FedBiz’5 Podcast | Episode 42: Should My Small Business Respond to a Sources Sought or RFI?

Should My Small Business Respond to a Sources Sought or RFI?

The purpose of a sources sought notification is to determine if a small business can perform required contract work, while a Request for Information’s (“RFI”) purpose is to collect written information about the capabilities of various suppliers. Where a sources sought notification may seek to learn more about performance ability relative to a defined future requirement, an RFI seeks to obtain more specifics including commercial practices and pricing.

On this episode of FedBiz’5 we host Senior Contracting Specialist and former Federal Government Contracting Official, Frank Krebs, to discuss if your business should respond to a sources sought notification or RFI request.

What’s the difference between a Sources Sought Notification and RFI?

According to the Federal Acquisition Regulations (“FAR”), a sources sought notification is a government market research tool to determine if there are two or more capable businesses or small businesses that can perform the requirements of a planned contract.

Typically, when using a sources sought notification a federal agency has clear requirements and is attempting to make a determination if they should set aside the contract for small businesses or even further define it to a socio-economic category of small business, such as woman-owned or service disabled veteran-owned small business.

So, an agency trying to determine if a small business can handle a project of a defined size and scope would use a sources sought notification, especially if they want to use a set aside contract for a socio-economic category. Based on the response, the sources sought response can provide some level of assurance that small businesses can complete the project or contract.

Using an RFI, the agency is seeking assistance from the business community on defining the specific requirements of a contract. This typically involves the agency stating their needs and wanting to hear from industry vendors how they would propose achieving the end result. This information is then used to define the specific requirements for the statement of work or the performance work statement when the RFP is released.

Very often agencies confuse these two requests (sources sought and RFI) or combine parts of both into one request. So whether it is a sources sought or an RFI, it’s important to be prepared to review it thoroughly and respond accordingly.

Should a small business respond to either of these government requests?

The simple answer to that question is – YES… as long as it falls within your primary area of expertise.

The most important principle is to make sure the request falls within your primary or secondary core competency. Government contracting is a competitive environment. So while you may have several areas of expertise in your field, it’s crucial to stay focused. You can easily become distracted by trying to go after every request that may or may not fit your business.

Those requests that do not fall within your core competencies, do not waste your time as you will be fighting an uphill battle against companies that are more closely aligned with the requests. The only caveat may be when the request is from one of your primary targeted agencies.

The importance of staying focused is to save you time and resources. You want to be competitive and prepare a quality response.

How can you be more efficient in responding to sources sought notifications and RFIs?

To save time and resources, staying focused on your primary core competencies allows you to reuse the more generic sections of each proposal. Typically, this can equate to approximately 75% or more of the response. This is because the response is about your performance in that competency. This is also highlighted in your Capability Statement.

Don’t write each response from scratch, reuse what you have developed from prior responses. You can pull information from sections to make it easier and quicker to respond.

In fact, you should develop a set of standard paragraphs around your primary competencies, as these can be used over and over in responses. These can be used not just sources sought and the RFIs, but the actual Request for Proposals (“RFP”) when reaching out to prospective customers, whether government or commercial.

What are the reasons to respond?

Responding helps you get noticed and build relationships. If you’re relatively new to government contracting, responding helps you by introducing your company to government buyers and program officials who need your services or products. This helps to foster relationships.

Second, it helps the government decide upon set asides categories and if the contract award should go out as a sole source contract. If you write an impressive response, you could potentially be awarded a sole source contract, but at a minimum, you’re hoping to help structure the final statement of work or RFP to your capabilities. It can also reduce competition for the award by limiting the bidders through specific set aside category.

Third, this is your opportunity to market your firm directly to an interested customer. And as a result, you will demonstrate that you are a ‘subject matter expert’ to that agency and someone that they can reach out to for further advice or discussion. Remember, you’re not just a small business, you are a trusted adviser.

Fourth, any accompanying draft requirements provide you with early insight into the agency’s needs and can help you to understand the big picture of what the agency is looking for. This can provide you with valuable insight to plan accordingly.

Finally, write your responses as though it is a competition and one that you want to win. Treat your response as a sales document. This is your opportunity to sell yourself while providing information to the agency and emphasize in your reply any socio-economic category that you may qualify for. Also, you want to demonstrate that you are a subject matter expert by focusing on your primary competencies.

By responding to sources sought notifications and RFIs in your primary competencies, you are increasing your visibility to potential agency customers and keeping your company’s name top of mind for both contracting and program management staff, as these responses are typically viewed by both the agency buyers but by their program level counterparts and directors who implement the contract.

FedBiz has an experienced fulfillment team that takes the time to understand its clients’ needs and ask questions to ensure they have a solid government contracting foundation to pursue and respond to sources sought notifications and RFIs in a timely manner. 

FedBiz is a leading government contracting business development and marketing firm that offers research, engagement strategy coaching, registrations, set-aside certifications, and GSA Schedules, in addition to its proprietary FedBizConnect.com platform.

FedBiz has over 22 years of experience working with thousands of companies worldwide to help them win over $35.7 billion in awards. From registration to award, FedBiz helps businesses succeed in the government marketplace.

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