No Bonding, No Certification: Getting Into Sole Source Federal Contracts Without Your Own 8(a) Certification

The 8(a) program lets the government award sole source contracts, and a business without its own 8(a) certification can still reach that work by teaming with a certified firm that brings the bonding and past performance. Eric Coffie breaks down how to find 8(a) companies on SAM.gov, call them directly to propose teaming, and structure the arrangement around real awards, including a $4.5 million sole source IDIQ run over five years and an $800,000 annual maintenance contract. What you'll learn in this episode: How a non-8(a) business partners with a certified 8(a) firm to reach sole source contracts Why you can qualify using the larger partner's past performance and bonding instead of your own The exact way to find 8(a) firms without contracts and call them to propose teaming How 8(a) sole source IDIQs work, including a real $4.5M five-year award and its task orders The work-share rule an 8(a) firm has to meet on any contract it is awarded Chapters: 0:00 - How teaming into 8(a) sole source contracts works 1:00 - Why past performance comes from your partner, not you 1:40 - Finding 8(a) firms without contracts to call directly 3:30 - What the 8(a) partner has to actually do on the work 6:00 - Task orders, recompetes, and December spend on 8(a) IDIQs 7:50 - A real $4.5M sole source IDIQ and an $800K maintenance award 8:50 - Matching partners on bonding, FTEs, and certifications Mindy gives you the federal opportunities, agency signals, recompete intel, and pursuit briefs that tell you not just what contracts exist, but which ones to chase and how to win them. Sign up for free Daily Alerts and get opportunities delivered to your inbox before the day starts. 👉 Get your free Daily Alerts here 🔗 https://getmindy.ai