In order to commemorate the “eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month” which marked the end of World War I, the United States sets aside November 11^th each year to honor those who have served their county. Veterans Day, previously known as “Armistice Day,” is a federal holiday reserved as a special time to express our gratitude for the sacrifice that was made by our brothers and sisters both past and present for our safety and freedom.

Sabre88 prides itself on holding firm to its core values, all of which our Veterans embody. From our Veterans we see unrivaled and inspirational teamwork and service to the community, we see cutting edge technology and efficient communication, and we see accountability. This time of year, all of us at Sabre88 tip our caps to those who have sacrificed everything so that we can continue to honor and serve our customers and each other. We would like to express our sincerest gratitude for the incredible men and women whose actions have protected our freedoms and kept us safe.

At this time, we are proud to honor our very own Sabre88 Veterans:

Charlie Cernat

Taylor Collins

Jim Hansel

Kathleen Hull

Howard Johnson

Robert Lightfoot

Lekeisha Mosley

Ron Oliver

Brian J. Schweikert

Daylyn Whitley

On behalf of all of us here at Sabre88, Thank You for Your Service. Our hats are off to you!

Author: Paul McVeigh

Sources:

https://www.history.com/topics/holidays/veterans-day-facts

https://www.defense.gov/explore/story/article/1675470/5-facts-to-know-about-veterans-day/

Small business set-asides are contracts “set aside” by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) that must be awarded to small businesses, in order to help them compete for the $500 billion in goods and services the federal government buys from the private sector annually. Set-asides are awarded across a variety of industries, and disadvantaged businesses are given special consideration.

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) works with federal agencies to help ensure that at least 23% of all prime government contracts are awarded to small businesses. This is one way that small businesses can compete with Amazon and the other giants of commerce. There are two main types of small business set-asides: competitive set-aside contracts, and sole-source set-aside contracts.

For competitive contracts, two or more businesses can submit a bit to take on the job. Generally (though not always), this happens automatically when the contract is under $150,000. Some of these contracts are only open to those who participate in SBA contracting assistance programs.

Sole-source contracts are awarded without a bidding process when only a single business can fulfill the contract requirements. These contracts are publicly posted, and potential vendors can still bid on them, assuming the business participates in the relevant contracting assistance programs.

In addition to the government-wide 23% set-aside goal, there are different goals for certain subsets of small businesses:

• Small disadvantaged businesses (8a program) — 5%
• Women-Owned Small Businesses (WOSB) — 5%
• Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Businesses — 3%
• Businesses in HUBZones (historically underutilized business zones) — 3%

Not all set-asides are for prime contracts (those directly with a government agency). There are also small business set-asides for subcontracts resulting from a prime contract. For example, if an automotive manufacturer gets a prime contract to build Army jeeps, they could subcontract with a small manufacturer to supply some of the parts. Any qualifying small business has the opportunity to win a set-aside contract. Doing so can open the door to future opportunities, and can be used as an excellent marketing tool for other jobs as well.

Author: Prasanna Patil

References:

https://us.accion.org/resource/what-know-about-federal-small-business-set-aside-contracts/

https://fcw.com/articles/2019/04/18/small-business-rockwell.aspx

Across the broad deployment of 5G mobile network systems could quicken the reception of augmented and virtual reality, although more extensive accessibility isn’t the main necessity for VR and AR to grow with 5G: convincing use cases are additionally required to make these technologies more reasonable and affordable, in spite of the fact that the option of 5G gives engineers a bigger canvas on which to design new experiences.

Why will 5G change the overview of VR and AR development?

The main objective of the 5G network is to provide more efficient, faster internet than 4G LTE and also to lower the latency faced by a typical 4G LTE network. 5G network is helpful for heavy-duty media such as 4K videos, 3D photos, 360° video streaming, etc. But the real benefits of 5G for VR and AR are not yet fully discovered. 5G networks have comparatively low latency than other networks which is a necessity in VR. There should be less response time between a user making a move and VR setup gives feedback of response.

How does 5G impact the availability of augmented and virtual reality applications?

Deployment of 5G network is still in initial stages and still has a lot of room to improvise. AR and VR currently are adding more complications to this. AR is commonly used on smartphones or tablets in museums to present additional content for exhibits, or for interior design, allowing shoppers to virtually place furniture in a room to see how it matches. With 5G, the ability to use AR in live, outdoor environments away from reliable wi-fi signals can influence the types of interactions and integrations that developers can build.

What needs to change in 5G for AR and VR applications to be successful?

The biggest concern right now is the cost of data. 4G LTE has certain cap limits for data usage and after that limit, it switches automatically to the lower version of network service. Typically, that cap limit is 22GB. AR and VR can exhaust that limit within several hours. In order to use AR and VR on a regular basis, we need truly unlimited data and obviously at cheap price.

Author: Prasanna Patil

Reference: https://www.zdnet.com/article/how-5g-will-affect-augmented-reality-and-virtual-reality/

Overview

The main concern for any small or medium-sized company is to find and retain customers. Many of them consider the federal government as their client, while others feel it is only a game of big companies. It is definitely not! Government approximately gives one-third of its total contracts to the small businesses. Even if the numbers seem low but it’s still worth millions!

How small business companies can get into this industry?

There are several steps to follow before entering into this industry:

• Update your business plan: It is important and can be considered as the first major step before getting into this industry to updating the business plan. This includes defining the business type, identifying the goals that your company can or may serve, qualifying and organizing the resources your company have and finally marketing your company. This can be considered as a resume of your company.
• NAICS code: It is necessary to identify the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code. This serves the purpose of what type of products or services your company provides and help you target agencies accordingly.
• SBA Size Standard Tool: Using SBA Size Standard Tool to determine if your business qualifies for small business.
• Sign up for business identification.
• Register your company in Central Contractor Registry (CCR) in the System for Award Management (SAM)
• Submit Online Representation and Certification Application (ORCA) through SAM.
• Get a Commercial and Government Entity (CAGE) code which is automatically created when you apply for CCR.
• Start getting familiar with Federal Acquisition Register (FAR).
• Use websites like fbo.org (which will be transferred to beta.sam.gov by the end of 2019), fedconnect.net, iq.GovWin.com, etc. These are the websites where all the contracts posted by the government are visible and will help in getting business.

What are the benefits of making federal government agencies as a customer?

• US federal government agencies buy more products or services than any other customer in the world. They roughly spend about $500 billion every year buying from companies of all the sizes and small companies have approximately one-third of this amount for them.
• Any sized small business companies can sell goods or provide service to federal agencies. There are no such criteria for that. Even a single-person company can win a contract, obviously only if it satisfies all the requirements.
• The federal government makes sure to pay these small business companies on time. Usually, they take not more than 15 days after submitting the invoices by the companies.

Technologies helpful for this industry

• Websites: Different websites like fbo.gov, id.GovWin.com, beta.sam.gov (active from early 2020), etc. These are the platforms where one can find all the contracts released by the government.
• Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool: This can be considered as the heart of this business. It is used to track every single opportunity the company has targeted. Making regular updates, recording every note or communication with a federal agency can be added to this CRM tool. There are several tools available in the market like Zoho CRM, HubSpot CRM, Salesforce, etc.

Conclusion

Companies have to keep in mind that this whole industry is a relationship-based market. Decision-makers do want to know from whom they are buying, why the services or products you provide are better or different from others and of course if you are budget-friendly. Delivering your services as needed and products on time always help you build strong and more profitable relationships and may increase your chances of winning more contracts.

Author: Prasanna Patil

Sources

https://www.business.com/articles/government-procurement-tips/

https://corporate.findlaw.com/law-library/federal-government-contract-overview.html

https://www.usa.gov/government-contracting-for-beginners