Partnering with Federal Agencies

Boots on the ground

PTACs are the “boots on the ground” for agency small business efforts


PTACs help Government Buyers and Small Business Offices by:

  • Accepting referrals, including assisting specific vendors at OSDBU or Contracting Officer request – offering the help that OSDBU’s aren’t resourced to provide, or may be prohibited from providing.
  • Helping contractors or potential contractors to resolve problems – thereby avoiding protests and performance problems.
  • Promoting Requests for Information (RFIs) and Requests for Proposals (RFPs) with their small business client base – or with specific categories of small business – to help locate qualified vendors..
  • Co-sponsoring – or providing training for – training and matchmaking events and Industry Days.

 

Examples of PTAC-Agency partnerships include:

GSA logo U.S. General Services Administration (GSA): APTAC has worked with GSA for many years, and PTACs have played a major role assisting vendors, extending outreach, providing speakers/instructors at GSA events, and supporting the development, testing, implementation and mitigation with regard to the System for Award Management (SAM) roll-out. For more details, see this letter from GSA Acting Associate Administrator Karen Poole.

Vets First Verification LogoU.S. Veterans Administration, Center for Verification and Evaluation (CVE): PTACs have worked closely with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to ensure that Veteran- and Service Disabled Veteran-owned businesses have effective assistance completing the Verification process required to be eligible for VA set-aside and sole-source contracts. More than 280 PTAC counselors have become certified by the VA — representing 95% of the VA’s certified Veterans Assistance Counselors.

DLA Land and Maritime: APTAC partnered with DLA Land and Maritime to provide and promote a series of webinars on DLA’s Internet Bid Board System (DIBBS), training both PTAC counselors and their small manufacturer clients. Recordings of the webinars are posted on APTACs website and YouTube channel, where they have received over 1000 views.

FEMA LogoDisaster Response, Recovery, and Reconstruction contracting:  PTACs across the country work with FEMA and state/local agencies to locate and assist local vendors in the wake of natural disasters.  From providing office space and computer access to small firms following storms like Katrina, Sandy and the Joplin tornado, to helping individual with the skill and equipment to fight wildfires navigate the registration and payment systems, PTACs regularly go above and beyond to help their clients and communities in times of crisis.

Find your local PTAC (click here) and begin your partnership today!

APTAC is pleased to facilitate nationwide collaborations between government agencies and the PTACs.

Interested agency personnel should contact APTAC Headquarters at headquarters@aptac-us.org.

APTAC – Your Connection to the PTAC Network

APTAC can serve as your single point of entry to the PTAC network nationwide. Take advantage of this valuable resource by:

  • Including a link to APTAC’s website (www.aptac-us.org) on your Resource page: to quickly connect your small business site visitors to a wide range of government contracting information and – most importantly – to their local PTAC.
  • Extending your outreach by sending major notices about upcoming opportunities and events to headquarters@aptac-us.org to be distributed to our PTACs and posted to our public newsfeed and social media sites.
  • Partnering with APTAC to provide “Train-the-trainer” webinars (on “How to sell to …” your agency) to our 600 PTAC professionals, so that they can better prepare small businesses to be successful vendors.

 

For Contracting Officers –
SBA “First Wednesday Webinar” series archive

Thanks to our partnership with SBA’s Office of Government Contracting – Area IV, APTAC is able to maintain recordings of their First Wednesday Webinar series, designed for contracting officers and other procurement professionals.  This “library” includes only a few Webinars from 2015, but beginning January 2016 will post all webinar recordings going forward.

CLICK HERE to go to our “First Wednesday Webinar” series archive.