The Southwest Central Ohio Procurement Technical Assistance Center (SWCO PTAC) is a full-service, non-profit resource center for government procurement. SWCO PTAC provides a results-oriented assistance program that is designed to help Ohio businesses generate bids in response to federal, state, and local solicitations.  Dealing with regulations and red tape can be frustrating. In fact, those obstacles often keep highly qualified suppliers from selling to the government. Our goal is to assist small businesses throughout southwest central ohio cut through the red tape and successfully promote their goods and services to the federal, state, and local governments. SWCO PTAC offers procurement technical assistance and training workshops to meet the needs of small, minority, and women business owners.

SWCO PTAC provides the following procurement technical assistance and counseling services to its clients:

• Assessment of a company's potential for government contracting

Your SWCO PTAC Procurement Counselor will work with you to determine whether government contracting is practical for your company and will work with you to explain the basic principles of working with federal, state or local governments.

• How the government buys goods and services
• Steps for getting registered to do business with the government
• Classifying your business
• Using the web and other services to locate opportunities
• Requirements for working with the government
• Special business programs (SDB, HUBZone, 8(a), Mentor/Protégé, etc.)

• Registration and certification assistance

  Your SWCO PTAC Procurement Counselor will assist your company in evaluating capabilities of your company, and whether government contracting is feasible, then they will provide assistance in completing all necessary registrations and certifications and preparing pre-award surveys.

Some the the registrations and certifications you will need to complete are:

• Employer Identification Number

Employer Identification Number (EIN) also referred to as Federal Tax Identification Numbers (TIN) is a nine digit number used to identify a business entity. Questions relating to, if you should apply for a number or not, can be answered by clicking on the link below.

Small Business EIN Information
EIN Application

• Dun & Bradstreet

Dun & Bradstreet(D&B) is a business specializing in providing credit and financial reports on registered companies for a fee. The identifier for registered companies is referred to as a DUNS number. In order to do business with the federal government you must obtain a DUNS. This number can be obtained free of charge buy registering online at DUNS Number Request.

D&B Homepage
D&B free DUNS Number Request

• Central Contractors Registration

In order to do business with the Defense Department and many other departments within the Federal government you must first register on the Central Contractors Registration (CCR) . This registration provides government contractors with a profile of your company and necessary banking information required so that you can be paid electronically. (IMPORTANT) Upon completion of this registration you are also provided a link to register on PRO-Net (See Below). When using this link information from your CCR registration automatically populates fields in your PRO-Net registration.

CCR Homepage
Required information for CCR Registration
Dynamic Small Business Search

• Online Representations and Certifications Application (ORCA)

A company must be registered with ORCA if the solicitation it’s responding to requires that it have an active Central Contractor Registration (CCR). This online Representations and Certifications Application is an e-Government initiative that has been developed to replace most of the paper based Offeror Representations and Certifications (FAR 52-121-3). This online registration is accessible 24/7.

ORCA

ORCA Handbook

• Identification of North America Industry Supply Codes (NAICS) and federal supply codes (FSC)

• SIC/NAICS

Standard Industrial Classification Codes (SIC Codes)and North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS Codes) are numerical codes designed by the U.S. Government in order to create uniform descriptions of small business types and size standards. Presently government is in the process of converting from SIC codes to the newly developed NAICS codes.

Lookup SIC Codes
Lookup NAICS Codes
Small Business Size Standards

Convert Sic to NAICS: Go to “Lookup NAICS Codes” and in the “enter a keyword search” area enter “SIC #”. Example: SIC 7371 click enter.

• FSC/PSC

Federal Supply Codes (FSC) and Product Service Codes (PSC) are numerical codes designed by the government to create descriptions for products and services. They are not specific to small businesses and do not describe business size.

Lookup PFC/FSC
Nomenclature PSC/FSC Lookup

• Free, customized daily BidMatch service

BidMatch is an automated system that searches new federal, state, and local government opportunities on a daily basis, and delivers matching opportunities to your e-mail inbox.

We begin by creating a detailed profile of your company, which may include the following information:

• What products and services your company provides
• Keywords
• Product service codes (PSC/FSCs)
• National stock numbers
• Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes
• North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes
• States and foreign locations you have the ability to serve

• Solicitation review and bid preparation assistance and training

• Sub-contracting assistance

• Electronic commerce (EC/EDI) training

  The United States government has moved its procurement activities online, reducing the costs and providing prospective suppliers with immediate access to opportunities. While this move increases the efficiency and transparency of government contracting, the process still has limitations. The SWCO PTAC can train your company on how to navigate these web sites and find opportunities.

  Online agency registration . The SWCO PTAC will help your company register in all required areas, and help avoid costly errors and common mistakes.

  Locating Opportunities Online . Each governmental agency has it's own procurement web site. We'll help you identify which agencies are likely to have opportunities that match your business, how to effectively search opportunities, and how to locate additional information on opportunities.

  • EDI

Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is the computer-to-computer exchange of business data in standard formats. In EDI, information is organized according to a specified format set by both parties, allowing a "hands-off" computer transaction that requires no human intervention or rekeying on either end. All information contained in an EDI transaction set is, for the most part, the same as on a conventionally printed document. Organizations have adopted EDI for the same reasons they have embraced much of today's modern technology-enhanced efficiency and increased profits. Benefits of EDI include:

• Reduced cycle time
• Better inventory management
• Increased productivity
• Reduced costs
• Improved accuracy
• Improved business relationships
• Enhanced customer service
• Increased sales
• Minimized paper use and storage
• Increased cash flow

Industries currently using EDI include retail, insurance, education, entertainment, mortgage banking, and numerous departments of the U.S. Government. Note, however, that this list is far from complete! As more and more businesses turn to EDI, several standards committees - including the Accredited Standards Committee X12 (ASC X12) and EDIFACT - are working to include appropriate transactions in its body of standards.

• VAN

A Value-Added Network (VAN) is a private network provider (sometimes called a turnkey communications line) that is hired by a company to facilitate electronic data interchange (EDI) or provide other network services. Before the arrival of the World Wide Web, some companies hired value-added networks to move data from their company to other companies. With the arrival of the World Wide Web, many companies found it more cost-efficient to move their data over the Internet instead of paying the minimum monthly fees and per-character charges found in typical VAN contracts. In response, contemporary value-added network providers now focus on offering EDI translation, encryption, secure e-mail, management reporting, and other extra services for their customers.

• Procurement regulations assistance

• Matchmaking and networking opportunities

• Mentor Protégé opportunities

FCS Mentor Protégé RFI Industry Announcement

• Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Programs

SBIR Program Description

STTR Program Description

SBIR World

SBA SBIR/STTR

• Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Assistance

  Supplier Implementation Plan