The NETCENTS-2 is a five year $9billion procurement program for a range of network-centric supplies and services, including hardware and software for networking and various engineering, software development, system integration, security and telephone services. The NETCENTS-2 is based on the original Network Centric Solutions program.

$11 billion dollars, roughly half of the NETCENTS-2′s contracts, are set to be awarded to small businesses. Those contracts which are not set aside for small businesses, are required to have a minimum of 23 percent small business subcontracting. There will also be two small business companion contracts, for networking operations and application services available

The NETCENT-2 is going to be a promising contract to pursue in the coming quarters of this year for small businesses.Van Buren also said “The use of small business is a key part of the partnership between government and industry, and also critical to the innovation and broader Air Force transformation in 2012″.

Read the senate press release here: SBIR Extension passes the Senate

Read the house status here: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s111-4053

Slides for the presentation are available here: http://video.fedbidspeed.com/HowToSellToTheFederalGovernment.pdf

It was particularly great to have our current customers stop by and tell us how much they love Bidspeed (in one case, during a demo, which was wonderful).

If you didn’t get a chance to attend, you might put it on your calendar for next year – overall it was an educational 3 days for all of the attendees that we spoke to.

Next week a few of us will be at the Navy Gold Coast show in San Diego. If you’re going to be there please stop by (Booth 706) and see what’s new in the application, tell us how you’re using Bidspeed, see the super cool iPad, or just eat some of our free candy.

The California Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise Alliance (CADVBE) presents the Annual Keeping the Promise (KTP2010) Conference and Exposition – bringing together 200 corporate and government procurement professionals meeting face to face with 400 qualified, competitive, certified disabled veteran businesses.

KTP 2010 opens at 9:00 a.m. on Monday, May 24th, 2010 and concludes Tuesday, May 25th at 5 p.m. at the Irvine Marriott in Southern California.

Bidspeed will be in the Expo Hall – stop by and see us.

http://www.ktpexpo.org

“To effectively achieve its missions, the Department of Defense must develop and update its software-based capabilities faster than ever, to anticipate new threats and respond to continuously changing requirements,” wrote acting DOD Chief Information Officer David Wennergren, in a cover letter to the guidance, which was issued Oct. 16.

Military services procuring software should regard open-source as just another form of commercial software, the guidance states. When evaluating possible software choices, the agency should consider the benefits of open-source, such as how the code is peer-reviewed, the freedom from potential vendor-lock in, potential licensing issues about reusing the software and the potential cost-savings.

The guidance also states that the programming code of open-source software is “data” as defined by DOD Directive 8320.02. Because “open-source licenses authorize widespread dissemination of the licensed software,” the military can share open-source programs across the entire department.

The guidance also clarifies that any changes a service makes to an open-source program do not necessarily have to be shared with the public, though changes that do not compromise national security, such as code fixes and enhancements, should be shared wherever possible.

SAIC is a prime government contractor (Fortune 500) with about $10 billion a year in revenue. If you are a small business, working as subcontractor for a prime like SAIC is one of the better ways to land a federal contract. However, they aren’t out there actively looking for you. If you find a federal opportunity that makes sense for your company’s products or services it may make sense to approach some of the larger primes and establish a contact in their small business or mentor program.

Regardless, you need to be looking for the opportunities all the time, especially for solicitations that have a small business set-aside element. Sometimes a small-business set-aside can be an opportunity for a relationship with a prime contractor. If you’ve found an opportunity that’s perfect for your company but could see needing help to deliver, a relationship with a prime contractor as your sub-contractor could be a creative way to make your first federal deal.

According to company President and Co-founder Ryan Reid, “Bidspeed is specifically designed to help small and medium-sized companies bid on and win government contracts. There will never be a better time than now to sell your product or service to the US Government, and BidSpeed improves your chances of winning the contracts.”

“Bidspeed helps your entire company collaborate on the bidding process in real time via a streamlined, efficient, web-based software tool,” adds Cam Woods, COO and co-founder of Bidspeed.

Woods explains, “BidSpeed helps companies manage the avalanche of information: so many opportunities but so many people, phone calls, emails, notes, documents, follow-ups and tasks. What IS this opportunity again? Who are the responsible contracting officers? What did we last talk about? Who else is working on this? What’s next? Bidspeed keeps track of it all.”

About Bidspeed:

Bidspeed is an easy to use web-based opportunity management system integrated with FedBizOpps and specifically designed for winning government contracts.

About NetQuarry:

NetQuarry is the leading SaaS infrastructure platform based on Microsoft .NET. NetQuarry helps developers build secure, highly scalable SaaS applications in less time with significantly lower risk. Since 2005, NetQuarry-powered web applications currently service hundreds of thousands of users worldwide.

For more information on obtaining a free trial subscription to Bidspeed or for a live demonstration of the NetQuarry SaaS development platform, visit www.fedbidspeed.com or www.netquarry.com.

Bidspeed (www.fedbidspeed.com) is an opportunity management system that is directly integrated with FedBizOpps. Its web-based software that puts a simple process around finding, managing, and winning government deals. A process that your customers can benefit from.

If your customers use FedBizOpps then your customers need Bidspeed. It helps manage and win government deals.

Here’s how it works:

• We provide you with a referral code that you can give to your customers or use on your website.
• When your customer signs up using the referral code they receive a discount.
• After your customer makes their first payment (there is a 30-day free trial), you start making money. We share a percentage of the entire first year’s revenue with you.

If you have any questions please contact us at 877.663.9043 or send us an email at partnership@fedbidspeed.com