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Tag: SBA

The SBA is serving our entrepreneurial veterans

Last Friday, the Small Business Association (SBA) announced that it would invest $3.5 million in grant funding to create veterans business outreach centers (VBOCs) in seven new locations, including Alaska, California, Colorado, Iowa, Nebraska, Nevada, and South Carolina. The purpose of this investment is to expand entrepreneurial training and counseling services for veterans and military spouses who own and operate small businesses. (ExecutiveGov April 24, 2023)

The VBOCs will assist veteran-owned small business in various aspects such as business planning, loan application, marketing and outreach efforts. Additionally, grants will be set up to support Boots to Business classes to help active duty service members transition and determine whether entrepreneurship is a practical transition strategy.(ibid)

Isabella Casillas Guzman, administrator of the SBA, stated that “with this expansion of our veteran-focused network of small business centers, we can help more transitioning service members, veterans, National Guard and Reserve members, and military spouses start and grow their businesses and advance our economy.” (ibid)

Interested in grant funding for your veteran owned small business? Give us a call.

A sneak peak into the updated HUBZone maps

According to a recent Small Business Administration release, new Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone) maps will go into effect on July 1, 2023. The maps spotlight employment and growth opportunities reserved for small businesses in disadvantaged communities. The new maps include data from the 2020 census and 3,732 newly designated communities. (EXECUTIVEGOV March 10, 2023)

“By channeling a record $14 billion in federal purchases to HUBZone-certified small firms last year, the Biden-Harris Administration gave a critical financial boost to hundreds of entrepreneurs in economically disadvantaged rural and urban areas,” said SBA Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman. (ibid)

Loris Gillen, director of the Office of the HUBZone Program said, “for small businesses in new HUBZone areas SBA’s certification provides a gateway to billions of dollars in federal contracting opportunities, contributing to the economic growth and strengthening of underserved communities while also ensuring that employment opportunities benefit the people living in communities that most need positive economic impact.” (ibid)

Questions about HUBZone contracting opportunities or the certification process? Give us a call.

The SBA & DOD are teaming up to reinforce Small Business Development

On Friday, December 2, 2022, the Defense Department and the U.S. Small Business Administration signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for both agencies to better meet the needs of small businesses in the United States. The goal is to bolster small business development, both nationally and locally. (Executive Gov December 9, 2022)

Farooq A. Mitha, director of small business programs at DOD, and Mark Madrid, associate administrator of SBA’s Office of Entrepreneurial Development, signed the agreement at the Maryland Procurement Technical Assistance Center, a DOD-funded office in College Park, Maryland. (U.S. Department of Defense December 7, 2022 l DOD News)

There are over 90 Procurement Technical Assistance Centers throughout the US. These centers are set up to work with small businesses looking to obtain contracts with either DOD or other federal agencies. The centers are currently going through a rebranding and will move from Procurement Technical Assistance Centers to APEX Accelerators. The goal of the APEX Accelerators is to increase the number of businesses able to participate in the government marketplace. (ibid)

“One of the things that we want to make sure that we’re doing is providing resources and support to small businesses who are looking to do business with DOD, with other federal agencies, with state and local government and really reduce barriers to entry,” said Mitha. “And we can’t do that without our APEX Accelerators. And we can’t do that without a … strong partnership with the Small Business Administration and the [Small Business Development Centers] program.”  (ibid)

At the signing, Madrid said, “Today was about breaking down silos and working together because we’re all in it for the same reason. If you look at DOD [and] SBA, you look at the APEX Accelerators, you look at our SBDC network, we’re all trying to make government, and ultimately opportunities, more accessible to our small businesses at the end of the day. That’s what we achieved today.”  (ibid)

As a result of the MOU, Madrid is certain the DOD and the SBA will find many ways to better integrate training conducted by their APEX Accelerators and SBDCs. Their goal is to jointly conduct at least one national event a year together. (Executive Gov December 9, 2022)

SBA and DOD also launched a joint effort, called the Small Business Investment Company Critical Technologies Initiative, to drive investments in critical technologies that are key to national security. (ibid)

Are you looking to take advantage of one of the more than 90 APEX Accelerators resources and or the Small Business Investment Company Critical Technologies Initiative (SBICCT)? Give us a call.

GSA and the Small Business Administration are teaming up!

GSA is partnering with the Small Business Administration (SBA) to increase 8(a) contracting opportunities. The partnership makes it virtually effortless for GSA customers to use the MAS program to access various solutions from 8(a) contractors. (BUY.GSA.GOV l Interact November 18, 2022)

Once the implementation is complete the PA provides these benefits:

  • Increased opportunities for 8(a) contractors, allowing these contractors competition in a safe set-aside environment.
  • Accessibility to 8(a) contractors and various socioeconomic contractors, thus allowing for a vast range of products and services.
  • Increased ordering flexibility under the MAS Program.
  • Streamlined acquisition processes, thus incentivizing agencies to use 8(a) solutions.
  • GSA and SBA standardized processes for reaching an agreement on acquisition strategies. (ibid)

GSA is looking at a spring 2023 implementation of the Partnership Agreement. (ibid)

Are you an 8(a) contractor or have questions concerning your 8(a) contractor status? Give us a call.

A Technology “Schedule” in the making

The Small Business Research program is in place for companies to use to develop state-of-the-art technologies. GSA is working to build a contract, much like the GSA Schedule platform, to give agencies access to these technologies. The idea is to shorten the time between a prototype of a new technology and the time it takes to get it to government users. (Washington Technology October 28, 2022)

Federal users lose out on many technologies because they never advance to phase two of the program. According to Jim Ghiloni, acting innovation sector director and IDIQ labs group manager at the General Services Administration (GSA), phase three becomes a challenge because it requires agencies to fund further development work to take advantage of new technology. Ghiloni recently said GSA is working on a government-wide contract vehicle that gives agencies access to these emerging technologies. (ibid)

Ghiloni is working on the business case to present to GSA while market research is ongoing. A draft solicitation is expected in the spring of 2023. Ghiloni plans for the vehicle to be in place by the fall of 2023. (ibid)

The plan is for the contract to look a lot like the GSA Schedule program. Here’s how it would work:

  • Companies finish phase two of an SBIR contract with technology ready to sell
  • Submit a proposal to get a spot on the vehicle
  • Market technology to government agencies (ibid)

All SBIR contracts have three phases. The first phase is developing proof of concept. The second phase is ongoing research and development to prove the technology is commercially viable. Phases one and two of an SBIR contract are funded by the SBIR program. For a company to move to phase three, an agency buyer is needed to commercially develop the technology. To date, this has been difficult because there has not been a mechanism for agencies to use to fund the third phase. (ibid)

Ghiloni hopes to make it easy for agencies to start taking advantage of emerging technologies while at the same time, drawing new entrants to the government marketplace. (ibid)

Is your small business developing an emerging or new technology? Give us a call.