Subcontracting & Teaming

Mentor-protégé and joint ventures solve different problems and can even work together. Here’s how to choose the right structure for your situation.

Growing past small business size standards triggers a subcontracting plan requirement. Here’s what it must include and how good faith efforts get audited.

SBA mentor-protege JVs have a mandatory clause checklist under 13 CFR 125.8. Miss one and the JV may not qualify for the set-aside it was formed to pursue.

When you sign a subcontract, you’re not just agreeing to the terms on the page — a specific set of FAR and DFARS clauses attach automatically, whether or not the prime bothered to write them into your agreement. These are flow-down clauses, and misunderstanding which ones are mandatory versus negotiable is one of the more…

Win a small business set-aside contract and the work isn’t done — you now have to prove, over the life of the contract, that you’re not just a pass-through for a larger subcontractor doing the a

How the SBA Mentor-Protégé Program lets a small business partner with a large mentor and form a joint venture that qualifies for small-business set-asides.

The specific channels where small businesses actually meet federal prime contractors and convert first meetings into teaming discussions.

What a teaming agreement actually does, the sections that make or break it (exclusivity, minimum workshare, confidentiality), and how a small business protects itself when teamed with a much larger prime.

The Decision That Shapes Your Federal Business Every small business entering federal contracting eventually asks the same question: should we go after prime contracts, or subcontract under a larger prime? The answer isn’t obvious, and choosing wrong wastes years. Some small businesses that should be teaming as subs waste 18 months chasing prime contracts they…

How subcontracting and teaming work in government contracting: prime vs sub, subcontracting plans, finding primes, teaming agreements, JVs, and Mentor-Protégé.