Generate a source list

Under FAR Part 19.704(a)(11), subcontracting plans are required to describe the means of “establishing source lists” describing the offeror’s “efforts to locate small business, veteran-owned small business, service-disabled veteran-owned small business, HUBZone small business, small disadvantaged business, and women-owned small business concerns and to award subcontracts to them.” But manually going through SAM, USASpending, or the Dynamic Small Business Search can be time consuming.

Fortunately, SubWithUs makes it easy to find potential subcontractors and generate an auditable source list for a procurement.

Finding potential partners

Typically, finding a potential partner starts with finding subcontractors with a particular socioeconomic status and within a relevant NAICS category.

Let’s say you wanted to find a service-disabled veteran-owned small business that provides catering services. To find a potential partner, you would first navigate to the research tab. There, you could click the “SDVOSB” button, and type in “cater” into the NAICS code field (it should allow you to autocomplete to 722320). Then, press “SEARCH.”

An annotated screenshot of market research

From there, you can see the 300 SDVOSB caterers in the system! To filter down even further, you could add past experience filters on either the department level or agency level. For example, let’s say you wanted a caterer with experience at the Department of State. To find one, type in “State” into the Department Past Performance field. Then, press SEARCH again.

Now, you have 9 results! From here you can view individual entity profiles. For example, pick Talon Veteran Services Incorporated by clicking on the UEI button. And you can see that, although they have a lot of experience, their focus doesn’t appear to be catering.

Adding an Entity to a Watchlist

Now, click on “Admiral’s Experience.” You can see from their DSBS capabilities statement that they are very much in the catering business: “We cook world class meals for special occasions, and when we are not cooking, we are keeping the building and other facilities clean in with our military standards.”

A screenshot of Admiral’s Experience’s profile

Perfect! Now you can add them to the Watchlist, contact them by email, and use them for future subcontracting opportunities!