The New Buy American Rule Could Benefit Small Businesses

Wouldn’t you love to land a government contract? You know, a nice order from the Federal General Services Administration or the Department of Defense?
The Feds have changed a rule in the procurement process which could make that come true for small businesses.
The New Buy American Rule from the Biden Administration
The Buy American rule guideline has changed. According to the previous guideline set for Federal procurement, 55% of the components used to make a product had to be made in the US .
Now that’s changed. According to the new rule, 75% of the components used to make a product must be made in the US.
How can you land a contract to sell your product this way? First, you must register, because government agencies search a data base of registered businesses when they need to find a product.
In other words, you won’t find these contracts. They’ll find you. And they won’t find you unless you take the steps to get registered.
How to Get Registered for the Buy American Rule
The certification for an approved business comes through the Small Business Administration, as required by the federal acquisition regulations.
In fact, the SBA has a federal contracting division to help small businesses “access federal contracts, financing and business development.
For more information about that division, start with the Small Business Administration’s federal contracting division. From that page, you can choose the tabs most suited to the particular information you need for your small business.
The SBA federal contracting division page is a source of information, such as specifics about regulations which you must follow.
Ready to get your foot in the door? There are only 5 steps, and they are relatively easy. Once you’ve completed these steps, you’ll be eligible to get SBA certification that your business is approved under federal acquisition regulations.
All the steps involve your time, and not your money. All you need to take these steps is access to the internet. If you want a chance at getting a federal contract, here are the steps to take:

Get your proper registration and identification numbers.
You’ll need a UEI (Unique Entity Identifier) number. You can get that by registering with SAM (System for Award Management) at Sam.gov .
You’ll need NAICS (North American Industry Classification System) numbers. You’ll need to match your product to the existing classifications and numbers. You can find them at Census.gov .
Meet the small business size standards. There are size standards which are unique to each NAICS code. Overall, small businesses meet the size standard if they have 500 or fewer employees and annual revenues less than $7.5 million.
Register with SAM (System for Award Management). You’ll complete the registration by entering the products you make that meet the 75% requirement. Government agencies use the SAM database to find products.
Maintain compliance with the small business size standards. If something changes in your number of employees or revenue, you’ll have to exit the program.
Meet the cybersecurity requirements. Individual contracts have differing requirements for the level of cyber security that the vender is required to have. It’s called the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) level.

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This article, " The New Buy American Rule Could Benefit Small Businesses " was first published on Small Business Trends