Dr. Shirley Ayangbah

Set-asides, sole-source awards, bid preferences and prime contractor demand: what certified firms can access that uncertified firms cannot, with the 2026 dollar figures.

What funders mean by a benefit-cost analysis, how the ratio is calculated, and the mistakes that cost grant applications points.

When a federal subcontracting plan is required, what goes in it, and how primes meet small business goals without scrambling at proposal time.

Where primes actually search for SB, DVBE, DBE and 8(a) subcontractors, what they check before they call, and how a small business gets on their list.

There is no federal small business certification, which is why this question confuses everyone. Here is what self-certification actually is, what SBA certification gets you, and whether it matters.

Most new contractors fail not from lack of effort but from doing the steps out of order. Here is the sequence that actually works, from NAICS codes to your first award.

As a government contracting consultant in San Bernardino, GERC takes clients from SAM.gov registration to contract award. Most businesses that fail at government contracting do not fail because they were unqualified. They fail because someone gave them half a process. Someone registers them in SAM.gov, congratulates them, and sends an invoice. Nine months later the

Do you need certification to win government contracts? For many set-asides you do, and the SBA runs the federal programs. This argument comes up constantly, and it is one of the few disagreements in government contracting where both people are usually right — about completely different things. One person says: you don’t need any certification,

Government contracting in California starts with SAM.gov and Cal eProcure. Every week we talk to a business owner who has heard that the government buys what they sell, has been told to “get registered,” and has no idea what that actually means or what happens next. Here is the scale of what they are trying

Ownership rules, disability rating, residency and the documents DGS requires — plus why LLCs face a stricter standard than corporations.