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Small business construction contracting
Based on FY 2002 Quarters 1-2 data, in which state would a small construction subcontractor be most likely to find work?A) Washington B) Florida C) Indiana D) South Carolina E) Oregon
Construction contractors receiving contracts worth at least $1 million must file subcontracting plans with their agency clients describing how they intend to meet small business subcontracting goals on the contract. The GSA's procurement data contains a data element, Subcontracting Plan Required, that specifies whether a plan was required to be submitted (Code A) or that no plan was required (Code B).
The assumption in this week's question is that small subcontractors are most likely to find work in states where the most construction money is being spent. So, we need to set a filter on the Subcontracting Plan Required field and on all Construction-related Product/Service Codes. Here's how to solve the quiz using FPC Advanced:
Fire up the FY 2002 Quarters 1-2 application. Double-click on the Product Service Code Active View Screen from the List of Active Views. Once the data in the Product Service Active View appears, clear all prior search criteria by clicking the small funnel icon on the tool bar. Then click the Clear View button in the View Definition dialog and finish by clicking OK to return to the Product Service Active View.
Next, activate either the Search Wizard or Advanced Search screen. Select the Contract group of search fields and highlight the Subcontracting Plan field. Click the binoculars icon to activate the field's index. You will see from the index that Codes A = Subcontracting Plan Required and Code B indicates Subcontracting Plan Not Required. Highlight A, then click the Apply button to select your data and automatically return to the Product Service Active View Screen.
Next, highlight any row of data in the PSC column. Right-click your mouse to call up the Active View Popup. Then click on the Field Search option. In the PSC search box, type Y or Z. Y represents all Product Service Codes dealing with Construction of Facilities and Z stands for Maintenance and Repair of Facilities. After typing Y or Z in the search box, click OK to perform your search and automatically return to the Product Service Active View.
Finally, change screens by double-clicking on the Place of Performance State Active View option in the List of Active Views in the upper left corner of your screen. When the Place of Performance State Active View appears, the answer to this week's quiz will be the state appearing first in the ranked list of states. The state at the top of the list is Washington, making A the correct answer to this week's quiz.
Subcontracting is often a way for small or new firms to gain experience in the federal marketplace. The process of getting subcontracting work directly from a prime contractor us usually less time-consuming than responding to RFPs directly, so subcontracting is also a good way to grow a business when marketing resources are tight. Although the prime contracts data is a record of money that has already been spent, the idea is that the firms appearing on the list will need support for current and future work. What these firms do now is usually a good indication of what they will be doing months from now.
Data supplied by Eagle Eye Publishers, Inc.
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