Veterans Small Business

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a_skeleton_03

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I spent some time in the Marines. I quit. I have a service related disability of 30%. This is the back story.

I have had more than one person approach me wanting to set up a legitimate business taking contracts. I guess it is pretty popular right now to set up small IT businesses and cash in on different grants or whatever. I am not entirely sure.

The current person talking to me about setting something up is working for a private company that wants to find a vet small business to outsource some jobs to I think mainly for the PR and maybe the get grants from the government? Does this sound like something large companies do?

Here are my questions. Let us say I start sitting down with some of these people to discuss it.

1.) Can I legally be a GS employee and have a business that accepts government money in any way as long as I never work for the same organization as my contract is with?
2.) Do I need to maintain a certain amount of ownership in order to make this work, do I need to be 51%?
3.) Is there a way to create a safety net so that I can assist a friend and have partnership but just as a figurehead and if it goes under I am protected?
4.) I know it's not a stable market for government contracts am I putting myself into a huge risk area? I plan on maintaining current job. Not sure this is possible though.

I think some of these questions can just be answered by anyone who does small business stuff but I am hoping there are some people out there that have dealt with this from a veteran standpoint.
 
McCheese

McCheese

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The current person talking to me about setting something up is working for a private company that wants to find a vet small business to outsource some jobs to I think mainly for the PR and maybe the get grants from the government? Does this sound like something large companies do?
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This is absolutely something large companies do. For example, I've seen behemoths like Booz Allen Hamilton, SAIC, and Deloitte partner with shitty little mom and pop operations simply because a task order was released by the government as a SDVOSB set-aside (service disabled veteran owned small business). Which means, of course, that only an officially registered SDVOSB is allowed to bid on the work. In my experience, the SDVOSB typically takes 51% of the work in order to meet regulations and the giant company does the rest.

So it has nothing to do with PR. It's purely about getting access to the work that is otherwise off limits to most companies.

4.) I know it's not a stable market for government contracts am I putting myself into a huge risk area? I plan on maintaining current job. Not sure this is possible though.
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While this is generally true, the VA puts out a shitload of task orders for IT and Program/Project Management work and that is an extremely stable (comparatively) government agency because no one wants to take money from veterans.
 
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a_skeleton_03

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McCheese_sl said:
This is absolutely something large companies do. For example, I've seen behemoths like Booz Allen Hamilton, SAIC, and Deloitte partner with shitty little mom and pop operations simply because a task order was released by the government as a SDVOSB set-aside (service disabled veteran owned small business). Which means, of course, that only an officially registered SDVOSB is allowed to bid on the work. In my experience, the SDVOSB typically takes 51% of the work in order to meet regulations and the giant company does the rest.

So it has nothing to do with PR. It's purely about getting access to the work that is otherwise off limits to most companies.



While this is generally true, the VA puts out a shitload of task orders for IT and Program/Project Management work and that is an extremely stable (comparatively) government agency because no one wants to take money from veterans.
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My google speed reading has shown me a little of this. Are you familiar with the startup? Is it fairly extensive or basically like any other company with some extra paperwork? From the outside looking in it seems like it would be quite easier especially if you are sub contracting. I guess I would need a central office to hire people out of and manage them and then they just go to their 'real' job with the company I got the contract with. Does that sound about right?
 
Gravel

Gravel

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McCheese pretty much covered it. Just as background, I'm a contract specialist (Navy).

Basically, the government is obliged to set aside requirements for small businesses if possible. The requirement being that if there are 2 or more businessescapableof performing the contract, you must set aside the requirement. Setting aside the requirement means that only businesses with that designation can bid. So if the solicitation (or likely purchase order for IT stuff) is a SDVOSB set aside, only SDVOSB's can bid on it.

It's got nothing to do with PR, and everything to do with securing contracts they otherwise wouldn't be able to get. Your other questions are hard to answer, as a lot of it is "it depends."

For #3, set up an LLC and your personal assets should be protected.

There's really a shit ton of money there, especially for IT. For small purchases (simplified, under $150,000) you can basically just throw a requirement out there and anyone can bid on it. You can imagine there are a massive amount of IT requirements under $150k. For the bigger stuff, you'd be on as a subcontractor.

I do think it's a retarded system though. I'm all about supporting small business, but it's kind of a sham. A lot of the time a large business can perform at a much lower cost, but the government is stuck paying out the ass for a small business. Then you get businesses working the system in order to get work or shut out competitors. There are also small business goals, where we need to have a certain percentage go to small businesses.
 
McCheese

McCheese

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From the outside looking in it seems like it would be quite easier especially if you are sub contracting.
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In my experience, this pretty much nails it. As long as you have the contacts to get you some initial subcontracting gigs, it seems insanely easy to get one of these little companies off the ground. Fuck, if I were a woman, a veteran, or a minority I'd go ahead and start my own. I know of one guy who was working as a Project Manager for a typical, large-ish government contractor and left to start his own SDVOSB. He started it in his basement and initially it was just him alone, and his previous company partnered up with him so they could get it on some SDVOSB work. Now he's a multimillionaire.
 
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a_skeleton_03

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So let me spitball here.

I found office space that was $1400/mo and I am guessing a large estimate of $1k/mo for utilities. I will just pull a number out of my ass and say I need $10k for startup paperwork and licensing and legal help, etc.

What I would need to raise is somewhere around $50k to get up and running for the first year. This would give me the money I need for telephones/computers/chairs/desks/hot secretary/etc...

Sound about right? I am just tossing out numbers to see if this is too scary. I think it sounds quite doable. I am just trying to think if it's scary enough that if this specific contract falls through how much am I going to eat in the shorts if I don't pick one up in the first year.
 
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a_skeleton_03

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McCheese_sl said:
He started it in his basement and initially it was just him alone, and his previous company partnered up with him so they could get it on some SDVOSB work. Now he's a multimillionaire.
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Yeah I feel like that people are just too scared to do this and that if I just jumped in then I would have no issues.
 
Tmac

Tmac

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a_skeleton_03_sl said:
Yeah I feel like that people are just too scared to do this and that if I just jumped in then I would have no issues.
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What have you got to lose?

I encourage you to jump in. If you see an opportunity and believe that you can do it, do it! Ignore the voices in your head telling you otherwise. They're liars.
 
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lanludar

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a_skeleton_03_sl said:
Yeah I feel like that people are just too scared to do this and that if I just jumped in then I would have no issues.
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A hot secretary will cost you more than 50k a year. A secretary who the week before was working at Mcdonalds and has an odor problem will not though.
 
Tmac

Tmac

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lanludar_sl said:
A hot secretary will cost you more than 50k a year. A secretary who the week before was working at Mcdonalds and has an odor problem will not though.
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Because those are the only two demographics available. Derp.
 
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Unidin

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Why don't you just start from home until you get going with some jobs? Is this work you can mostly do yourself?
 
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a_skeleton_03

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Unidin_sl said:
Why don't you just start from home until you get going with some jobs? Is this work you can mostly do yourself?
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I might, it is the fact I am in Germany and the partner and contract(s) are in California.

Going to see if we can get up and running with me over here.
 
McCheese

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There's tons of remote work available, at least what I've seen personally.

I know on some of the proposals we've won we've had "teams" of people as scattered as upstate New York and San Francisco. There's no reason you couldn't do a lot of stuff right out of your living room.
 
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a_skeleton_03

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McCheese_sl said:
There's tons of remote work available, at least what I've seen personally.

I know on some of the proposals we've won we've had "teams" of people as scattered as upstate New York and San Francisco. There's no reason you couldn't do a lot of stuff right out of your living room.
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The only thing holding me back right now is once I find out whether being a GS employee prohibits me from taking government contracts as a small business owner also. Going to go talk to JAG tomorrow I think.
 
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a_skeleton_03

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Yup, I have to quit my job in order to take government contracts.

Going to start trying to figure out how long it will take to get up and running before I start detaching from my current job.
 
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a_skeleton_03

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Tmac47_sl said:
Much of success is a matter of jumping in head first. Good luck man!
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Yup, just need to figure out the steps involved. Quitting is a little more delicate because the government has moved myself and my family to Germany for "at least" 3 years so I need to find out what voiding my contract will look like.
 
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Gadrel_sl

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Elurin_sl said:
For #3, set up an LLC and your personal assets should be protected.
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IAAL and you are not my clients. Elurin is very, very wrong. Most LLCs are easilyveil piercedand do not protect your assets. Work with an attorney to set your LLC up and ensure that you follow the requisite formalities to protect your assets.

It isnotas simple as just forming an LLC.
 
Gravel

Gravel

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So you say I'm very, very wrong...and then tell him to set up an LLC. Talk about being argumentative for no reason.

I didn't say "LOL, just go set up an LLC willy nilly! Shit's easy bro!"
 
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a_skeleton_03

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Yeah I intend to spend a decent chunk of start up money on serious legal counsel. I need this venture to not touch my personal assets ever.
 
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