Norcal APEX Accelerator
SEQUOIA ECOLOGICAL CONSULTING, INC.
[Norcal PTAC’s Procurement Specialist] has been an incredible counselor, advocate, and resource as Sequoia Ecological Consulting has made the jump into federal contracting. Drawing from her experience as a federal contracts officer, [the Specialist] has been a trusted advisor to our project managers and marketing team as we navigate the intricacies of acquisition forecasts, solicitation language, FAR requirements, and federal contract management. [The Specialist’s] passion for assisting small businesses shines through every time we meet with her, and we couldn’t be more thrilled to have NorCal PTAC as an extension of the Sequoia team.
| Sequoia Ecological Consulting, Inc. is a San Francisco Bay Area-based, woman-owned, and DBE certified small business that delivers a focused suite of services — including environmental impact assessments, biological resource monitoring, environmental permitting, impact analyses, wetland delineations, environmental training, mitigation development, storm water services, and construction monitoring — in support of a wide variety of project types. |
CHALLENGES
The business had successfully broken into government contracting with local and regional entities, and in accordance with Sequoia’s strategic growth plan, they began to respond to Federal solicitations. However, they found themselves with a lot of questions, reviewing a specific solicitation with the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR). Melissa Krause, Marketing Manager for the company, sought out resources to help them understand insurance limits, GSA schedule rates, teaming agreements, costing requirements, and general contract management terms/lingo and processes that they were unfamiliar with.
ACTIONS
After reviewing the current solicitation that the business was interested in, one of Norcal PTAC’s Procurement Specialists provided some general information, confirmed that there were some unanswered questions in the solicitation, and guided the business owner, Debie Montana, and her team on what to include in an email to the contracting officer. The Specialist helped the team determine price/cost factors for the solicitation, based on past procurement data, and amongst many other topics, guided them on other solicitations, locating forecast of opportunities, and searching for bids. A Bid Match profile was set up for the business and optimized with appropriate NAICS codes to identify additional opportunities.
RESULTS
The hard work of the dedicated staff at Sequoia, paid off and they were awarded their first Federal contract with the Bureau of Reclamation for $3.56M on 9/18/20—a five year contract. Debie’s team continues to seek out their Specialist’s expert advice on how to interpret awarded contract clauses, communicating with the contracting officer, making the most out of their business certifications (SBE, DBE, and WOSB), and other topics as they arise.
If you have more questions, please contact us at info@norcalptac.org or (707) 267 – 7561
