Farmers and small-scale businessmen involved in farming and allied businesses can now supply goods and services to the US Department of Agriculture. With the intention of enhancing competition in contracting, the USDA’s Office of Contracting and Procurement has developed the desired tools to assist small disadvantaged entities in identifying potential opportunities for selling their products and services to the US Department of Agriculture.
USDA Procurement Opportunities Forecast Tool
The US Department of Agriculture has released a procurement forecast tool with the list of USDA solicitations that the small businesses, small disadvantaged businesses, women-owned small businesses, and service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses are able to perform business under direct contracts with the USDA through sub-contracting opportunities.
The US Department of Agriculture has a dedicated website where organizations within the federal government publish notices on proposed contract actions that are valued at more than $25,000. The contract opportunities and notices will cover announcements through official solicitations during the pre-award process. Small businesses that are interested in doing business with the government can make use of this system to research the active opportunities.
Procurement Procedures and Policies
Owing to the diversity and dispersion of the agricultural programs, marketing and procuring projects with the USDA has become a complex undertaking. The USDA buys goods and services on a decentralized basis. Vendors should contact the procurement offices listed for the specific products and services that they want to sell or purchase. These offices generally have a simple acquisition procedure, which is less structured than the negotiated and sealed bidding procurements.
Notices for business opportunities over $25,000 are posted on the website and will also contain sufficient information for the vendors to submit their quotes. Farmers and other small agriculture businesses should complete this acquisition. The vendor who offers the most advantageous proposal in terms of price and other factors will be considered for the business.
Unlocking USDA Procurement Opportunities for Farmers
The USDA values the contributions made by small business entities and continues to offer initiatives to make contracting opportunities more accessible for eligible firms. It also aims to remove the barriers that are faced by the underserved communities. It has released its procurement tool to enhance the competition in contracting for farmers who would be interested in supplying goods and services to the Agricultural department.
USDA has about eleven organizations that offer solicitations for the anticipated goods purchases that are tied to the procurement forecast. All the solicitations that are listed within the forecast pertain to the simplified acquisition threshold. With the help of this tool, interested parties can search the procurement forecasts from the USDA, filter the results, and download the same in Excel or CSV. This amends the SBA to place new emphasis on the acquisition planning for agricultural goods. This law requires the agencies to compile and make the small business contracting opportunities available for Farmers.
Farmers and small businesses interested in agricultural goods contracting can use MySetAside to maximize their opportunities to participate in the USDA’s contracting process. It also offers clear instructions and frequent updates on the contracting process while concurrently maintaining transparency and accuracy of data.
The United States Department of Agriculture’s Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization posts an annual forecast that shows a range of procurement opportunities at the USDA. My Set Aside will offer these opportunities to prospective businesses interested in participating in the procurement and program activities of USDA. Through the website, the public can obtain information regarding Government-wide business opportunities that are greater than $25,000. It will also offer synopses of the proposed contract actions, solicitations, and other associated information, which can be directly accessed from its website.