Govcon Giants

The 8(a) program lets the government award sole source contracts, and a business without its own 8(a) certification can still reach that work by teaming with a certified firm that brings the bonding and past performance.

Eric Coffie breaks down how to find 8(a) companies on SAM.gov, call them directly to propose teaming, and structure the arrangement around real awards, including a $4.5 million sole source IDIQ run over five years and an $800,000 annual maintenance contract.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• How a non-8(a) business partners with a certified 8(a) firm to reach sole source contracts
• Why you can qualify using the larger partner's past performance and bonding instead of your own
• The exact way to find 8(a) firms without contracts and call them to propose teaming
• How 8(a) sole source IDIQs work, including a real $4.5M five-year award and its task orders
• The work-share rule an 8(a) firm has to meet on any contract it is awarded

Chapters:

0:00 - How teaming into 8(a) sole source contracts works

1:00 - Why past performance comes from your partner, not you

1:40 - Finding 8(a) firms without contracts to call directly

3:30 - What the 8(a) partner has to actually do on the work

6:00 - Task orders, recompetes, and December spend on 8(a) IDIQs

7:50 - A real $4.5M sole source IDIQ and an $800K maintenance award

8:50 - Matching partners on bonding, FTEs, and certifications

Mindy gives you the federal opportunities, agency signals, recompete intel, and pursuit briefs that tell you not just what contracts exist, but which ones to chase and how to win them.

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A federal construction firm runs standard operating procedures that assign every new contract an owner responsible for starting the submittal register, safety plan, and QC plan before the pre-construction meeting.

Frank Spencer of Aztec explains how his team makes leadership, not the individual, accountable when a step falls through the cracks, and how a small firm keeps that discipline without hiring anyone to manage it.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• Why accountability for a missed SOP step belongs to the leader who pushed it down, not the team member
• How to audit a segment of your process the moment something falls through the cracks instead of running slow full reviews
• The email and communication matrix that tells the team who must respond and who is only being informed
• How to cut SOP fluff and narrow focus when a firm realizes it has built too many layers
• Why a small business stays disciplined on process even when nobody can be hired to own it full time

Chapters:

0:00 - How to ensure SOPs actually get used and activated

1:15 - Accountability sits with the leader who pushed the process down

3:34 - Auditing a segment quickly when a step is missed

4:52 - Staying disciplined on touch points before a problem hits

5:51 - Crucial conversations when the SOP is not working

6:33 - Cutting fluff and narrowing focus to fewer layers

8:00 - The email matrix and subject-line rules that reduce confusion

9:00 - Solving the frustration that started the whole system

Mindy gives you the federal opportunities, agency signals, recompete intel, and pursuit briefs that tell you not just what contracts exist, but which ones to chase and how to win them.

Sign up for free Daily Alerts and get opportunities delivered to your inbox before the day starts.

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The 8(a) program lets a small business team with an 8(a) prime, subcontract on its contracts, and build the past performance needed to win its own prime awards later.

Eric Coffie walks through the exact teaming approach he used starting in 2019, from doing the business development for an 8(a) partner to negotiating $18 million in sole source contracts as a prime in 2025.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• How to team with an 8(a) prime, do the business development, and subcontract to build your own past performance
• The DSBS search that returns active 8(a) companies by NAICS code and state, step by step
• Why targeting medium and large teaming partners, one that grew from $19M to $35M, beats chasing subcontract scraps
• The long-game path from subcontractor to prime that led to $18M in sole source contracts being negotiated in 2025

Chapters:

0:00 - Teaming with an 8(a) prime to win the work 2:00 - How the subcontractor built its own past performance 4:00 - The $4M five-year IDIQ task order example 6:00 - Finding 8(a) companies to team with on DSBS 8:00 - Choosing NAICS code and state in the search 10:00 - Leverage 8(a) to build a prime pipeline, not scraps 12:00 - Negotiating $18M in sole source contracts in 2025

Mindy gives you the federal opportunities, agency signals, recompete intel, and pursuit briefs that tell you not just what contracts exist, but which ones to chase and how to win them.

Sign up for free Daily Alerts and get opportunities delivered to your inbox before the day starts.

👉 Get your free Daily Alerts here 🔗 https://getmindy.ai

A sources sought response is a small business's chance to recommend specific past-performance and PWS requirements that the government can place directly into the solicitation, legally narrowing who can compete. Eric Coffie walks through how to shape those recommendations, from citing a five-year VA janitorial contract to requiring three years of prime performance on a 50,000 square foot facility, so a qualified vendor stands out before the solicitation is even written.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• How a sources sought response lets you recommend PWS requirements the government can copy-paste into the solicitation
• The specific past-performance language that narrows a field to service-disabled veteran owned or woman owned small businesses
• Why requiring contract numbers with the proposal separates real past performance from vendors who only claim it
• How to weight a best-value trade-off so experience outranks price and you avoid the LPTA race to the bottom
• Why almost every federal service opportunity falls into roughly 70 service types, and how to own the one you do

Chapters:

0:00 - Sources sought as a way to shape requirements

1:00 - Recommending PWS language that limits competition

1:53 - Citing a $282K five-year VA janitorial contract

2:33 - Requiring three years prime on a 50,000 square foot facility

3:25 - Ghosting the requirement and nudging toward SDVOSB

4:47 - Standing out among lackluster sources sought responses

5:37 - Best-value trade-off versus LPTA and factor weighting

7:11 - Requiring contract numbers so claims can be verified

8:19 - The cover page and executive orientation that never change

Timestamps are approximate and should be checked against the audio before publishing.

Mindy gives you the federal opportunities, agency signals, recompete intel, and pursuit briefs that tell you not just what contracts exist, but which ones to chase and how to win them.

I am running it live on August 22, free to join.

👉 Register free for Mindy Day, Saturday August 22

🔗 https://govcongiants.com/mindy-launch

Landing a job you have no experience for feels impossible, but David Rambhajan did it with zero degree, zero experience, and no MBA, and in this episode he breaks down the exact "sharpshooter strategy" that got him hired. If you are starting from scratch with no past performance or connections, this is the mindset and step-by-step approach that turns a flat rejection into an opportunity nobody thought you could earn.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• The 200-300-500 yard sharpshooter framework and how to apply it to any goal
• How to break a target you cannot reach yet into stages you can hit now
• The exact move David used to get a callback after his resume was rejected
• Why targeting your energy and understanding risk matters more than raw effort
• How to position yourself for an opportunity when you have no experience on paper

Chapters:

0:00 - The $5 that turned a 14-year-old into a hustler 2:30 - Joining the Marine Corps and following the family plan 4:00 - The dream job that needed a degree, experience, and an MBA 5:15 - Qualifying as a sharpshooter at 500 yards in boot camp 7:00 - Breaking the goal into 200, 300, and 500 yard targets 9:00 - Target, energy, and risk applied to landing the job 11:00 - The phone call and proposal that reopened a closed door

Mindy gives you the federal opportunities, agency signals, recompete intel, and pursuit briefs that tell you not just what contracts exist, but which ones to chase and how to win them.

I am running it live on August 22, free to join.

👉 Register free for Mindy Day, Saturday August 22

🔗 https://govcongiants.com/mindy-launch

Selling a government contracting business triggers a 180-day eligibility rule that can void a set-aside bid if the buyer is not eligible on the day of award, wiping out the time and cost of the proposal.

Isaias "Cy" Alba, a partner at the law firm PilieroMazza with 20 years in government contracting M&A, walks through the specific rules that quietly strip value from a small business before a sale, from recertification timing to the False Claims Act exposure that turns a $10 million contract into $30 million in damages.

What you'll learn in this episode:

- The 180-day rule that can void a set-aside bid mid-transaction, and how to time your pipeline around it - Why buyers pay 3 to 5 times EBITDA for most firms, and why 8(a) companies sell for as little as 1.5 to 2 times - How affiliation and False Claims Act errors turn a $10 million contract into $30 million in liability - The SBIR intellectual property choice that protects your code for 20 years, and the patent move that hands it to the government - The single move that raises valuation most before you go to market: winning full and open work

Chapters:

0:00 - Fixing value leakage 18 months before a sale 7:00 - What makes GovCon M&A different from commercial deals 15:00 - What buyers are actually paying for in a deal 21:00 - The pre-deal hygiene checklist sellers miss 29:00 - How sellers raise value in the final 6 to 12 months 33:00 - Asset deal versus equity deal and why it matters 39:00 - Purchase agreement protections: reps, warranties, earn outs 47:00 - The first 30 days after closing a business 53:00 - Rapid fire: overvalued metrics and undervalued risk

Mindy gives you the federal opportunities, agency signals, recompete intel, and pursuit briefs that tell you not just what contracts exist, but which ones to chase and how to win them.

I am running it live on August 22, free to join.

👉 Register free for Mindy Day, Saturday August 22

🔗 https://govcongiants.com/mindy-launch

Connect with Encore Funding: http://govcongiants.org/funding

Isaias "Cy" Alba's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cyalba/

Isaias "Cy" Alba is a Partner at PilieroMazza. He counsels clients in a broad range of government contracting matters before government agencies and federal courts that include overall regulatory compliance with numerous regulatory schemes, including FAR and DFARS requirements. Cy also represents companies of all sizes with compliant corporate structuring, mergers and acquisitions, and small business rules and regulations. He handles the prosecution and defense of small business size and status protests and appeals, as well as bid protests and claims and appeals before administrative agencies and federal courts.

Army Corps of Engineers roofing and construction contracts are often written against Unified Facilities Criteria that date back decades, and the person who defines whether the job is complete is the same person who releases your payment.

West Edwards breaks down the questions a contractor should ask before bidding a federal job, how to get the scope and success criteria signed off in writing, and why bidding contracts you know you can't win is one of the fastest ways to learn the market.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• The exact questions to ask so you know what a federal buyer checks before releasing payment
• Why getting the spec, scope, and warranty agreed in writing protects you from disputed change orders
• How to read a Unified Facilities Criteria spec before it costs you on an Army Corps job
• How bidding jobs you can't win turns a lost bid into free market intelligence
• Why tracking your bond limit stops you from stacking small jobs into a job you can't perform

Chapters:

0:00 - Getting the scope defined before you bid 1:24 - What painful experience on a Keys project taught 2:21 - Preventative questions that stop future disputes 3:34 - Who defines project success and how to pin them down 4:46 - Army Corps UFC specs and getting sign-off in writing 5:19 - Change orders and building in contingency 6:05 - Bond limits and stacking too many small jobs 7:02 - Bidding jobs to learn from the debrief

Mindy gives you the federal opportunities, agency signals, recompete intel, and pursuit briefs that tell you not just what contracts exist, but which ones to chase and how to win them.

I am running it live on August 22, free to join.

👉 Register free for Mindy Day, Saturday August 22

🔗 https://govcongiants.com/mindy-launch

The number of new small businesses winning federal contracts each year has fallen from 58,000 to roughly 12,000, even as total small business awards doubled to 183 billion dollars, which means larger awards are going to far fewer firms.

Eric Coffie breaks down why the 8(a) program is the fastest on-ramp into that thinning field in 2026, how one contractor turned a quiet six-year build into a 57 million dollar sole-source award, and how to file the application yourself for around 5,000 dollars instead of paying eight to ten.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• Why new small business entrants into federal contracting have dropped by nearly 80 percent, and why that shrinking field favors newcomers who act now
• How average award size per small firm climbed from 816,000 dollars in 2010 to about 3 million today
• The story behind a 57 million dollar 8(a) direct award, and why the government justified skipping competition
• How to file your own 8(a) application for around 5,000 dollars using the same portal the paid services use
• Why even losing your first three years in the 8(a) program still leaves years four through eight to scale

Chapters:

0:00 - 8(a) program under audit and record-low enrollment 1:15 - New contractor entrants collapse from 58,000 to 12,000 3:04 - Why supply and demand now favors small vendors 4:07 - A 57 million dollar 8(a) direct award appears overnight 5:31 - What filing your 8(a) actually costs, DIY versus paid 7:29 - The 8(a) as the easy button for 2026 8:37 - Managing cash flow as your contracts grow

Mindy gives you the federal opportunities, agency signals, recompete intel, and pursuit briefs that tell you not just what contracts exist, but which ones to chase and how to win them.

I am running it live on August 22, free to join.

👉 Register free for Mindy Day, Saturday August 22

🔗 https://govcongiants.com/mindy-launch

The GSA Multiple Award Schedule is a 20-year contract vehicle, and a business with no past performance can still get on it by subcontracting first to build a track record as a prime.

Colin Nchako breaks down how to sub under an established schedule holder, convert that experience into your own prime awards, and then add new SIN numbers later through a modification instead of at the onset.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• Why you must be a prime, not a sub of a sub, to hold a GSA Schedule, and the partnership path that gets you there with no past performance
• How to add SIN numbers to your schedule through a modification, and why it is far easier than adding them when you first apply
• The way a first prime contract, like a Department of Health training video job, unlocks a new SIN number the moment the first invoice lands
• Why loading more SIN codes onto your schedule floods your inbox with more solicitations you can actually bid
• How two schedule holders can partner, group matching SIN numbers, and subcontract each other to build past performance together

Chapters:

0:00 - GSA Schedule partnership path for no past performance 1:20 - Subbing under a prime to earn prime eligibility 2:34 - Five pending solicitations and shrinking response windows 3:43 - Why more SIN numbers mean more opportunities 4:22 - Adding a video production SIN through a live contract 5:44 - Using a Department of Health job to file the mod 6:56 - Adding SIN numbers by mod versus at the onset 8:56 - How partners subcontract each other to build performance

Mindy gives you the federal opportunities, agency signals, recompete intel, and pursuit briefs that tell you not just what contracts exist, but which ones to chase and how to win them.

I am running it live on August 22, free to join.

👉 Register free for Mindy Day, Saturday August 22

🔗 https://govcongiants.com/mindy-launch

Two small businesses can form an 8(a) joint venture to pursue federal contracts neither could win alone, splitting accounting, bonding, and delivery responsibilities under the program rules.

David Rambhajan, a contractor who grew through joint ventures and mentor-protege agreements before selling his company, walks through how he used partnering to gain past performance, limit his bonding indemnification, and pull retained earnings from two ventures to fuel his own growth.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• How two small businesses combine capabilities in a joint venture to reach contracts neither could win alone
• Why every joint venture job counts as past performance for your own business
• How to negotiate bonding and indemnification so a partnership grows your company instead of draining it
• The mentor-protege agreement as a tool to learn federal contracting from a larger, established partner
• Why vetting a partner's values before signing matters as much as the contract itself

Chapters:

0:00 - Splitting responsibilities when teaming and partnering 0:52 - Two small businesses combining capabilities to grow 1:36 - Joint venturing as a serious, marriage-like relationship 2:20 - Vetting a partner's values before you sign 3:17 - Why relationship work never gets the credit 4:06 - Learning the business while leaning on a partner 5:31 - Using the 8(a) program to hedge risk 6:04 - Negotiating the bonding indemnification instead of signing 8:32 - Pulling profit from two ventures to fuel growth

Mindy gives you the federal opportunities, agency signals, recompete intel, and pursuit briefs that tell you not just what contracts exist, but which ones to chase and how to win them.

Sign up for free Daily Alerts and get opportunities delivered to your inbox before the day starts.

👉 Get your free Daily Alerts here 🔗 https://getmindy.ai