For most small businesses looking to grow their operations, targeting your local, city, county, or state government is the ideal way to have dependable sources of income that can help your business plan during tough economic times. Trying to fight for these contracts however, can be very cut-throat as many businesses are often looking for the same ideal contracts and the government agencies often only have them posted for a few short days up to a month.
Obtaining the correct business certifications for your enterprise is crucial in order to gain easy access to both federal government and corporate contracts. Certification provides your small business with a nationally-recognized and highly-respected status that makes your company stand out against marketplace competition for elite and distinguished clients.
As a small business owner, you and many others are most likely trying to find ways to successfully win your bids without giving away your shirt trying to be the lowest bid. So what options are available to help you win the bid without bidding too low? For most small business owners a great method for standing out is to seek a city, county or state certification.
Certification is a special review process designed to ensure that a small business is actually owned, controlled and operated by applicants in categories that the city, county, or state is looking to do business with. Most local government offices give preference or set-aside contracts to minority owned business, women owned business, disabled veteran owned business, veteran owned business, or small business enterprises. In other words, the government agency will score your business higher in its point’s evaluations when you have certification which may help you reach the winning bid for federal contracting even when the certified business may or may not have been the lowest bidder.
As a business owner, it’s often difficult to determine exactly how many certifications you’re eligible for in your local state. BizCentral USA has compiled a list of the various certifications available at the city, county or state level.