What is the importance of my DSBS? Episode 5

In this episode we will learn about the importance of your DSBS (Dynamic Small Business Search) and its relationship with your SAM registration.

The Small Business Administration (the “SBA”) maintains the DSBS database that government agencies use to find small business contractors for upcoming contracts.  Small businesses can also use the DSBS to find other small business to work with or to be found by prime contractors.

The information provided when registering a business in SAM (System for Award Management) is qualified by size standards based on NAICS (North American Industry Classification System) Codes and used to auto-populate a portion of the DSBS to create your business profile.

The SBA’s size standards are numerical thresholds that qualify a small business based on Total Receipts (sales) and/or Number of Employees.  The SBA’s Table of Small Business Size Standards lists small business size standards matched to industries defined by their NAICS Code.

The DSBS is important because federal buyers are required to do market research find small business to fulfill federal contracts.  This is part of the Federal Acquisition Regulations that buyers are required to use “commercially available market research methods in order to effectively identify the capabilities of small businesses.”

The DSBS is one of the primary platforms that they are going to use to find and select a small business to procure their products or services, especially for any awards that are not posted or not competed.

Registering in SAM makes you eligible for government contracting, but that does not make a business competitive.  While the SAM is considered a business and accounting profile, the DSBS is considered the marketing profile.   This is how businesses are found through keyword, capability narrative, socio-economic categories, past performance, and industry code searches.  

If a business has no DSBS listing or is poorly organized with omission in their DSBS, they may miss out on early-notice opportunities.  These include:

• Sole Source Contracts
• Small Business Set-Asides
• Sources Sought Notifications
• “Rule of Two” - Simplified Acquisition Procedures
• Credit Card / Micro-Purchases

For example, if a business does not have the proper industry codes or keywords based on their goods or services and the contracting official or prime contractors uses the DSBS for research, the business does not show up in their search.

The next level of search once this initial research is pulled on industry codes and keywords is the business’ capability narrative.  Do they have a capability narrative?  Is it descriptive and concise?  Then the contracting official or prime contractor may drill down to look for differentiators including socio-economic qualifications and past performance.    

An error, an omission, a ‘none given’, an empty field can all be red flags and may disqualify a business before given an opportunity for considera

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Transcript

What is the importance of my DSBS? – FedBiz5_Episode 5

Miles Mnich  0:00  

This podcast is sponsored by FedBiz Access - Government Contracting Made Simple. 

Miles Mnich  0:05  

I am Myles Mnich, and I do marketing for small businesses. You are listening to FedBiz'5 where you get informed, get connected, and get results.

Miles Mnich  0:16  

Hello, hello, and welcome back FedBiz'5 family.  We are back. Today we have a special guest, Ms. Tracy Plant. How are you doing today Ms. Tracy? 

Tracy Plant  0:26  

Very good. 

Miles Mnich  0:26  

Great! We thank you for being here, and we thank you for joining us today. Ms. Tracy, before we actually begin, can you just tell us what you do?

Tracy Plant  0:38  

I am the Vice President of Sales here at FedBiz Access, and I oversee our consultants as well as make sure our client family is taken care of from initial investment to fulfillment. 

Miles Mnich  0:50  

Amazing. So, let me ask you a question Ms. Tracy, if you had to say one thing to describe why SAM is so important to a small business what would it be?

Tracy Plant  1:01  

That is a great question. Now there's many reasons, I won't go into all of them, obviously, because you want one? I think if I have to say just one thing, it is the DSBS, which is the dynamic small business search. 

Miles Mnich  1:14  

There are so many questions. But first, why is it so important to a small business?

Tracy Plant  1:20  

Well, I am glad you asked. To put it simply though, Chris, federal buyers, they are required to do market research. It is part of the rules, Federal Acquisition Regulation rules that they have to do market research. The DSBS, or dynamic small business search is one of the platforms that they are going to use to find and select a small business to procure their products or their services, especially for any awards that are not posted or not competed.

Miles Mnich  1:46  

Okay, so we know that Sam and DSBS pretty much relate. So, would you say that all small businesses that are registered with SAM, they have a DSBS? 

Tracy Plant  1:59  

Small businesses that are registered for "All Awards", and are "For Profit" companies, yes. However, do not confuse that with a DSBS that has been completed or is made to be competitive.  They have it, and there is a small amount of information from their SAM registration that pulls over, just basic information. 

Miles Mnich  2:22  

Okay.

Miles Mnich  2:23  

Okay. So it is there, but you actually have to go in and start doing stuff. Can you elaborate on that a little bit? 

Tracy Plant  2:30  

Sure. When somebody registers in SAM, okay, they are eligible for government contracting, but SAM does have two parts. SAM has the accounting profile, which is what most people go in, they do they get their CAGE Code, and they are active. I'm active, and now I'm eligible for federal contracting. But that's kind of a far cry from being competitive or not just eligible, but ready to compete or being selected for any kind of government awards. 

Tracy Plant  3:05  

Being eligible is just you did your SAM registration; the accounting profile is done. The DSBS is a marketing profile. So that part is a platform that the government uses to go in and find small businesses to select them to procure their goods or services, and there is a process to that. They would search by a NAICS code or by a keyword. 

Tracy Plant  3:27  

So if a company does not have the proper NAICS codes that let us say the government is utilizing to label what they sell, what product or service they sell, which, takes research and probably a whole other podcast on that. But, if they do not have their keywords, either they are just not going to show up in a search. So, for this conversation, though, let us say they do they show up in a search.  They have some keywords, and they have some NAICS codes. A federal buyer, who could be a contracting officer or a prime contractor, does a search and a small business shows up.

Tracy Plant  4:05  

The next thing they are going to do is kind of go under a microscope.  They are going to say, what is their narrative? Does the narrative have information? Is that something I am looking for?  Is the product or service I am looking for in that narrative? So, I know to dive a little deeper.  They are going to look at their past performance.  Do they have past performance from 10 years ago listed? Do they have any past performance listed?  

Tracy Plant  4:29  

They are going to look at their NAICS codes.  They are going to look if they have bonding levels, if that's applied to them.  They are going to look at their business type percentages. So, there is a lot of stuff on the DSBS that they are going to look at.

Tracy Plant  4:39  

An error, an omission, a none given, an empty field. Those are all red flags. So, a small business can be disqualified immediately and their profile shut down, so they go to the next, a competitor of theirs.  They are going to look to see if they have a complete profile. So, the DSBS is hugely important, especially for people, small businesses that have an average order that is within like the micro purchase threshold.  Where they do not have to post for bid, they just have to go and find you and look for you. So, it is important when they are looking that you are complete and competitive on your DSBS to be the one that selected.

Miles Mnich  5:20  

Beautiful. Thank you for being here. Miss Tracy. With that being said, this is FedBiz'5 where you get informed, get connected and get results on government contracting. 

Miles Mnich  5:30  

That is it for today. Have an amazing day!

Miles Mnich  5:32  

This podcast is sponsored by FedBiz Access - government contracting made simple. For more information visit FedBizAccess.com. That is F-E-D-B-I-Z Access.com. Our phone number is 877-376-4249. The extension code is 407. 

Miles Mnich  5:53  

Thank you guys for listening, and we'll see you in the next episode.