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    Archives for October 11

    Oct 24, 2011

    s the federal government one of your customers? Last year more than 80 federal agencies and departments purchased in excess of $275 million in goods and services from 235 New Hampshire based small businesses. 109 of these companies were owned by veterans and they accounted for sales to federal agencies totaling more than $50 million.

    These purchases had values from the hundreds of dollars up into the millions. As the world's largest buyer of products and services the U.S. government is committed to purchasing a portion of these from veteran owned and service disabled veteran owned businesses. How do veterans get to participate in marketing and selling to federal agencies?

    While it can seem like a daunting task to add the federal government as a key customer, it is being done by more and more businesses each year. More importantly, help is available to guide you through the process of identifying and responding to sales opportunities.

    To help you get started in the right direction in navigating the government contracting process, representatives from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) along the NH Procurement Technical Assistance Program (PTAP) will be presenting an overview of how the government contracting process works and how you can get started. These presentations will be made at four two-hour seminars in the months ahead. The seminars are presented for free to participants however due to space limitations pre-registration is required.

    Dates & Locations:

    — November 9, 2011 Hesser College -- Manchester (1:30 ¿ 3:30 p.m.)

    — February 1, 2012 Hesser College -- Salem (1:30 ¿ 3:30 p.m.)

    — May 2, 2012 Hesser College -- Portsmouth (1:30 ¿ 3:30 p.m.)

    — June 20, 2012 Hesser College -- Nashua (1:30 ¿ 3:30 p.m.)

    For registration, questions or additional information contact Rachael Roderick at the U.S. Small Business Administration office in Concord 603-225-1603, email: Rachael.roderick@sba.gov or Miguel Moralez at Miguel.Moralez@sba.gov or 603-225-1601.  For Details - Click Here.
     

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    Oct 26, 2011

    Out go all the U.S. troops by year’s end, President Obama said Friday about Iraq. And in go the contractors, along with some familiar contracting problems, say other government officials and independent experts.

    As the United States pulls out its remaining 50,000 or so troops after a decade of conflict costing around $1 trillion, many of the soldiers’ non-fighting functions will be pursued by a force of State Department-funded government contractors expected to near 15,000.

    That preliminary estimate, now being circulated by the administration among lawmakers on Capitol Hill, would represent an overwhelming share of the official remaining U.S. presence in the unsettled country. But even after wide publicity about past contracting abuses and waste, new scandals may trail behind this persistent deployment, according to a commission created by Congress to study the missteps so far.

    “After a decade of war, the government remains unable to ensure that taxpayers and warfighters are getting good value for contract dollars spent,” Dov S. Zakheim, a former Pentagon comptroller and a member of the congressionally-created Commission on Wartime Contracting, told the Senate Armed Services committee a day before Obama’s announcement.

    In an August report, prepared after a three-year study of contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan, the commission estimated that between $30 billion and $60 billion has been lost to waste and fraud so far in those conflicts, representing 15 to 30 percent of all that Washington has spent on contractor-provided security, civil reconstruction, training, and other nation-building work. Read Full Article

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    Oct 27, 2011

    With Congress poised to slash spending to cut the deficit, more large companies are seeking an edge in the competition for federal dollars by acquiring small contractors.

    Acquisitions of small government vendors rose by 22.4% last year to 71, the highest level since 2000, according to calculations by Houlihan Lokey, an investment bank in Los Angeles.

    Last year was "the most transactions in this space ever," and this year's acquisitions are on pace to match it, said Jean Stack, a managing director at Houlihan Lokey. Read Full Article

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    Oct 27, 2011

    A proposed rule to curb agencies’ little used capacity to offer higher payments to needier contractors “will have no impact on the government’s ability or commitment to drive contracting opportunities for small disadvantaged businesses,” Dan Gordon, administrator of the White House Office of Federal Procurement Policy, said Friday.

    In a blog post for the Office of Management and Budget, Gordon sought to reassure some in the minority business community that a proposed regulation issued in September by the Small Business Administration is a routine “housekeeping” tool designed to catch the law up with a 2008 court ruling that declared such price premiums unconstitutional.

    “The proposed rule in no way changes the fundamental policies, practices or programs that agencies have been using in recent years to achieve strong SDB participation in the federal marketplace, including the goal of awarding 5 percent of federal procurement dollars to SDBs,” Gordon wrote.

    The affected agencies — the Defense Department, NASA and the U.S. Coast Guard — have not used price premiums to attract disadvantaged small contractors in years, Gordon noted. But the administration has “been working with the Minority Business Development Agency to strengthen the bond between contracting, small business and program offices at every agency,” Gordon wrote. “Since the beginning of [fiscal] 2009, agencies have awarded more than $85 billion in contracts to SDBs, exceeding the goal of awarding at least 5 percent of contract dollars to SDBs.” In fiscal 2010, he added, contract awards to small disadvantaged businesses accounted for 7.95 percent of all eligible contract dollars, “well above the goal.”

    Gordon’s clarification came as the Obama administration readied a new set of executive actions designed to spur job creation in large and small businesses  while Congress debates the president’s larger proposed jobs package.

    The perception among some that ending premium payments to disadvantaged businesses was a pullback in the administration’s commitment was rejected by Molly Brogan, vice president of public affairs for the National Small Business Association. “At the end of the day, small businesses just want a level playing field,” she told Government Executive. “Ensuring that small businesses — including SDB businesses — have a fair opportunity to compete for federal  dollars ought to be the No. 1 goal. We don’t believe this new rule will change [that] in any way.”

    Raul Espinosa, founder of a Jacksonville, Fla. – based university nonprofit called the Fairness in Procurement Alliance, which has been pressing for stronger rules on accelerating payments to small disadvantaged businesses, said he was grateful for the administration’s overall effort, but worries it might be “lip service.” Changes “will mean nothing unless they’re codified into the federal acquisition regulation and referred to in actual contracts,” he said. Reference Article

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    Oct 28, 2011

    The Defense Information Systems Agency has a new director: Air Force Maj. Gen. Ronnie Hawkins will succeed Lt. Gen. Carroll Pollett as the agency's leader, according to a release from the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

    Hawkins returns to DISA after a brief stint at the Pentagon as the Joint Staff's deputy director, command, control, communications and computer systems, a role he has filled since July. Prior to his Joint Staff assignment, Hawkins was DISA's vice director under Pollett.

    He will be based at DISA's Ft. Meade, Md., headquarters. Reference Article

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    Oct 31, 2011

    OSDBU is pleased to make the Fall DOT Biz Journal available for download. This issue is chock full of highlights on several small business programs and events that have been held recently by the OSDBU across the country, as well as important information on planned and potential procurement opportunities for federal and state transportation-related contracts. Recent and ongoing programs highlighted include several DOT Safety Days hosted by the OSDBU’s Small Business Transportation Centers and the continuation and expansion of the hugely successful Bonding Education Program in its second year into several cities around the nation.

    With the beginning of the fiscal year on October 1st, OSDBU released its FY 2012 Procurement Forecast and we provide an overview of how to search the online system for potential opportunities with the Department in the next 12 months. This edition also discusses some of the key transportation infrastructure proposals that are included in President Obama’s American Jobs Act presented to Congress in September. Also included are articles on the states of Illinois and Maine multi-year transportation plans which provide key insight into planned highway, bridge and transit projects in their states in the coming years as part of the regular Follow the Money feature. (Reference DOT electronic notifications 31 Oct 2011)

    Click the following link to download the DOT Biz Journal [Download]

     

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