Our firm was interested in becoming a certififed Woman Owned Business and then learn to bid on government opportunities. We interviewed Government Contract Registration in September of 2015. By October of 2015 we had decided to pay them the $3000 they required as payment to get you registered as a government contractor and secure our Woman Owned Business certifcation. After recieving very little follow up instructions, we began to try and take control of our own accounts with SAM, FBO, DLA only to find out that they had set our company up but had done so using the user names and passwords. Becasue they registered our company name, SAM, FBO, DLA was not able to evey talk to us about changing the user name and password. We also began to bid projects through the Government Printing Office only to find out that becasue we had noted in our bids that we were a Woman Owned Business Enterprise. Once we won the bid, the government contracting officer tried to look us up and found that we were actually a "self-certified" Woman Owned Business Enterpise. The self certification process had been discontinued and was no long recongized by any of the government contracting officers. When I tried to contact GCR to request they give us our User and Pass Words for the SAM and FBO accounts they set up for us, I was stone walled. When I contacted the GCR supervisor requesting we wanted our money back and the user and passwords they left one message and have since disappeared. My firm is open from 6am to 6pm 5-days a week. We have a 800 number. I have 4 full time sales/estimators on site. We are the easiest people to reach on the planet.
When I contacted our local District Attorney's office to see where and how to file a complaint, they gave me the name of a local organization that is funded by our tax dollars and is avaialble in almost every State in the union. Their job is to help firms like ours get set up as governement contractors, secure WOBE certifications and begin receiving bid opportunties daily that apply specifically to our trade. In Oregon the government organization is called GCAP. They are amazing. They helped us get registered and certified as a Oregon State Woman Owned Business in under 2 months. They developed begain recieving bid opportunities that were specifically designed around our firms trade skills. They charged us $60 to do all of the above. We have a Oregon State WOB certification number that we can use when bidding State projects. We just cannot bid Federal projects using our WOBE classification.
Be sure and stear clear of this Government Contracting Registration firm. They are crooks who's speal is smooth as glass. They are a complete rip off
On Behalf Of GCR
USA#2UPDATE Employee
Tue, January 31, 2017
I would like to reply to the complaint above – I will start by stating that for your 3K investment our firm did complete all services that were explained via the recorded call, signed contract and emails within all departments.
We completed your SAM registration and have updated it for a second year; we updated your NAICS codes and registered your business with DSBS, FBO and FEMA, created your capability statement and did a National email marketing campaign for you as well.
Last but not least we DID complete your federal self-certified woman owned business cert.
With all completed work tracked via emails and conversatons via record phone lines. All agreed upon services were completed and GCR provided all data and credentials to you upon completion of all services. Again this is all recorded via email communications.
For you to tell everyone to stay clear of our business and that we are a bunch of crooks is completely unwarranted and wrong. Our employees strive to provide the up most customer support and services. All employees go through extensive trainings to keep up with the ever changing policies. Our firm takes pride in helping small business take thier business to the next level of success. Long term business relationships is another one of our priorities as your business growth is important and navigating through it is our expertise. We are NOT crooks we are a honest ethical service based firm that at the end of the day are supporting our families by doing such honest business with our clients.
I understand that you are frustrated about your misunderstanding but please think before you make such acquisitions about the entirety of this company.
In response to each of your statements you mention I would like to reply with the actual facts-
1. Client-"Only to find out they had set our company up but had done so using the user names and passwords"
1. GCR Response: Correct part of the service provided is creating a user account thus allowing us to process you SAM registartion in the user account we created for YOU. Also as provided to each client and mentioned in multiple emails upon completion you are provided the user name and password to have for your records. At that point if you wish to change your password you may do so at that time.
2. Client- "When I tried to contact GCR to request they give us our user name and pass words for the SAM and FBO accounts they set up for us, I was stone walled." "they left one message"
2. GCR Response: Beofre any file goes to the certification department we provide each client with ALL credentials to the SAm and FBO database upon completion. Your file then goes the to certifcation department. This is a standard processing step and again is all recored via emails back and forth. We also did reach out to you as you mentioned. In response to our voicemail did you ever respond back and return the call?
3. In regards to the woman owned business – As we stated during our recorded conversation and in the contract that you signed. We registered your business as a federally self-certified woman owned business, and completed that certification through the SBA for you. Ultimately, as we communicated more in-depth with you we determined that you were looking for the Woman owned business enterprise, which is a service that we do not provide. Some companies do but they charge close to 5K for that service.
I hope that we at least get some recognition for in fact completing two years of your SAM registration, registering your business with DSBS, FEMA and FBO, and completing your capability statement. In which all was provided to you.
I understand that you were frustrated when you did not attain the contract you were expecting to get because of your mis understanding on which certification you had intitialy hired GCR to complete. As I read deeper into your complaint I do see that you are now properly certified and enjoying the benefits of that. Good luck to you in the federal sector, we hope you have great success.