The company is Unica Enterprises LLC, based in Dallas. Nancy Galvan started it in 2007 as a part-time janitorial service while she worked full time as a contracts administrator at Bell Helicopter. She balanced both for two years before committing to the business completely. The name traces back to her childhood. As the only daughter among three older brothers, her mother called her “La Unica.”

By the time Marceleño came aboard, Galvan had just secured the company’s 8(a) certification from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and needed help putting it to work. Marceleño, who grew up in Dallas’ Oak Cliff neighborhood and graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington, brought more than 20 years of sales, negotiation and project management experience from corporate roles at companies including Citigroup and Verizon.

Today he serves as the company’s chief operating officer, overseeing operations, financial management, contract performance and workforce strategy. Unica now employs more than 185 people and provides janitorial and facility services to federal agencies, municipalities, airports and commercial clients across the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex and the U.S. Southwest. DFW International Airport is among its clients.

“It’s been a whirlwind since day one,” Marceleño said.

A growth engine built for small firms

The 8(a) Business Development Program helps small businesses owned by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals compete for federal work. Participants can pursue set-aside and sole-source contracts and receive mentoring, training and one-on-one support from an SBA business opportunity specialist. Each firm gets a single nine-year term that begins on its approval date. Once a company exits, it can’t return.

For Unica, that window changed everything.

“The 8(a) program helped us scale,” Marceleño explained. “We were doing half a million dollars in revenue before we got the 8(a), and within four years, we were at $6.5 million revenue.”

Competing for government work without that support would have been a much steeper climb, he acknowledged. “It would have been a lot more difficult without the 8(a).”

The first application didn’t make it

Unica’s path into the program started with a rejection. Galvan first applied around 2010 or 2011.

“It took us two attempts to get into the 8(a) program,” Marceleño said. “She was rejected because we didn’t have strong enough banking relationships. Our capabilities were really small at that time.”

The SBA told her what needed to improve. She came back three or four years later, reapplied and was accepted.

That experience points to a practical question for any contractor weighing federal work: timing. Current SBA guidance generally requires a business to have operated for at least two full years before it applies, and the agency looks closely at an owner’s finances and the company’s ability to perform. Because the nine-year clock can’t be reset, applying before the business is ready can waste valuable program years.

The program itself has also changed considerably in 2026. SBA revised how owners establish social disadvantage and now treats each annual review as a full eligibility determination, with heavier scrutiny of financial records. Anyone considering an application should review the current requirements at sba.gov before starting.

Getting in is the easy part

Acceptance doesn’t guarantee contracts. Marceleño compares the moment to a dog that finally gets what it has been begging for.

“I always use the analogy of the little Chihuahua barking at the door, barking at the big dog outside for days and days and days and days, and then somebody opens the door, and the Chihuahua just sits there, doesn’t know what to do,” he said. “That happened to us.”

“We were barking and barking and barking, trying to get into that 8(a) program, trying to get into bigger contracts, and it happened,” Marceleño continued. “For about 24 hours, Nancy and I just kind of stared at each other, like, ‘What do we do now?’”

Outside help filled the gap. “Luckily, we had great mentors and partners who kind of took us by the hand and kind of helped us through, but a lot of it was just learning on our own,” he added.

Know which jobs to turn down

Many cleaning business owners want every contract they can get. Marceleño understands the pull, especially early on.

“In the beginning, you’re taking work that might not be that profitable, but it’s getting your name out in front of people, you’re getting your capabilities, and every job you take is preparing you,” he said. “Almost like a loss leader.”

The danger comes when a bid stretches past what a company actually knows how to do. Unica learned that firsthand when it teamed up with a partner that promised to fill in the expertise.

“There’s work that we took in the past that, looking back, we shouldn’t have taken,” Marceleño admitted. “It was work that was outside of our capabilities. … When you go into a project and you’re the prime, you’re expected to have all the answers. You’re expected to know the processes.”

His rule is simple. Low margins are acceptable early if the work fits the company’s core services.

“Even if it’s a low-profit bid, if it’s in your industry, if it’s in your expertise, don’t be afraid to take it at the beginning,” he noted.

Nobody wins these contracts alone

Partnerships run through nearly every part of the Unica story. Marceleño encourages newer contractors to pursue mentors, joint ventures and prime-subcontractor arrangements whenever they can. The SBA’s Mentor-Protégé Program is one formal route, pairing smaller firms with established companies that provide business development assistance.

Banking relationships matter just as much. The same gap that sank Galvan’s first application became a strength over time. Unica has worked with its current banker for about 15 years.

Asked what he would tell a new business owner with only a few minutes to spare, Marceleño kept it short. “Get in the 8(a) program, find some great partners, increase your relationships, get those banking relationships,” he said. “All of those are important. They’re going to help you through the 8(a) program and onto bigger success.”

What comes after graduation

The later years of an 8(a) term are designed to wean firms off program support, with rising targets for revenue earned outside of 8(a) contracts. Unica graduated after nine years and quickly achieved Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) 2.0 Level 1 compliance, the Department of Defense standard for contractors that handle federal contract information. That step keeps the company eligible for federal work in the full and open marketplace.

Marceleño shared the lessons of that transition in his session, “From 8(a) to Open Market: The Financial Playbook,” at the 2026 ISSA VEO Conference in Dallas.

The company is hiring ahead of the growth it expects, adding operations managers and business development staff.

“The future is bright,” Marceleño said. “We have so many projects, so many bids, so many proposals that are in right now. … We know that in the next year or two, we’re going to be taking Unica to a whole other level.”

The waiting keeps him up at night, in a good way.

“It’s a lot of sleepless nights, because we’re just waiting for those proposal awards to come through,” he said. “We’ve got a really, really good chance of winning quite a few of them.”