of keywords and they will send you a daily e-mail with everything that matches, state and federal. Our PTAC's system is call mybidmatch, I assume other PTACs use it as well.

PTAC will also help you with paperwork, contract term (FAR/DFARS) questions, etc. They are well trained, and if they don't know the answer, they know who to ask. And best of all, they're free (DoD funded).

 

[Guest]

Your local PTAC probably has a free service where you give them a list of keywords and they will send you a daily e-mail with everything that matches, state and federal. Our PTAC's system is call mybidmatch, I assume other PTACs use it as well.

PTAC will also help you with paperwork, contract term (FAR/DFARS) questions, etc. They are well trained, and if they don't know the answer, they know who to ask. And best of all, they're free (DoD funded).

I honestly think your results aren't typical. I went to one of those places at March Air Force Base a dozen or so years ago and encountered a half dozen lazy useless doughnut eating morons unmatched in the private sector. I was there an hour and saw no one working other than the person talking to me. I got a one on one with someone who knew less about government contracting than I learned after signing up and surfing the DOD sites. That was nothing but wasted time.