This APEX Accelerator is funded in part through a cooperative agreement with the Department of War.
Frequently Asked Questions
Whether you’re exploring government contracting for the first time or you’re an established business seeking additional guidance, our Frequently Asked Questions provide answers to many of the topics businesses ask most often. Browse information about Virginia APEX Accelerator services, client eligibility, counseling, training, webinars, government registrations, certifications, SAM.gov, and other aspects of the government procurement process.
Our goal is to help businesses better understand what to expect, how to prepare, and where to find the resources they need to compete successfully in the federal, state, and local government marketplace. If you can’t find the information you’re looking for here, please contact us—we’re happy to answer your questions or connect you with the appropriate resources.
The Whys & Hows: Working with Virginia APEX Accelerator
Can I attend a standard webinar without downloading the software?
Yes, you may either dial in by phone using the phone number and attendee pin provided in your GoToWebinar email to listen in to the webinar OR you can start in the browser by entering https://www.goto.com/webinar/join and enter webinar ID and email address in your confirmation email (which comes from customercare@gotowebinar.com).
In an earlier version of GoToWebinar, you could add an addendum ?clientType=html5 to the join unique join link to participate via browser “instant join” instead of using the desktop application, but this is not available in the new GoTo Webinar.
Who is my counselor?
As an existing client, you may view your assigned counselor’s name and email on the home page of the client login also known as the eCenter: https://virginiaapex.ecenterdirect.com/
If your status is inactive or you are not a client, please reach out to us if you have any questions.
My business has been established for less than 2 years. What help can my APEX Accelerator offer me?
To provide the most economic impact with the resources available, we are limited in what individualized services we can provide to startup companies without sufficient past performance or experience to demonstrate a potential for successful government contracting. We offer a broad array of training in the field of government contracting via our eCenter calendar, resources such as a handful of on-demand webinar recordings, local events, and our resources page to allow the startup company to take advantage of self-directed learning.
If you are interested in creating a business plan, establishing your business as a legal entity, or other topics that are not specific to government contracting, please find your local SBDC or SCORE office to see what services (including counseling) that they can provide. Veterans can also seek startup assistance from their local VBOC.
Referrals from SBA’s socioeconomic certifications programs must meet the same guidelines as other clients to be eligible to seek assistance with their SDVOSB, VOSB, WOSB, and other set-aside applications. If you are unsure of your eligibility to become a client, please contact apex@gmu.edu. We do encourage both eligible clients as well as startups or businesses not ready for government contracting to continue to utilize the webinars and training offered by the SBA. Those companies ineligible for counseling from their APEX Accelerator can contact their local SBDC, SCORE, WBC, or VBOC for assistance. Resources specific to your jurisdiction may also be available, so check out your local economic development initiatives for additional information and help such as Fairfax Core.
Why do I need a professional website and business email to receive one-on-one counseling from my APEX Accelerator?
To be taken seriously in government contracting, a professional website and email address are essential. Large primes and government customers rarely see a Yahoo, Gmail, or another personal email address and think the business reaching out is capable and qualified. An unprofessional email address will in fact harm most GovCon Business development efforts. Part of marketing your company to a government audience is demonstrating the requisite skills to meet the requirements of the contract, including good cybersecurity hygiene, even if your company is selling a consumer good or service that does not by itself require an online presence.
APEX Accelerators are funded to provide technical assistance and training to companies who have the products and services government is seeking to buy. We cannot help you formulate a business idea from scratch and we also do not have the resources to assist with other startup activities such as website development. All who are interested in our Government Contracting focused training are welcome to attend our events and take advantage our useful links page. Startup advice, basic marketing help, or assistance in establishing a business can be obtained from your local SBDC: https://www.virginiasbdc.org/start-your-business/
Link to our Homework articles: https://VirginiaAPEX.org/tag/homework/
Signup for our event notifications: event notifications sign-up form
Keep tabs on our training calendar: https://VirginiaAPEX.org/resources/training-calendar-tips/
I want one-on-one counseling from Virginia APEX Accelerator. How do I determine if my company is considered based/headquartered in Virginia?
As determined in Hertz Corp. v. Friend, “…the phrase “principal place of business” refers to the place where the corporation’s high level officers direct, control, and coordinate the corporation’s activities.” Also known as the “nerve center” of the business, the headquarters is generally the address a company would list on their SAM.gov registration if doing business with the federal government. A corporation can be incorporated in a different state than where its headquarters are located but for the purposes of Virginia APEX Accelerator counseling eligibility, we use the headquarters address, and not the incorporation address, to determine if you are eligible for counseling or referred to another APEX Accelerator.
This is important because our team of counselors cannot service all companies that simply have a Virginia address or an employee who lives in our service area. Our federal funding is limited to those companies based (aka headquartered) in our local coverage area.
Given our proximity to the federal government, we receive many requests for counseling from companies headquartered in other parts of the country because they believe we have greater insights into doing business with federal agencies. This is a misunderstanding of our role as educators. All APEX Accelerators nationwide are positioned to provide one-on-one counseling on doing business with the Federal Government and work with agencies both locally and virtually to host events for their clients. A business may not use the counseling services of more than one APEX Accelerator unless it is coordinated through their local jurisdiction, should the local counselor need additional guidance/assistance from an APEX Procurement Counselor elsewhere in the country.
If your company is based outside of Virginia but you are seeking to do business with State/Local government in Virginia, simply request assistance from your local APEX Accelerator and your assigned counselor will reach out to our Statewide Director if they have any questions on doing business with State/Local entities specific to Virginia.
Additional reading on “principal place of business” can be found here: https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/principal_place_of_business
Does Virginia APEX Accelerator help clients with how to do business with George Mason University? I have a product that I think GMU will want to purchase.
Although we are hosted by George Mason University, we don’t have special access to procurement professionals who buy for the university. GMU is a member of VASCUPP and does post open solicitations on eVA as do other State of Virginia universities. We recommend you register in eVA and keep an eye on the GMU opportunities website here: https://fiscal.gmu.edu/purchasing/do-business-with-mason/view-current-solicitation-opportunities/ If you have further questions about a procurement, the contact information for the procurement officers who can answer those questions are generally listed in the RFP. If your company has an existing contract with a Virginia school or a major cooperative organization (E&I/NASPO/OMNIA, etc) it may be helpful to get added to contract vendor lists. Please visit https://fiscal.gmu.edu/purchasing/do-business-with-mason/ for additional information or talk to your PTAC counselor.
Why can’t the Virginia APEX Accelerator hire more counselors? I would like to speak to my counselor more often!
Virginia APEX Accelerator has around 2000 client companies participating in counseling annually with even our most efficient counselors, working full time, counseling between 200-300 clients per year. Assistance includes the follow-up meetings necessary to resolve more complex challenges, and many of our counselors are part time, which limits the frequency of appointments available to individual clients. The typical company averages between 1.5 to 3.3 hours of counseling assistance annually with some seeking to resolve very specific challenges, and others are looking for overall strategic advice or direction. The most successful client companies are motivated to pair our training with advice from counselors for overall direction, then run with the resulting homework toward success. Strategic direction counseling appointments should be compared to an annual physical with a primary care doctor: sometimes the appointment requires a follow-up, but the onus is on the user to take care of the day to day implementation.
It would be ideal to hire more counselors, but the limits on federal funding as a statewide program are set into law, and staffing cannot grow beyond those constraints*. Training and webinar content is used to reduce the burden on counselors repeatedly teaching introductory information to an audience of one during a counseling session. Unfortunately half as many clients participate in training as our counseling. When clients come into a meeting unprepared, it only slows the forward momentum for that company’s trajectory toward winning government contracting work. We want to emphasize that the training and webinars are the basis of understanding a topic, and the counseling sessions allow someone to dig into the specifics of the company situation/industry: Laying the proper foundation for GovCon
*See 10 USC 4955(a)
Why do you have so much training? I would rather get more counseling instead.
When staff counselors do teach, we record those sessions and post the recordings to our useful links page on the client login portal to reduce duplication. Our Statewide Director and counselors also have speaking engagements at events hosted by other organizations. These training opportunities allow our leadership to stay current on an always changing GovCon environment and keep our team informed. In-person training hosted throughout the state allows us to reach audiences we might not otherwise have access to, through partnerships with local economic development and professional organizations. It also gives our attendees the opportunity to network with each other and foster connections that might lead to teaming and subcontracting relationships. For the greatest impact, we recommend that clients pair training classes with our no-cost counseling services. One place to start getting acclimated to leveraging our training calendar is the training calendar tips page: https://virginiaapex.org/resources/training-calendar-tips/ and before reaching out to a counselor for an appointment, familiarize yourself with the counseling & appointment policies: https://virginiaapex.org/services/counseling/counseling-policies/
How do I obtain a copy of the presentation for the class or webinar I attended?
Generally when instructors make slides available in PDF for the attendees, they will be posted on the Virginia APEX Accelerator eCenter underneath the class description on the page you where you initially registered to attend the class (you must be logged in to view). If you have been advised that slides will be made available, please allow a few business days for the attachment to be posted. If you cannot see the attachment, please contact apex@gmu.edu to verify that you have permission to access the document. Documents will be removed after 1 year. See screenshot below for an example:
Documents are at the bottom of the event description under the instructions
NOTE: A series class session will not display as a separate listing from the overall event in the “My Events” menu of the eCenter. If you do not have a recent reminder email with a direct link to the event page saved, please locate the class description by navigating to the start of the series to locate handouts for all session dates. If you do not remember the start date, please use the search function on the calendar to backdate a few weeks or months and search for the class page by title keywords such as “series” or “pipeline” depending on the individual class:
Choose “Year” to see the class list by full title.
Help – I get an error when attempting to login to the eCenter from outside the USA!
We apologize for the inconvenience, our service provider does not support access to eCenter Direct from outside of the Americas. If you are local and still receiving an error message, please contact us at apex@gmu.edu to report any access issues.
Missing registration link or other information on a SAM.gov opportunity
Are you searching for information on sam.gov and can’t find it? Maybe it’s an attachment that should be associated with an opportunity or maybe it’s a link to register for an announced event? Check to make sure you have reviewed the opportunity listing with all changes and edits applied. Sometimes a link you receive will lead to the original opportunity listing but in order to see any updates, you need to click the link at the top of the page to reveal updates:
That may not be enough so check to see if there is a “view changes” button after you follow the previous link:
If you still can’t find what you are looking for contact your local APEX Accelerator counselor for assistance.
Why have I been told to attend a training class?
We often receive very similar inquires and questions from our new clients. In order to provide information in a format that provides the most benefit for your time investment, we have training seminars on topics that are important for all government contractors to know. Our overview and market research classes among others are a solid foundation that allow you to understand the terminology and context of how to approach your pursuit of federal government contracts and arm you with the understanding necessary to ask the right questions. A one-hour counseling session is most productive and useful when you come prepared to address specific challenges your company is facing so your company can move forward. If you already have specific questions, contact your counselor to make an appointment.
Why do I have to register?
We are obligated to report statistics and aggregated counseling information in order to retain our status as a grant-funded program so registration IS required to obtain one-on-one assistance.
Why have you changed your identity from PTAC to APEX?
Changes to the terms and conditions of our federal funding require that we use “APEX Accelerator” in our name in order to create reflect the recent updates to our oversight and renewed focus on successful outcomes for our clients. As we have heard from our friends at the Department of Defense, APEX is not an acronym, it’s a destination.
We have not changed our mission and the branding changes will not impact the essential services, though it may put an additional spotlight on what services we can offer to stakeholders and new clients. Some highlights of the transition to Virginia APEX Accelerator include:
- Emails sent to ptac@gmu.edu will continue to be received and our new email handle of apex@gmu.edu, operational as of 1/1/2024
- URLs for our main website and client login have changed but redirects will be put in place for 90 days to give you time to update your bookmarks
- The new website address will be VirginiaAPEX.org
- The new client login will be VirginiaAPEX.ecenterdirect.com
- Phone numbers and staff emails will remain unchanged
- You may still see the occasional Virginia PTAC branded business card or brochure as we transition but contact information for individual counselors will not change as a result of the brand change, and we are still George Mason University employees
- Services remain the same: Counseling, Training, and Bid Match Service
Why did I receive an email requesting an updated electronic signature?
Our funding agency has requirements regarding the method and documentation by which a participating client company has agreed to receive counseling services. Recent updates in our reporting requirements have necessitated that we update certain client records to comply with the new requirements by having an authorized signature on file electronically. This eSignature acknowledges the same information that our new clients agree to during the sign-up process and without it, a counseling appointment cannot be scheduled, nor guidance provided. A factor that may have caused you to receive this email is the length of time which your company has been a client of Virginia APEX Accelerator. If you are no longer the primary or authorized contact for the company, please let us know the contact information for the updated company contact.
Templates & Sample Documents
Access example documents, templates, and educational resources to help you prepare for government contracting.Below you'll find an overview of the most common federal small business certifications, including eligibility requirements, official SBA resources, and additional guidance to help you determine which programs may be right for your business.
A capability statement?
We regularly refresh our webinar on developing a capability statement for government contracting and post it to our useful links recording list here: https://virginiaapex.ecenterdirect.com/resources
Once you register for the webinar recording and access the recording link, the downloadable word document of the template will be available with the class handouts. We strongly recommend watching the recording to understand the important elements of the capability statement.
Example operating agreement?
This operating agreement is provided as an example and does not substitute for review of your company’s operating agreement by a qualified lawyer familiar with government contracting law. It is for educational purposes only.
Registrations and Certifications
Maintaining accurate registrations and certifications is an important part of doing business with the government. This section answers common questions about managing your business profiles, renewing registrations, accessing government systems, and keeping your information current so you're ready to pursue federal contracting opportunities. Explore the topics below for practical guidance on SAM.gov, SBA Small Business Search, FedMall, APEX Accelerator event registration, and other commonly used government contracting systems. Explore the resources below to discover contract opportunities, innovation programs, subcontracting directories, agency-specific procurement portals, and market research tools that can help you identify opportunities aligned with your capabilities and business goals.Below you'll find an overview of the most common federal small business certifications, including eligibility requirements, official SBA resources, and additional guidance to help you determine which programs may be right for your business.
How do I access my Small Business Search profile details to update them?
Use the SBA’s website connect.SBA.gov* to edit your Capabilities Narrative, keywords, past performance, and upload your capability statement. Watch this video to see a demo of obtaining login access using Login.gov using the same profile you sign into your SAM.gov registration https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zO6haU-xOVg
Login to the system and use this guide to understand the process of uploading your capability statement: https://sbaone.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/DSBS/pages/2742910980/Add+a+Capabilities+Statement+Link
You can view your profile by searching for your company in the SBA’s Small Business Search (SBS).
*Note: you must first be registered in SAM.gov before you can access your profile
How do I find or change my registration status for an APEX Accelerator event?
To locate your registration status, you must first login to the client portal (eCenter Direct) on the event registration page (upper right). Once logged in, there is a yellow bar at the top of the page. Check your status and ticket type if applicable and see your declared presence if it is a hybrid event (online VS. in-person). Please contact apex@gmu.edu if you registered incorrectly and would like us to change your status manually. Unfortunately, the eCenter platform does have the functionality for registrants to swap ticket types or cancel and re-register, even on free events, and this cannot be updated at this time.
Please pay attention to deadlines for these types of change requests listed under the instructions section of the event so there is sufficient time to implement your request prior to the event date.
How do I get my items on the DOD FedMall?
A supplier must have a contract in place before they can list their items in FedMall. Contracts include:
- Long Term Agreement
- Blanket Purchase Agreement
- DLA Contract
- GSA Schedule contract
- Note: Federal contracting vehicles made with a C, P, F, or M in the ninth place of the contract number (IDV PIID) cannot be hosted on FedMall.
Be sure to review the Supplier Registration Information, including the Quick Start Guide. If you need further assistance, please email fedmallvendors@dla.mil.
Does my SAM registration expire? What do I need to do to keep it active?
SAM registration will expire 1 year from the LAST update. Independently there is a 6 month password expiration that happens and has nothing to do with the actual registration expiring. The SAM expiration date will change anytime you do an update in SAM (except password updates). At least 30 days prior to the SAM expiration, you will be notified to do an update. If your expiration is listed as February 3, 2016 and you do an update in September 2015, the 1 year clock on expiration will start over and a required update will not be needed again until September of 2016.
This APEX Accelerator is funded in part through a cooperative agreement with the Department of War.
Information
Contact Information:
Virginia APEX Accelerator
George Mason University