Today is a continuation of yesterdays article for the top 5 battery contractors selling to DoD last week. Through research of our daily DoD procurement data we present the remaining 4 top battery contractors selling to DoD the for week of July 29, 2018.
Second ranking for sales of batteries to DoD is Saft America, transportation division. Their CAGE code at that location is 09052, they have several divisions. The order was for a quantity thirty-seven 24V – 35AH nicad batteries at cost of $8,041.12 each totaling $297,521.44. The NSN sold 6140-01-385-4191 is used on the H-1 Helicopters.
Third place was Harris Corporation CAGE code 14304 selling another battery used with one of the Harris radios.
Fourth place was Concorde Battery Corp CAGE code 63017 selling a battery similar to the 6140-01-385-4191, except this one NSN 6140-01-420-8988 is used on the F-18 aircraft. It sold at a price of $1,425.60 each totaling $114,048.00 for the 80 they purchased.
And the 5th company with the top dollars in sales to DoD last week was Enersys selling another battery used on the F-18 aircraft. The cost was $2,322.98 each at a quantity of 47 pieces. Since BidLink updates procurement data on a daily basis I wanted to include another order I just saw for the same NSN 6140-01-458-4863 posted two days ago on August 08, 2018 for 60 more batteries under contract SPE7LX-15-D-0064. Enersys is a public company trading under the stock ticker ENS.
BidLink is a provider of DoD procurement research tools and has been a leading provider of industry marketing data relating to DoD procurement and solicitations for the past 18 years. Find defense contracts and research competition. Learn more at www.bidlink.net
A quick review on our data pertaining to DoD contracts we saw one single delivery order awarded to Harris Corporation, stock ticker HRS. The order was for 2,415 rechargeable batteries totaling $831,363.75 on Thursday August 2nd 2018. The order was for a lithium ion battery part number 12041-2400-02 which is used on the Harris radio AN/PRC-152. This handheld radio is one of types of two way radios used by DoD.
Since our initial thought was we would find only battery manufacturers or battery distributors selling to DoD, we investigated a little further. We found an old SEC press release that stated that Ultralife Batteries, now known as Ultralife Corp under the stock ticker ULBI was awarded a contract by Harris to develop a high-capacity rechargeable lithium ion battery pack for use with the Harris Falcon(R) II multiband handheld radio and since the AN/PRC-152 radios series use the name Falcon it’s a possibility and more research would need to be done to see who is actually manufacturing the batteries.
If you are a battery manufacturer or distributor of batteries you are probably well aware of who might be making the batteries for Harris Corporation, or it may very well be Harris.
BidLink is a provider of DoD procurement research tools and has been a leading provider of industry marketing data relating to DoD procurement and solicitations for the past 18 years. Find defense contracts and research competition. Learn more at www.bidlink.net
Searching for DoD contracts can be time consuming especially if you are not searching correctly. Many companies simply don’t research the data correctly and that’s usually due to lack of experience or basic knowledge on how DoD buys. This relates to both contracts or solicitations. One key is the wording.
With our experience here at BidLink as it relates to DoD contract awards and solicitations, we’ve helped over 20 thousand companies over the past 18 years become more successful in selling to DoD. The same questions from those companies tend to repeat. This article briefly touches on a few answers to some of those repeated questions, which in turn result in a more successful government contractor.
The example below is a synthesized scenario representing thousands of conversations we’ve had with manufacturers. Manufacturers or anyone selling a product “a physical item” to DoD or the federal government can use these techniques. It shows what that contractor might be doing either inefficiently or incorrect. Using this simple procedure shown below will result in a more successful contractor.
Many companies start out searching for government bids using a system called Fedbizopps. It’s the place where the U.S. Federal Government and Department of Defense (DoD) post any proposed contract actions expected to exceed $25,000 for the public to review and potentially bid on.
The basic problem government contractors’ face is that the person doing the searching is either not searching efficiently or even correctly. This has been the case whether they are a beginner or even a seasoned contractor. Below is a typical conversation with a BidLink client:
BidLink
What type of products does your company manufacture or sell?
Client
We make injection molded parts and can do rotomolding as well.
BidLink
Please be more specific, what are the names of some of items you produce?
Client
Things like dust caps, plastic cases and equipment cases. I know my competitor sells them but I can’t find any bids or DoD contracts for them.
BidLink
How do you currently look for past sales or open government solicitations?
Client
I search FBO using the word “injection molded parts”, the NAICS code 326199 or words like “dust caps”. I don’t find many opportunities or my results are poor with many things that don’t relate.
Let’s review why the results are poor to none. Whether you’re looking for past DoD contracts or new open solicitations the thinking is the same.
The first thing as a general rule DoD buys things (items), not processes – “Injection Molding” is a process of manufacturing. If a bid or contract award is posted the method of manufacture is rarely mentioned.
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When searching for solicitations or contract awards if you are unfamiliar DoDs “official” names of those items, you need to do some research. One way is to research and review all the items your competitors have and are currently selling to DoD. Start by searching on their names, possibly brand names they sell. Also look all the past DoD contracts relating to a specific contractor which have been awarded, look at the actual contract if available. Look at the NSN and procurement history to see how they describe it in the past contract. After reviewing all the past sales you will start to see patterns, “official names” used over and over. Then search using those “official” names and your results will greatly improve.
The NAICS codes are an Industry Classification System; they have nothing to do with specific products. Even according to the organization that organizes the NAICS codes say it’s “not a product classification system”. Yes NAICS codes are used, they are part of the data associated to contract awards and solicitations. But in general NAICS are a relatively poor way to seek accurate quick results, especially when the only code you can find that represents the products you manufacture or sell is NAICS 326199 which is listed as “All Other Plastics Product Manufacturing” – this is way too general. A better use of your time, more accurate method is product codes or “official item names”.
Methods
Search the word “injecting molding” or “dust caps” you’ll probably see little to no results get frustrated and end up not selling anything to DoD, while your competitors who are already selling get the business. After a couple minutes of research in BidLink we found a few words that represented a “dust cap” that resulted in over 100 open solicitations. In fact one contractor sold 55,231 of these items in a single order to DoD, exactly what we were looking for.
One of the most important things and first things to do if your goal is to sell to DoD or the U.S. Federal Government, is to know how they buy. What I’m referring to goes beyond which types of contracts they might use such as “open solicitations” (which are posted daily) or a “long term contracts” like GSA Schedule contracts. It’s knowing and finding how DoD describes what you manufacture or sell, the “official name”. By researching all past contract awards “procurement history” of your competitors you’ll be able to narrow down your best ways to sell your products as well as see how much your competitors are making.
Many companies spend 1000’s of hours and $1000’s of dollars on putting together GSA Schedules, searching Fedbizopps with poor results and winning no DoD awards for items they sell – All because they’re searching using incorrect words or codes.
Start by researching companies you already know (your competitors), spend some time and perform detailed research finding actual sales of items that relate to items you sell. Don’t just rely on sales relating to codes such as NAICS sales – as you have already seen codes can be way too general. Find the actual items, the names of those items “official names” and your results will be much more accurate.
The “official name” is one of the keys for better results. You will spend less time looking for DoD opportunities and your results will be better.
BidLink is a provider of DoD procurement research tools and has been a leading provider of industry marketing data relating to DoD procurement and solicitations for the past 18 years. Find defense contracts and research competition. Learn more at www.bidlink.net
When searching for Government bids or Government contract awards – You need to think like DoD. In our past 18 years helping clients in their quest of finding and understanding DoD’s procurements we’ve acquired knowledge to produce good results quickly, this short article will touch on a few hints you might use.
The Department of Defense (DoD) uses the National Stock Number or NSN to categorize the close to 7 million items they purchase on a regular basis. These NSN’s can be anything from an entire system such as the AN/TPS-1G radar set NSN 5840-00-679-1284, or something as simple as copy paper NSN 7530-01-033-8891 or a Pen 7520-00-935-7136.
If you’re searching for bids/contract awards on pens or copy paper you might try typing the word “pens” or “copy paper” – many systems would return no results. The reason being is that many of the systems you may be searching only use the official name and not the common name.
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The NSN for copy paper listed above has the official name “Paper, Copying, Xerographic Process” and the listed pen above is officially known as “Pen, Ball-Point”. Knowing and searching using the correct item name will produce results. In most cases the first part of the name describes the item in its most basic form. The second or third word provides a more descriptive characteristic of the item.
“Pen” – Basic name
“Ball-Point” – Further describes the type of pen
Sometimes it gets more challenging especially when the item you are looking for is used in multiple applications such as a “Plastic carrying case” or “Equipment case” – the types you might see with an inserted foam cutout used for a piece of equipment or tools to sit in. That type of item is officially named “Case, Photographic Equipment” even though many of the uses don’t involve cameras. We’ll cover how to find things like this in another article.
BidLink has been a leading provider of industry marketing data relating to DoD procurement for the past 18 years. Find defense contracts and research competition. Learn more at www.bidlink.net
Last week we looked at DoD Small Business set-aside sales as a whole, today we’ll take a quick look at the breakdown which includes Small Business, Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB), Women Owned Small Business (WOSB), Service Disabled Veteran Owned Business (SDVOSB), and HUBZone Small Business.
The chart above shows the total sales over the past 3 years for each of the small business set-aside sectors. These are all prime contracts such as items sold direct to the Department of Defense (DoD). Each year since 2015 the DoD awarded contract sales to each group has risen except within the HUBZone sector which has grown slowly. This is probably due to not enough HUBZone companies answering government solicitations.
The chart above shows the total DoD sales to all small business set-aside sectors for FY 2018 year to date as of June 2018. With 3 months left of the U.S. Governments fiscal year it appears that the trend is continuing as the sales relate to each sector except the overall budget is higher so we expect the totals in September 2018 to be higher than last year.
BidLink has been a leading provider of industry marketing data relating to DoD procurement for the past 18 years. Find defense contracts and research competition. Learn more at www.bidlink.net
The Geographical location of your company has an impact on winning government contracts. One of the small business set-aside programs SBA manages is the Historically Underutilized Business Zones or HUBZone. It’s a program where the U.S. Government limits competition for certain contracts to businesses located in specific regions of the country. Several sets of government data are used to help determine which areas are designated HUBZones such as U.S. Census and labor statistics data. In many cases theses areas have high unemployment rates, low household incomes, and can be located in Military base closures areas.
The HUBZone program is probably one of biggest unadvertised and underutilized programs (by government contractors) the government has based on some research we performed. It’s actually sad how few government contractors participate in the HUBZone program. If you simply look at the land mass and HUBZone maps you’ll see. The entire state of California only has 0.96% certified HUBZone companies, the entire state of Pennsylvania only 0.54% and Vermont 1.5%.
We decided to look a little deeper into the state of Vermont HUBZone companies. Currently there are 1,330 active Cage codes in the state of Vermont as of July 2018. Only 21 are of them are HUBZone certified companies a mere 1.5%. How is this possible when most of the entire state of Vermont is listed as a HUBZone? Are companies not looking to see if they reside in a HUBZone?
There are few qualifications a company must meet to be certified HUBZone. You must be a small business, your principal office must be located in a HUBZone and at least 35 percent of its employees live in a HUBZone. If you look at the HUBZone maps you’ll see if you’re located in one.
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To continue with our research we had the question – Are companies missing out on certification?
We randomly checked a few of the Non-HUBZone Cage codes and based on the companies zip codes and they all fell within in a HUBZone. So they potentially could qualify for certification if they meet the other qualifications. If the U.S. Government is offering preferential consideration, companies should at least take a look into it.
We dove a little further into this research using the BidLink database and search engine, this is where the majority of research was performed for this article. We had a few questions about the distribution or the type of company and sales they had in order to prove a few theories for the Vermont HUBZone companies.
What basic service or function did the companies provide?
Services (other than construction): 11 Companies listed
Manufacturing: 5 Companies Listed
Construction: 5 Companies listed
Which Group was most successful (sales) over the past 20 years?
Two (2) of the Five (5) manufacturing companies were very successful and currently active selling to DoD.
Both the construction and services group had little to no sales at all.
One reason why the manufacturers are successful is because when DoD buys things the location of the production facility is usually irrelevant – you ship the item to them. Whereas if you provide a service to DoD it may require you to physically be at that location to provide the service.
Currently the U.S. Federal Government’s goal is to award at least three percent (3%) of all federal contracting dollars to HUBZone-certified small businesses each year. Every day I see solicitations with HUBZone set-asides for items the DoD is looking to buy, and some cases no one answers them. Individuals or companies looking for some preferential treatment should at least check to see if you qualify for HUBZone certification.
BidLink has been a leading provider of industry marketing data relating to DoD procurement for the past 18 years. Find defense contracts and research competition. Learn more at www.bidlink.net
Over the past 3 years small businesses sales to the Department of Defense (DoD) have been steadily increasing. In fact yearly sales have risen on average 4.5 Billion dollars each year and this year it’s even higher. The chart above shows the total small business sales to DoD was $31.5 Billion dollars in 2017 compared to $39.6 Billion in sales as of June 25, 2018 up almost 26% from last year. Small businesses received $8.1 Billion dollars more in prime contracts selling to the DoD than they did last year, this trend is likely to continue till the end of the year.
Small Business set-asides are specific procurement goals which Congress puts forth under the Small Business Act in order to set-aside a percentage of U.S. Government contracts to small businesses.
The U. S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is responsible for ensuring government participation of these goals. The 2018 small business goal for DoD is to have 22% of their contracts awarded to small businesses. DoD monitors all contract awards to small business daily in order to keep meeting these goals. This chart above was created from data gathered from these awards on June 25, 2018.
The DoD budget increased by $33 Billion from 2017 to 2018 this is also an indicator for an increase in small businesses sales as the goal is based percentages of sales. In fact the DoD budget has increased by over $20 Billion dollars every year since 2015. With only 3 months of Government spending left this year in order for DoD to continue to meet their small business procurement goals they need to award more government contracts to small businesses, probably close to $20 Billion or more this year.
Meeting DoD small business procurement goals is not just a concern of the U.S. Government it should also be a concern of every small business to help them meet or exceed their goals. Actively searching for Government contracts and taking advantage of these set-asides is a crucial activity often missed even by the “seasoned contractor”. As part of research for this article we used the BidLink database and search engine reviewing NSN’s, parts which had been solicited using set-asides such as HUBZone, small business. There were government solicitations we found with no associated contract award possibly due to the fact that no companies with the correct set-aside responded. Are some of the government contractors sleeping on the job and missing these government opportunities?
BidLink has been a leading provider of industry marketing data relating to DoD procurement for the past 18 years. Find defense contracts and research competition. Learn more at www.bidlink.net
The Army Contracting Command, Warren Michigan division currently has an open solicitation for 20 Harley Davidson motorcycles in support of the Egyptian Government. This is a Foreign Military Sales (FMS) requirement. The supplier is to provide the Harley Davidson motorcycles along with all the associated riding gear, Harley Davidson parts, and complete sets of tools – Basically a dream setup for any bike owner’s home garage and 20 of their friends.
This complete set of items includes things like spare engines, Harley Davidson leather riding jackets, boots, gloves, helmets, goggles, and the ultimate tool set by snap on tools. This solicitation is a small business set-aside which has been open for over a year as the requirements have changed several times, it’s now due to close again on June 27th 2018. When it’s finally awarded they will be delivered to the Egyptian Ministry of Defense in Cairo Egypt.
Details of the Requirement:
Solicitation number: W56HZV-17-R-0091
Current close date: June 27, 2018 (This solicitation has open and closed before a few times)
Quantity: 4 single seat and 16 dual seat motorcycles
Support Equipment – Repair and wear items
6 Spare engines, normal repair and maintenance parts and extras such windshields and handlebars.
Tools by Snap-on such as:
6 Red tool chests, 5 drawer type – part number kra2055, NSN 5140-01-434-5792
6 Torque wrenches part number qd2fr75, NSN 5120-01-355-1734
6 Combination wrench sets part number oexm710b, NSN 5120-01-428-8366
And many others – see attachments in bid details
Riding Gear:
100 Harley Davidson heavy duty leather riding jackets
100 riding boots and gloves
200 police helmets and driver goggles
After a quick review of BidLink NSN data and Government contracts we found over 1000 NSNs associated to Harley Davidson cage code 27296. Many of these NSNs date back to the 1960’s. Direct Government or military sales of Harley Davidson products to the military was low. On the other hand the sales of Snapon tools sales are out of control as the military buys a lot of them. The CAGE code for Snap-on tools (AKA IDSC Holdings) is 55719. Click here to do your own research.
BidLink has been a leading provider of industry marketing data relating to DoD procurement for the past 18 years.
Today after our daily review of current open solicitations we found an Army requirement posted for several huge ice coolers a very timely request as today is the first day of summer. The size of the cooler is over 82 gallons weighing in at 89 pounds when empty. This Army requirement is coming out of Fort Benning, GA. One listed requirement says the cooler is for “deep-sea catches” – Army fishing missions?
The solicitation requests the Yeti Tundra 350 cooler, however the buyer is accepting brand name or equal as long as the alternate item provided meets the salient characteristics of the Yeti cooler.
Using the BidLink database for research we were able to find a few National Stock Numbers (NSN’s) for some of Yeti’s coolers with procurement history, however there were no NSNs associated to this almost 6 foot wide ice chest. Yeti’s CAGE code is 5REC4. One of yeti’s smaller coolers, the 45 quart model has an NSN assigned which is 4110-01-579-0984, it sold in November of 2017 at a price of 297.49 each the ordered quantity was 12, there were many other orders that year.
This solicitation which is a Small business set-aside closes on June 26, 2018, it’s also a reverse auction solicitation which will be processed through FedBid.
Summary
Solicitation number: BENNING30THAGAM0011
Outside dimensions: 24 ¾” x 23 ¼” × 63 ½”
Inside dimensions: 16 ¾’’ × 17 ¾” × 54 5/8”
Empty weight: 89 pounds
Description: 19,000 cubic inches of capacity and enough space to hold 82.4 gallons, it’s built to handle big events and deep-sea catches.
Quantity requested: 14 each
Contracting Office: 5305 3rd Infantry Division Rd, Fort Benning, GA 31905
Distributors or manufacturers’ of ice chests / coolers have a bid opportunity somewhere in the thousands of dollars range for this solicitation selling to the Army, Happy fishing.
BidLink has been a leading provider of industry marketing data relating to DoD procurement for the past 18 years.
Today DLA’s contracting office SPE4A6 – Aviation supply chain commodities division posted a requirement for an item used on the M2A2 Aiming Circles. The requested item is a metal spacer plate, aluminum alloy about 3 inches in diameter with two concentric bolt circles. It’s a simple part any machine shop could manufacture. DLA says they have a complete set of drawings for the item. Machine shops searching for government contracts of metal parts should look at this one.
This spacer plate NSN 5365-01-082-7978 is part of the end item, “M2A2 Aiming Circle” NSN 6675-01-067-0687. An Aiming Circle is a portable optical telescopic device used by the Army and Marines to measure elevation and azimuth angles for field artillery and mortar target acquisition, somewhat similar to a transit used in surveying operations.
In supporting/sustainment of end items the Defense Department (DoD) either buys parts direct from the manufacturer or from other sources. This specific end item NSN 6675-01-067-0687 has a couple of repair/support parts DoD buys from sources other than the manufacturer, this is the case with the Spacer, Plate listed in this open solicitation. It’s one way new companies can start selling to DoD by going after these business opportunities.
According to BidLink procurement history after performing an NSN lookup 5365-01-082-7978 official name “Spacer, Plate” the last government contract SPE4A4-18-V7811 was awarded to Seiler Instrument Cage code 11934. The price was $30.00 each quantity of 33 pieces. Today’s open solicitation SPE4A6-18-T-12M1 is for a quantity of 218, however it’s classified as a Service Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) set-aside which means Seiler Instrument can’t bid on it since their business is not classified as SDVOSB.
Seiler Instrument is a manufacturer specializing in optical instrument and lens manufacturing. Providing the Defense Department (DoD) products such as optical fire control sighting and ranging equipment. Click on their Cage code 11934 in Vendor data section to see what items they produce and how much they are selling. Their company has about 150 employees located in Saint Louis Missouri.
Summary
Solicitation SPE4A6-18-T-12M1 closes on June 18, 2018
Item requested NSN 5365-01-082-7978
Quantity 218
To see the actual drawings log into the DIBBs Site
BidLink has been a leading provider of industry marketing data relating to DoD procurement for the past 18 years.
