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Greetings!
We have some good news and we have some bad news. Which do you want first?
OK, the bad news: SAM is a bust, at least, so far. While the initial roll out of the new System For Award Management (SAM) incorporates only the Central Contractor Registration (CCR) data, the new web site has suffered constant crashes, failed searches and exports, and various other problems.
As of the timing of this newsletter, there is even a disclaimer on the SAM web site that states "SAM is still experiencing some performance issues, which may result in a slowness of page loading or maybe even a web page error." While this may seem to be a small detail in our busy lives, it is a critical issue for the end of the fiscal year business market. This failure is negatively impacting large and small businesses alike who want to connect with other businesses to bid on federal work. At the busiest time of the year.
I hope that IBM and GSA are working overtime to rectify the situation-this will hurt all businesses until performance issues are totally corrected.
OK, now for the good news: Sources Sought Notices are turning into gold for companies large and small who know how to use these ubiquitous announcements and turn them into contracts. One year ago, the monthly average postings were about 60; as of today, over 1,100 new opportunities are posted every month. It is a bona fide flood of doors opening to millions in contracts. Check out our upcoming webinar for practical steps to taking advantage of these new and useful notices.
And the body language story below is an eye-opener, no pun intended! I hope you enjoy it.
Here's to your success.
Gloria Berthold Larkin
President, TargetGov
1-866-579-1346
 
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"Responding to Sources Sought Notices and RFIs" Webinar
--Why there is a flood of Sources Sought Notices hitting the streets?
--How do you identify Sources Sought Notices that are a good fit for your company ?
--How (and why) to respond effectively to Sources Sought Notices and Requests for Information (RFIs).
Over 1,100 new opportunities are posted every month and savvy business people are turning these notices into immediate contracts.
Attendees will gain valuable tips and tools to help prioritize Sources Sought Notices and Requests for Information, respond appropriately and position your business for success in the government contracting market.
Date: Thursday, August 23, 2012
Time: 12:30 pm PT, 1:30 pm MT, 2:30 pm CT, 3:30 pm ET
(please check for your local time zone)
Cost: $105 per individual
Webinar Topics Include:
* Why the Flood of Sources Sought Notices
* The Differences between Sources Sought and RFI
* The Executive Office's 25 Point Implementation Plan
* Importance of Agency and Military Market Research
* How This Market Research Benefits Vendors
* How to do Convert a Sources Sought to a Contract
* Sample Verbiage
* FAR References
Who should attend?
* Experienced Contractors
* Contractors New to the Federal Marketplace
* Executives
* Managers
* Administrators
* Business Developers
* Capture Managers
* Sales Teams
Each attendee will receive the exclusive TargetGov Toolkit created specifically for this webinar including all documents supporting the topics noted above.
Click here to learn more and to register. At your desktop - the webinar/teleconference is broadcast live |
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SAM is Here But Problematic!
The System for Award Management (SAM) has replaced CCR (Central Contractor Registration).
SAM combines nine systems that the federal community and those who want to do business with the government use regularly. As a new system, SAM streamlines processes, eliminates data redundancies, and saves money through consolidated operations. ED Note: That is-- when it is working. Which so far has not been consistently.
The systems that are intended to be part of SAM are:
- Central Contractor Registration (CCR)
- FedBizOps
- ORCA
- FPDS
- eSRS
- PPIRS
- EPLS
- Wage Determinations OnLine.gov
- Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance
http://www.sam.gov or contact their email askSAM@gsa.gov
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Cyber-security and FedRAMP: A Mandatory Combination
By: Gloria Larkin
Published in: The Business Monthly
The fact that cybersecurity is mandatory in the federal marketplace has, until now, been a widely held belief, but without a specific process or policy to guide the federal agencies who are moving to cloud-computing services. This deficit has been corrected with the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP).
According to the General Services Administration (GSA), FedRAMP is the result of close collaboration with cybersecurity and cloud experts from GSA, NIST, DHS, DoD, NSA, OMB, the Federal CIO Council and its working groups, as well as private industry.
These federal agencies collaborated to develop FedRAMP as a standardized approach to security assessment, authorization and continuous monitoring for cloud-based products and services. In the past, each agency incurred the costs to independently manage its own security risks, assess Information Technology (IT) systems and deploy improvements. This process proved to be inconsistent, duplicative, expensive and inefficient, and often failed to incorporate a focus on real-time threats and identify mitigation processes quickly.
The anticipated agency benefits include reduced costs, standardized security assessments and continuous monitoring, as well as quicker adoption of cloud-based services and products and bottom-line agency confidence in the security of cloud-based systems.
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Business Body Language
What do your movements say about you? 
In business, your body language says far more about you than the words will ever do. In fact, research studies have estimated that perhaps as much as 55% of all communication is based upon what people see and not what they hear. Let's take a look at some of the most common aspects of body language and what it conveys about us.
Read More...
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Deltek & TargetGov Webinar
Differentiate Your Business: 5 Strategies You Need For Success
Join GovWin from Deltek and TargetGov for a complimentary webinar on Tuesday, August 21st from 2:00 pm to 2:45pm ET to learn the 5 strategies you need to successfully differentiate your business. Discover tools and techniques the large primes use to identify and select small business teaming and subcontracting partners and create a digital presence that allows the primes to find YOU.
Key highlights include:
- The most effective differentiators
- How to determine your company-specific differentiators
- Two key differentiators important to prime contractors
- Resources used by primes when looking for small business
- Best practices when completing your profile
- How to connect with primes and gain access to their private, unpublished opportunities
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What Are People Saying About the TargetGov Experience?
"...Thank you very much for taking the time to provide the very informative presentation ... Your Toolkit provided the framework to ensure the highest possibility of success... I intend to check the targetgov.com site regularly for valuable information.
John Kim
SVCM, Inc.
"Your presentation was one of the best I have attended. I liked that is was to the point with specific action steps. No down time during your talk" S. Ross "You were great!!! So much buckshot began to come together as one silver bullet." S. DeVincentis " The presentation was very clear and the speaker was very knowledgeable." Lorman Education Services " It was the best presentation I have seen in a long time! I'm glad I bought your book!!!" M. Hoover "Great session yesterday - six people listening in on the call/webinar (a Sr VP/Proposal folks/Contracting Specialist/Editing/Pricing) all were very impressed with the presentation..." L. Jackson I think the teleconference format is very convenient...in fact, I actually listened to one of the conferences while driving back from a meeting with Army representative. Registering and attending is always super easy. R. Alexander Was impressed with the registration process. Getting the toolkit link was easy. Download was easy. Dialing in was flawless. Very easy process. Name withheld as requested Registration was easy, conference was valuable. I'll definitely attend other ones. M. Creager
What are you waiting for?
Click here for the upcoming schedule.
Quick Links...
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Gloria Larkin's Upcoming Speaking Engagements
94th Annual American Legion National Convention
Indianapolis, IN
August 27-28
The Power Conference
Bethesda, MD
August 30th
MD Hispanic Business Conference
Bethesda, MD
September 4
STAR Presentation
September 20
MCC VIP Presentation
Rockville, MD
October, 17
APTAC Fall Training Conference
Washington, DC
November 4th
APTAC Fall Conference
Gallatin, TN
November 6th
Ecobuild America Washington, DC December 3rd |
The Power Conference
Several women business organizations of the Washington Metro Area have joined forces to create the Women Business Consortium with the sole purpose of executing the largest, most relevant local women's conference. This year's conference, held August 30th in Bethesda, MD, features Gloria Larkin speaking on the topic of Social Media in Government Contracting. This years agenda also includes a trade-show, many guest speakers, breakout sessions and more. |
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