The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) organizes responses to catastrophes and turns to federal contractors to offer products and services before and after a disaster. Basically, its goal is to contract with local businesses in the affected areas to give these companies an opportunity of doing business with the Government and help communities impacted by emergencies of any kind.
According to FEMA, its contracts can be for short-term and long-term products and services lasting years, and you, as a small business owner, only need to take the following steps to become one of its providers.
Steps to qualify for FEMA contracts
1) Understand FEMA’s mission
The main focus of small businesses working for or with FEMA is to help people before, during, and after disasters; hence, when a major emergency occurs, this federal entity connects you with the affected communities by coordinating efforts and collaborating with federal, state, local, and tribal agencies.
To see if you qualify for FEMA contracts, review the following list of goods and services that are useful for its purposes:
- Infant/Toddler Products
- Durable Medical Equipment Kits
- Consumable Medical Supplies Kits
- Plastic Sheeting
- Tarps
- Blankets
- Comfort/ Hygiene Kits
- Water
- Meals
- Forklift Rentals
- Cargo Vans
- Security Guard Services
- Generators
- Cots
- Joint Field Office Kit
- Leased Copiers
- Leased Generators
- Office Supplies
- Shredding Bins
- Portable Toilets
- Sign Language
- Temporary Labor
- Janitorial Services
2) Register in SAM
If you offer any of the previous items or services, then you can move to the next step: A System for Award Management (SAM) registration, which is required to do business with FEMA. To do so, you will need to have pertinent information ahead, including your company´s DUNS number and tax identification number.
There is no fee to do a SAM registration and, during the registration process, you must indicate that you want to be included in the Disaster Response Registry.
3) Monitor contracting opportunities
Once you have your SAM registration, you are ready to look for contract opportunities, which are available on sam.gov. Entities within the Federal Government publish notices on proposed contract actions valued at more than $25,000. For more information regarding this topic, you can call the Federal Service Desk at 1-866-606-8220.
To access a fully managed online marketplace connecting sellers to federal and commercial opportunities, you can visit SAM.bid. Get ahead of the competition. Within minutes, SAM.bid delivers your SAM.gov search notification via email. SAM.bid was developed to help companies know about federal opportunities published on SAM.gov faster and provide details and access to unmatched intelligence and research so your business development team knows who has the inside track.
The SAM.bid Advanced Monitoring Platform system monitors awards so you can see who is winning and, more importantly, who is buying. For more information call toll-free (800) 515-5351 or email info@SAM.bid.
To view anticipated contract actions above $250,000, you can access the Department of Homeland Security Acquisition Planning Forecast System, a portal for small business vendors like you.
4) Submit your vendor profile form
To give more visibility to your interest in working for or with FEMA, you can also complete a vendor profile form, which is considered a secondary market research or vendor presentation meeting resource.
You can complete your form here, but if you prefer personalized advice on this, you can contact us at info@rafaelmarrero.com or call us at (888) 595-6221. We have helped many small businesses with their SAM registrations, vendor profile forms, federal branding materials, and federal contract opportunities, among other specialized services; plus, first video consultation is free. Don’t wait any longer. Contact us today!
Dr. Rafael Marrero
A nationally recognized expert in federal contracting, small business entrepreneurship, vendor, and project/program management. A graduate of the prestigious Stanford and Cornell Universities, Dr. Rafael Marrero is a former Fortune 500 procurement executive, two-time Inc. 500 honoree, network news commentator, and Amazon best-selling author.
