North Dakota Procurement Technical Assistance Center

A resource for assisting North Dakota businesses in obtaining federal, state, and local government contracts.

Sept 2023 ‘SAM’ Power Tools

Categories: SAM.GOV

  SAM, the System for Award Management, is a powerful ally in the world of federal contracting. This legacy system houses source material to assist in federal contracting. It evolves based on user input and adds new features monthly. SAM  provides open opportunities, contract data, wage determination, federal hierarchy, entity information, entity reporting, and assistance […]

July 2023: Don’t Take the Bait: Beware of Misleading Marketing, Imposters, and Phishing

Categories: SAM.GOV

We are sharing an article written by the General Service Administration (GSA). Federal government agencies work to raise awareness about known online scams and fraudulent schemes that target government system users. From time to time, GSA and IAE share information about common fraud schemes that target vendors registered in the System for Award Management (SAM). […]

April 2023: Changes to SAM…Oh, Yeah!

Categories: SAM.GOV

Systems for Award Management (SAM) has been making changes to the entity validation process. These are good changes to keep your information protected. Below are changes related to entity validation and registration. Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) The familiar DUNS identifier was removed from federal contracting. It was replaced with the UEI, a 12-digit alpha-numeric identifier. […]

January 2023: Best Practices for Preparing Quality Bids and Proposals

Categories: Getting Started with Contracting, State of ND Contracting

  By: Abby Dschaak and Sherry Neas, Office of Management and Budget (OMB), State Procurement Office   Responding to government solicitations can be challenging – attention to detail is imperative! When preparing a response to a solicitation, the first step is to read the entire solicitation from beginning to end to understand what the entity […]

November 2022: Marching Toward #VetBiz Success National Veteran Small Business Week 2022

Categories: National Veterans Business Week

National Veteran Small Business Week is here, and we look forward to honoring and celebrating the contributions veterans have made to small businesses across the nation. During the week of October 31-November 4, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and their resource partners, like VBOC of the Dakotas, PTAC, SBDC, WBC, and SCORE, will provide […]

Oct 2022: Is Your Company Secure?

Categories: Cybersecurity

Security breaches are rising with targets on small businesses; nothing new. Cybersecurity requirements are also on the rise and a must for people and businesses; nothing new. Two-factor authentication is becoming a standard; nothing new. Companies are still not doing enough to protect their data; nothing new. All businesses in all industries need to take […]

September 2022: National PTAC Day, Come on, Celebrate with Us!

Categories: National PTAC Day

Thirty-seven years ago, Congress authorized an effort to expand the number of businesses capable of participating in the government marketplace. Since then, Procurement Technical Assistance Centers, or PTACs, have been available to assist businesses to get them ready to work with local, state, and federal government agencies at no cost. On the 21st of this […]

August 2022: Why a Proposal Fails

Categories: Small business contracting

Every solicitation generally receives multiple proposals. One area that should be discussed is why your proposal failed. How can you increase your competitive edge to win a contract? Not a pleasant subject; however, there are good topics to learn, discuss, and apply. Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association (AFCEA) gives reasons that can cause a […]

July 2022: Getting the Job Done with Teaming, Joint Ventures, and Mentor-Protégé Relationships

Categories: Partnerships

  Do you ever worry that your business does not have the means of independently completing a prospective contract? The government does not expect that each of their contracts will be fulfilled by one business alone. Relationships and taking advantage of each other’s strengths are encouraged in federal contracting. There are three significant categories of […]