Rojas Electrical wins its first federal contract
A Texas electrical contractor had only ever worked for general contractors. Captivaq found a small business set-aside it qualified for, pulled the requirements, and the company won its first federal award.
Marisol RojasOwner, Rojas Electrical
Key results
A small business set-aside matched in the first week
Every wiring spec and form pulled before the site visit
First federal bid drafted, reviewed and sent in four days
“We had never bid on the government directly. Captivaq showed us the first one we could actually win, and we won it.”
Marisol RojasOwner, Rojas ElectricalMeet Rojas Electrical
Rojas Electrical wires commercial buildings around San Antonio. Marisol Rojas started it after twelve years as a journeyman, and the company has grown to nine electricians and three vans.
All of that work came through general contractors. Rojas was always the sub, never the bidder, and the federal bases twenty minutes away were somebody else's customer.
“We drove past two bases every day. It never crossed my mind that we could bid on them ourselves.”
The sub who never bid
Marisol had looked at SAM.gov once and closed it. The notices were long, the codes meant nothing to her, and every one seemed to need a registration she did not have.
Being the sub had a cost. The general contractor took the margin, set the schedule, and dropped Rojas the moment a cheaper crew appeared. Two good years ended that way.
“Every job we had could disappear with one phone call from a GC. That is not a business, that is a favour.”
The profile said small business
Setup read the company website and drafted the profile. Marisol added the licence, the bonding limit and the fact that the company is small and woman owned, which the profile turned into set-aside eligibility.
“It asked me four questions I could answer without looking anything up. Then it started sending me work.”
The first shortlist had a set-aside for lighting replacement in a base warehouse, scored high because the company qualified and the work was exactly what the crews do every week.
The first bid, then the second
The requirement list came out of the package with every form and wiring spec cited to its section. The draft bid filled itself from the profile and the company's past jobs, and left brackets where a fact was missing.
“The draft had our past jobs in it already. I filled in the brackets and my bookkeeper checked the numbers.”
The bid went in four days after the notice posted. Rojas won, finished on time, and has two more federal bids in the pipeline. The general contractors still call, and now Marisol can say no.
