According to the Congressional Budget Office, the United States government spends an average of $12.5 to $16.5 billion on disaster recovery, and hurricane damage accounts for more than 40% of that total. If your company provides goods or services needed in a disaster, federal hurricane relief jobs might be a profitable option for your firm.
What Are Hurricane Relief Jobs?
The federal government purchases most of its goods and services from civilian contractors, and these “purchases” are known as government contracting jobs. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) offers many of these contracts. In some cases, the government offers advance disaster relief jobs or contracts to ensure it has supplies on hand before a disaster.
Advance contracts might include providing goods such as drinking water, emergency meals, medical supplies, tarps, and shelters. Other advance FEMA contractor jobs might include securing transportation services during a disaster. For instance, if you own a fleet of trucks, you might have an advance contract to move supplies from warehouses to communities in need during a disaster.
In general, either before or after a disaster, FEMA or other federal and state agencies might offer contracts for the following goods and services.
- Drinking Water
- Food (Ready-to-eat meals & shelf-stable Food)
- Shelter Supplies (Cots, blankets, etc.)
- Personal Hygiene Supplies
- Infant & Toddler Supplies
- Medical Supplies & Equipment
- Pet Supplies
- Power Equipment (Generators, etc.)
- Office Supplies (For temporary disaster relief offices)
- Transportation Services
- Sanitation & Cleaning Services
- Security Services
- Debris Removal
- Temporary Roofing & Tarping
- Temporary Housing
- Evacuation & Medical Transportation
These are just a few of the disaster or hurricane relief jobs that might be available. If you can provide any of these goods or services, you likely will be a good candidate for government contracting.
Keep in mind, if you do not live in an area prone to hurricanes, the federal government also needs help managing goods and services for other types of disasters, including tornadoes, wildfires, flooding, and more. Companies that can help communities immediately following a disaster or those that can help with the rebuilding process can be in great demand.
How To Become A Government Contractor
If you have determined that your company can provide any goods or services the government typically needs, the first step toward becoming a contractor is to complete your registration in the System for Award Management (SAM). This is the federal government’s main database for contracting.
No entity can bid and win federal contracts without an active listing in SAM. You also are required to apply for a Unique Entity Identifier, or UEI number. Typically, you complete this step prior to beginning your SAM registration.
While the government does not charge a fee to register in SAM, the process is extremely confusing and time-consuming. Many business owners simply hire a third party to save time and to ensure that the registration is completed 100% accurately. Mistakes will delay your approval and will prevent you from being able to bid on contracting jobs.
At Federal Contractor Registry, we provide SAM registration services for all types of companies, from small businesses to Fortune 500 firms and everything in between. We will complete your SAM registration quickly and accurately, and, as part of our fee, we also will help you obtain your UEI.
If you are a small business, we also will help you sign up with the Small Business Administration (SBA). This agency offers several contracting programs for qualifying small businesses. These are known as small business set aside contracts, because these federal contracts are set aside just for small businesses.
The programs include the Woman-Owned Small Business (WOSB) program, the Veteran-Owned Small Business (VOSB) program, the Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) program, the 8(a) Business Development Program, and HUBZone certification. We can determine which options best suit your business and help you sign up for the programs.
Additionally, as we complete your SAM registration, we also will ensure that your company opts in to the Disaster Response Registry. This is a list of companies that have indicated that they are prepared to help out during a disaster. This is a searchable area in SAM, and contracting officers will often use this search option to identify potential suppliers and contractors.
While being listed in the Disaster Response Registry does not guarantee that you will win a government contract, it’s an easy way to make your business searchable for contracting officers and it’s smart to do all you can to help potential buyers find your products and services.
How To Find Government Contracts
Business owners can find many contracting opportunities at SAM.gov. We recommend searching for contracts using your North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes. These codes describe the goods or services that you can provide. If you are not certain which codes best suit your business, we can determine this during the SAM registration process.
If you own a small business, SBA.gov offers resources to help you explore subcontracting opportunities. Subcontracting can be an excellent way to gain experience in government contracting and build a federal resume of relevant work. Rather than competing directly for a federal contract, you work with a prime contractor, which typically manages the relationship with the federal agency.
Additionally, we also recommend signing up with your state procurement agency. State governments also offer a variety of contracting jobs, including disaster relief contracts, and many of these can be just as profitable as federal contracting jobs.
For instance, in Florida, you would want to register with MyFloridaMarketPlace (MFMP). In Louisiana, the Louisiana Office of State Procurement would be the place to sign up as a state contractor. To find the procurement office in your state, simply conduct an internet search using your state name and the word “procurement.”
Get Started Today!
If you would like to bid on hurricane relief jobs or any federal contractor jobs, you are required to complete SAM registration, and we are here to help. To get started, just click on the New Registration tab on our homepage and complete our quick contact form. A member of our team will be in touch to gather information and begin working on your SAM application.