Posts Tagged ‘small business opportunities’

Government Seminars Drawing Large Crowds

Thursday, September 17th, 2009

According to a recent Las Vegas Business Press article, a government seminar held in Las Vegas drew a crowd of approximately 60 business owners together to learn about the opportunity available through federal government contracting.

According to the article, the seminar drew “architects, engineers, financial service providers and other professionals who (were) looking to tap into government contracts as private-sector projects dry up. What used to be a largely untouched frontier is becoming a battlefield as companies see the county as a business partner that could bring in new revenue.”

“People like us wouldn’t typically approach things like this, but right now government projects are the way to go,” said Gloria Long-Hernandez of architectural firm GMRA. “We are definitely interested in the new opportunities and we have all the credentials for them.”

“There were times when we would send out requests for proposals and no one would show up,” said Nita Lopez, the county small-business coordinator who produced the event. “Now people would even come to prebids. The providers are hungry for jobs and it’s a good thing for us.”

Did you know that the B2G Institute offers free workshops on doing business with the government? Click here to find out when we will be in your city.

YouTube for Business

Wednesday, September 16th, 2009

According to a recent Orlando Sentinel article, the U.S. Small Business Administration has started posting informational videos to YouTube, in an effort to expand it’s outreach.

 This popular site is the perfect vehicle from the SBA to reach a larger audience, including the young entrepreneur. The SBA YouTube channel includes an introduction to the SBA’s services, video of recent SBA Conference speakers, informational videos on topics such as hiring and marketing, and more!

 Check out the SBA YouTube site at: YouTube.com/sba.

Did you know that the B2G Institute is now on YouTube?  Check us out at: YouTube.com/B2GInstitute.

Interested in Doing Business With Africa?

Friday, August 21st, 2009

Are you a business interested in doing business with Africa?

The U.S. Commercial Service  has created a “one-stop-shop” portal just for businesses interested in trade opportunities with most African markets.

 Portal features include:

-Market research

-Up-to-date trade leads

 -Updated trade event announcements 

 -Specific business opportunities

The Rich Are Getting Richer

Thursday, August 20th, 2009

According to a recent Government Executive article, some of the largest existing federal government contractors are collecting the majority of the stimulus contracts.

 “During the past five months, 17 of the largest government contractors have won more than $1.6 billion in Recovery Act contracts — more than all small businesses combined” according to a new spending analysis conducted by Government Executive. The data, which is updated through July 15, was obtained through USASpending.gov.

 Although nearly $7 billion in stimulus contracts have been awarded, nearly one-quarter of that money is going to large, well-connected federal contractors.

 According to Government Executive, a significant number of these  contracts were issued by the Energy Department, “primarily for construction, demolition and environmental cleanup projects at its laboratories.”

 ”These contracts go against the grain of what the stimulus is all about,” said Guy Timberlake, CEO of the American Small Business Coalition. “How much of a stimulus do these companies need?” The list of Recovery Act awardees Government Executive examined reads like a “Who’s Who” in federal contracting.

 Is the problem that small businesses are not stepping up to the plate to claim their share of the stimulus contracts? How can small business start to claim their share?

Federal Government Contracting Information through GSA

Monday, July 20th, 2009

GSA is the centralized procurement for the federal government and offers businesses the opportunity to sell billions of dollars worth of products and services to federal agencies. GSA advocates for small, minority, veteran, HUBZone, and women business owners through its Office of Small Business Utilization.

 GSA uses a variety of contracting vehicles to effectively manage procurement for both its own operations and its government customers: Schedules, IDIQ, BPA, GWACs. It can all start sounding like alphabet soup.  Luckily, GSA has an online small business resource where users can get detailed information about how GSA purchases.

In addition, GSA provides an online contact listing of Small Business Specialists and Small Business Support personnel across the country.

How can connecting with a local GSA Small Business Specialist help the small business owner?

Curious about Your Federal Government Contracting Competition?

Friday, July 17th, 2009

Looking to check out the kind of federal government contracting business being done by your competitors? Check out the Contracts section of USAspending.gov. This online database allows users to search for spending related to all federal government contracts. The left-hand side of the page holds navigation fields, where users enter search criteria. Users can search by: contractor, principal place of performance, and contracting agency.

 This tool presents detailed data on federal government contractors, including: products and services sold, top purchasing agencies, location of where work was performed, and even the breakdown of what kind of competition the company had to win their awards.

 To check out an example of the extent of competition breakdown, enter the name “Lockheed Martin”, and click “search”. On the page that holds those search results, scroll down to the “Extent of Competition” data pie chart. The red/maroon section indicates the amount of federal government contract dollars awarded to Lockheed Martin without any competition.  That maroon section indicates money awarded to Lockheed Martin, when theirs was the only bid received for that contract.  Lockheed Martin was awarded $568,843,002 in federal government contracts (FY 2009) without any competition.

Take a look at the “Top 5 Products or Services Sold” section on the right hand side of that page.  Are those products and services that your company is capable of producing?

If so, you should have been competing for those dollars.

 How else can the small business owner use the USAspending.gov “Contracts” search tool to research competition?