Jerome Dummars ⋅ Manassas, VA Dummars Consultants LLC ⋅ 20 years experience

Dallas -

In addition to the great response that Deb provided, I would also recommend the following:

1) Research the incumbent to determine when the contract is expiring
2) monitor the VA Forecasting website at https://www.vendorportal.ecms.va.gov/eVP/fco/FCO.aspx for the solicitation
3) If you know the incumbent, contact them in reference to subcontracting opportunities.

From a fellow veteran, Thanks for your service!

JD

Deb Yeagle ⋅ Tampa, FL Plan To Win, Inc. ⋅ 39 years experience

Dallas-
Thanks for your service!
I'd recommend you set up saved searches on FBO.gov based on your NAICS codes and SDVOSB set-aside competition type to identify near-term opportunities (presolicitation and solicitation releases). The results will be emailed to you every morning and you can look through the potential list of opportunities to determine if you should pursue them or not.
You can also work through your local PTAC office and they will help you find longer term opportunities using their bid search tool subscriptions, and can also help you with refining your FBO searches if you need help with that. They can help you with market research, so that you are targeting specific Federal Government agencies who typically outsource the services you provide within the geographic region where you want to work. Here is a link to your local PTAC office: https://www.njit.edu/ptac/
I'd recommend that you engage with the Small Business Office for those Federal Government agencies that you decide to target. The SB Specialist contacts for all agencies are usually available online. You should engage with them via email, send them your capabilities briefs, and try to meet with them face-to-face - especially if you know there is a contract coming out of their agency soon - so that they can help advocate for SDVOSB set-asides and work with you to identify potential opportunities.
Hope this helps...feel free to PM me if you have questions on any of the advice above.
I have provided training in Business Development (BD), Capture Management, and Proposal Development for Federal Government Contracting for the SBDC/PTAC offices in Orlando Florida at UCF and in Cocoa Florida at Eastern Florida State College. If you would like to PM me, then we can exchange contact info, and I'd be glad to provide you that training material and spend some time walking you through it after you've had a chance to digest it.
Thanks again!
Deb

Paul Tusting ⋅ Salt Lake City, UT Bond Arms Inc ⋅ 20 years experience

Here is a link that may be helpful.

Office of Veterans Business Development (OVBD)
https://www.sba.gov/business-guide/grow/veteran-owned-businesses-programs

Dallas Newsome ⋅ Elizabeth, NJ U.S. Marine Corps, Corporal ⋅ 2 years served

Hello Deb,

Thank you so much for your helpful information!

I'm currently interested in getting used computers and other equipment from local VA hospitals in the NJ and NY area. They currently have a vendor in TX that handles the recycling. I believe their contract is expiring. Because of the distance to TX, the costs to the VA are very high. I can do the same work locally here in the area for less money because shipping costs would be eliminated. Who would I need to contact to get information? There is no mention of this on the FBO or VA websites. Should I contact the VA directors? Or contract officers?

Thanks again,

Dallas