Middle East Business Development Summit

Local Businesswoman Returns from Middle East Business Development Summit
Berthold Chosen to Speak with Summit Attendees from 17 Countries

Gloria Berthold, President of TargetGov, recently returned from Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) after participating in the Middle East North Africa (MENA) Businesswoman’s Summit 2006. Berthold was one of five U.S. business owners invited to participate in the Summit and provide discussion group facilitation and one-on-one mentoring to the 250 women attending from 17 countries. She also personally coordinated and delivered proclamations from three different organizations in the U.S. to Dr. Rawdha Abdullah Al-Muttawaa, Chairperson of the Abu Dhabi Business Women Council (shown in above photo).

The MENA Businesswomen’s Summit was sponsored by the Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) of the U.S. Department of State with the support of the Abu Dhabi Business Women Council and the Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce and Industry; and was presented under the patronage of Her Highness Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak.

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Government Contractor Resources Seminar

This seminar is intended for businesses that are considering competing in the Federal market, or those that are in the early phases of entry.

Speakers
Government Business Development
Gloria Berthold
Sessions will cover the 5 Key Steps to Procurement Success
1. Basic definitions
2. Identifying Who Buys What you Sell
3. Finding Business Opportunities
4. Finding Decision Makers
5. Effective Strategies and Tactics

Government Contracting—Overview
Dennis Smythe
Session will cover the following topics
1. How the Government Buys
2. Myths Associated with Government Contracts
3. Minority, Small Disadvantaged Business Certifications
4. Contract Administration and the FAR

Accounting for Government Contracts
Rhonda J. Tomlinson, CPA
Session will cover the following topics
1. Components of Government Contract Accounting
2. Specialized Rules and Regulations
3. Policies and Procedures
4. Document and Best Practices

Valuable Handouts Included
Presented by: Government Contractor Resources, LLC
We help you navigate the contracting maze!

Date: Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Time: 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Cost: $149.00 (credit cards accepted)
Location: The Center for Business and Technology Development, The Thomas Dorsey Building 9250 Bendix Road, North, Columbia, MD 21045

For More information or to register click here or phone: 410.313.6550

Top 10 Forecasts for 2007

Please visit THE FUTURIST web site for the full story.

Each year since 1985, the editors of THE FUTURIST have selected the most thought-provoking ideas and forecasts appearing in the magazine.

Here are the editors' top 10 forecasts from Outlook 2007:
1. Generation Y will migrate heavily overseas. For the first time in its history, the United States will see a significant proportion of its population emigrate due to overseas opportunities. According to futurists Arnold Brown and Edie Weiner, Generation Y, the population segment born between 1978 and 1995, may be the first U.S. generation to have many of its members leave the country to pursue large portions of their lives, if not their entire adult lives, overseas. Brown and Weiner also predict that by 2025, 75% of Americans will live on the country’s coasts.

2. Dwindling supplies of water in China will impact the global economy. With uneven development across China, the most water-intensive industries and densest population are in regions where water is scarcest. The result is higher prices for commodities and goods exported from China, so the costs of resource and environmental mismanagement are transferred to the rest of the world. As a nation, China already outconsumes the United States on basic commodities, such as food, energy, meat, grain, oil, coal, and steel.

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BWN Luncheon Meeting

Guest Registration for the October 18 Lunch:
"Business Women-Government Contracting-Strategic Partnerships"
BWN members Special Secretary Sharon Pinder from the Governors Office on Minority Affairs and Gloria Berthold, President: TargetGov will present.

Wednesday, October 18, 2006 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
$40 Member Door fee / $30 Member Pre-register
$40 Non-member

Click here for more information and to register

Teleconference: GSA Schedules

10/19/06 GSA Schedule Two Track Teleconference

October 19, 2006 -- Two Track GSA Teleconferences -- Track 1: What a GSA Schedule Is and How to Obtain One from and Track 2: Now That You Have a GSA Schedule, Learn How to Use It to Get Contracts. Getting a GSA Schedule can be one of your most effective business development tools for the federal governemnt market. Attend these two teleconferences to learn how to get a GSA Schedule and how to use it effectively!

BWCC Procurement Fair October 27

Friday, October, 27, 2006
♦ 8am-12pm ♦ Greenbelt Marriott
Doors open at 8:00am

Resources available throughout the event to help you learn how to
do business with the government.

Pre-registration required for:
One-on-One Counseling Sessions
Contact Shirley Redd to register and learn which agencies and prime contractors are participating
Presentation Topics:

Maryland Small Business Reserve, Mentor-Protege and MBE Programs:
SHARON R. PINDER, Special Secretary, Governor's Office of Minority Affairs

Intercounty Connector Project:
Melinda Peters, Project Director, MDOT State Highway Administration

Business Development for Government Contractors
Learn the Top Ten Successful Strategies for Government Business Development and the Mistakes to Avoid in Government Contracting from nationally-known speaker Gloria Berthold. These practical do's and don't's of government contracting will help you target and win the business opportunities that are your best matches in this confusing market. Contracting: GLORIA BERTHOLD, President, TargetGov
To register: Visit our website: www.bwccgovcon.org

More News and Government Contracting Notes

Angel Investing Continues to Grow
The latest data on angel investing trends from the University of New Hampshire (UNH) shows that the angel investor market remains quite healthy. According to UNH professor Jeffrey Sohl, the value of angel investments reached $12.7 billion over the first two quarters of 2006. The growth rate of these investments was 15% higher than occurred in the first half of 2005. The average size of investments grew (up 22%) as angels backed 24,500 firms in the first half of 2006 – representing a 6% drop from the first half of 2005. ‘Health care and medical devices’ is the hottest sector for angels, accounting for 27% of total deals. Other hot sectors include software, biotechnology, and retail.

To learn more, click here to access the University of New Hampshire’s September 20, 2006 press release entitled “Angel Investor Markets Grows in First Half of 2006.”

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Berthold Awarded 100 Top MBE in Maryland

Gloria Berthold Recognized for Business Excellence


Baltimore, MD. The Governor’s Office of Minority Affairs (OMA) and The Daily Record announced that Gloria Berthold, president of TargetGov at Marketing Outsource Associates, Inc., located in Howard County, has been named one of Maryland’s Top 100 Minority Business Enterprises for 2006. This program is designed to salute Maryland’s best minority and women business owners and to highlight their achievements.

A panel of distinguished judges chose Gloria Berthold as an entrepreneur who has demonstrated outstanding achievement in four key areas: business development, client satisfaction, professional affiliations and community outreach.

TargetGov was created to help small, minority, women and veteran-owned businesses with business devlopment in federal, state and local government agencies. Services include an exclusive, online database of government buyers at all levels of government, teaming development for contracts, business and sales consulting as well as GSA Schedule assistance, proposal writing, negotiating and contract management.

Sharon R. Pinder, Special Secretary, Governor’s Office of Minority Affairs said, “The business owners selected for this award represent the best of the state’s more than 200,000 women and minority owned businesses. Their contributions have had a major impact in maintaining Maryland’s vibrant economy.”

“Maryland is a very proactive state in encouraging minority and woman business owners. I am honored to receive this recognition and I will continue to help other business owners reach success in government contracting.”

Gloria Berthold will be honored at an awards ceremony at the Inn and Conference Center at University of Maryland University College, in Adelphi, Maryland, on Friday. October 27, 2006.

For more information about TargetGov go to www.targetgov.com

Press info: http://www.targetgov.com/Content.asp?id=2330

For more information about tile Top 100 MBE awards, please log onto www.TopMBE.com

For more information on the Governor’s Office of Minority Affairs visit www.mdminoritybusiness.com

Teleconference Schedule

Click the date for more details


October 5, 2006—Two Tracks! 8(a) Certification -- Will It Help You Win More Contracts? 2 Tracks: Choose the one that is best for you or attend both for full information. Attend both and save $40!
Over $15 Billion in federal contracts are set aside for those companies meeting Minority, Disadvantaged, HUB Zone or other certifications. Do you qualify for certification? If so, how do you get certified and then use that certification to open the door to business opportunities? Attend one or both TargetGov Teleconferences for answers!

October 19, 2006 -- Two Track GSA Teleconferences -- Track 1: What a GSA Schedule Is and How to Obtain One from and Track 2: Now That You Have a GSA Schedule, Learn How to Use It to Get Contracts. Getting a GSA Schedule can be one of your most effective business development tools for the federal governemnt market. Attend these two teleconferences to learn how to get a GSA Schedule and how to use it effectively!

FAA ends procurement program

A $543 million Federal Aviation Administration contracting program is being dissolved after an audit found it was improperly managed by the agency, according to a Transportation Department inspector general’s report released this week.

Only 24 percent of the 114 contracts awarded for support services under the RESULTS program “benefited from competition” and half of all contracts were awarded with no competition, according to the audit. The IG found that most of the contracts lacking competition were awarded based on “manager’s preference for working with a known individual contractor, an unacceptable reason.”

Also, 10 of 11 contracts reviewed lacked any criteria to determine contractor performance, the audit found. The audit also found the program failed to meet its mission of providing FAA with faster, cheaper and better support services. Labor costs under the RESULTS program were $24 million to $44 million higher than those incurred under other FAA procurement programs.

The report notes that FAA has taken steps to dissolve the program by halting new contract awards, discontinuing the program Web site and terminating 12 contracts this year. The report recommended FAA use other, existing multiple-award programs to replace the contracts.

The investigation into the program began in 2005 with a request from Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, chairman of the Finance Committee, and Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla.

Click here for more information

Congress agrees to merger of GSA funds

The House on Monday passed legislation allowing the General Services Administration to merge revolving funds for two acquisition units -- a key step in an ongoing reorganization -- advancing the measure to the White House for President Bush's signature. The Senate passed an amended version of the bill earlier this month.

The legislation would allow GSA to complete the merger of its Federal Technology Service and Federal Supply Service into a single entity. Combining the revolving funds for the two procurement groups into a new Federal Acquisition Service fund could improve the agency's financial outlook, as the technology service has recently run at a loss while the supply service has generated a surplus.

Click here for the full story

TSA Contracts Will Go to Small Business

Kerry Ensures TSA Contracts Will Go to Small Businesses

Contact: Brian Rice of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, 202-224-7834

WASHINGTON, Sept. 29 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Senator John Kerry (D- Massachusetts) succeeded in attaching legislation to the Homeland Security Appropriations Conference Report that will make the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) accountable to the Small Business Act for purposes of contracting with outside vendors. TSA was exempted from the Small Business Act in the aftermath of 9/11, and as a result has not been held to requirements for contracting with small businesses that apply to nearly every other Federal agency.

"By every account, TSA has abused procurement privileges granted in the aftermath of September 11th," said Kerry, who as Ranking Member of the Small Business Committee has been an ardent supporter for small business contracting opportunities. "As a result, capable qualified small businesses are left out of the federal procurement process. When it comes to ensuring that America's small businesses receive the opportunities they need to grow and succeed, it's time to bring the Bush Administration in check. That starts today at TSA."

Kerry's legislation is scheduled to pass as part of the Homeland Security Appropriations Conference Report later this evening. The final version of the bill will be approved by both the House and the Senate Chambers today, and will be sent to the President for his signature.

As a result of Kerry's amendment, TSA will be required to adhere to government-wide, statutory contracting goals. These goals establish that at least 23 percent of federal contracts will go to small businesses, with smaller percentages of between three and five percent directed to disadvantaged business communities, including socially and economically disadvantaged businesses, women owned businesses, and service disabled veteran owned businesses.

"Small businesses face plenty of obstacles without the federal government shutting them out of procurement opportunities," said Kerry. "We depend on small businesses to grow our economy. The least we can do is reserve them a place at the table to compete for these contracts."

GSA: End NASA contract?

GSA chief wants to end NASA contract

The head of the U.S. General Services Administration has taken the unusual step of asking the White House to deny NASA's request to extend a multibillion-dollar government-wide information technology contract.

A $4 billion space agency contract for buying computers and other IT products from IBM Corp., Northrop Grumman Corp., Unisys Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co. and CDW Corp., among others, is scheduled to end next year and NASA has received bids to extend the deal.

But Lurita Doan, GSA administrator, argues that her agency has contracts offering similar products, and not renewing the NASA contract would allow that agency to better focus on buying products and services needed for space exploration and other NASA-specific missions.

Doan is making similar requests on contracts at other agencies, including Treasury and Defense. If she gets her way, she could change the way federal contractors do business with the government. It's not clear whether Doan's request will be honored.....

Click here for the full story

Travel Contracts for Small Businesses

Travel effort has generated small business opportunities
From National Journal's Technology Daily


An ongoing effort by the General Services Administration to save money and improve government employee travel services has given small travel agencies ample opportunities to do business with the federal government, according to a report from the Government Accountability Office released Friday.

Small businesses can take part in GSA's e-government travel service -- under which three vendors agreed to offer an array of travel-management services to agencies -- and through a comprehensive contracting vehicle for offices to obtain related services like professional travel agents, GAO said.

GSA promotes the use of small subcontractors by setting goals and offering incentives for using small businesses, as well as monetary penalties for not meeting those goals, the report said.
Click here for the full story

Not the Brightest Bulb in the Pack...

This guy took outsoucing contracting a bit too loosely:
A 46-year-old Los Angeles man was nabbed on Thursday for impersonating a US Department of Homeland Security official while trying to get a job with Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's security providers and become a part of their security entourage. Click here for the full story about the dim bulb....

Federal Marketplace Series

The Tech Council of Maryland's Federal Marketplace series is a full schedule of educational and networking events designed to teach members how to do business with the Federal Government.

The Federal Marketplace Series will focus on the three following educational deliverables:

What you need to know about doing business with the Federal Government
An insider's view of federal agencies and their visions for future needs
Information exchange with fellow prime and subcontractors

Partnerships

Tech Council of Maryland and TEDCO are partners on selected Federal Marketplace Series events.

Staff Contacts
Mark Glazer, Director Tech Alliance
Telephone: 240-453-6212 E-mail: mglazer@techcouncilmd.com

Click here for details

Sept-Oct TargetGov Teleconference Schedule

Click the date for more details


September 7, 2006 -- How to Break Into the Intelligence Agency Market: There are 15 Intel Agencies controlling billions in contracting dollars. Attend this teleconference to open the door to this secretive market.

September 21, 2006 -- Non-Profits, Grants and Government Contracting Learn how your not-for-profit organization can take advantage of grants and business opportunities available through the federal government.

October 5, 2006—Two Tracks! 8(a) Certification -- Will It Help You Win More Contracts? 2 Tracks: Choose the one that is best for you or attend both for full information. Attend both and save $40!
Over $15 Billion in federal contracts are set aside for those companies meeting Minority, Disadvantaged, HUB Zone or other certifications. Do you qualify for certification? If so, how do you get certified and then use that certification to open the door to business opportunities? Attend one or both TargetGov Teleconferences for answers!

October 19, 2006 -- Two Track GSA Teleconferences -- Track 1: What a GSA Schedule Is and How to Obtain One from and Track 2: Now That You Have a GSA Schedule, Learn How to Use It to Get Contracts. Getting a GSA Schedule can be one of your most effective business development tools for the federal governemnt market. Attend these two teleconferences to learn how to get a GSA Schedule and how to use it effectively!

Sept 11-13 WIPP 5th Anniversary Summit

Sept 11-13 WIPP Leadership and Legacy: 5th Anniversary Summit
A Vision and Voice for the Future
2006 Fall Leadership Conference
September 11-13, 2006
Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill
Washington, DC

Announcing:
Steven Preston, Administrator, U.S. Small Business Administration
Keynote Speaker, WIPP Gala

Steven Preston, confirmed as Administrator of the US Small Business Administration came from The ServiceMaster Company, where he served as their Executive Vice President. In that capacity, Mr. Preston led the Strategic Services team, including IT, Six Sigma, Strategic Sourcing, Strategy and Acquisitions. He served previously as the Chief Financial Officer of ServiceMaster, the Senior Vice President and Treasurer of First Data Corporation, and as an investment banker at Lehman Brothers.

WIPP is proud to welcome Administrator Preston and looks forward to working with him.

WIPP is the vision and voice for the future. If you run a business, you must attend.

Click here to register for WIPP's 5th Anniversary Leadership Conference!

7 Stories: Your News Update

1. October 18th meeting, 11:30-1:30 p.m., Women Doing Business with the Government. Special Secretary Sharon Pinder is the keynote speaker and Gloria Berthold willtalk about the "how" to do business with federal, state and local government agencies. Sponsored by the Business Women's Network of Howard County



The Business Monthly


2. A Golden Opportunity for Women Business Owners in a $15 Billion Market -- The federal, state and local government agencies located in and around Howard County are looking to do business with women-owned firms in unprecedented numbers. One of the key reasons is that women-owned firms in the U.S. are growing like never before. Click here for the full story

3. Turning Small Talk into Big Ideas
To be a successful entrepreneur, the people you know are as important as your ideas. At least accoding to Toby Stuart, a professor at the Harvard Business School and the winner of the 2007 Ewing Marion Kauffman Prize Medal for Distinguished Research in Entrepreneurship. Stuart received the Medal for his pioneering research into social networks and their effects on entrepreneurship. His work points to the dynamics of networking and proves that successful entrepreneurs need more than good ideas and intelligence. Click here to learn more about the Ewing Marion Kauffman Prize Medal.

Click here to read the rest

SBTV Highlights Author: Gloria Berthold

SBTV is the first television network on the web devoted 100 percent to the small business market - from business start-ups to established enterprises. We believe that being an entrepreneur is a way of living - not just a way to make a living.

Founded in 2000, SBTV is becoming the number one choice for small business information on the net. The average viewer stays on our site for more than 30 minutes at a time. Business owners rely on SBTV because it provides expertly produced content by professional journalists and industry experts that is informational, practical and compelling.

Click here for A Step-by-Step Approach to the Federal Acquisition Marketplace by Gloria Berthold

Click here for Build Your Business by Becoming a Government Contractor by Gloria Berthold

Busy, busy, busy schedules!

August 30-Sept 1 Visit the TargetGov booth # 226 at MED Week in DC



NEW Teleconferences to Help You Build Your Government Contracting Business


September 7, 2006 -- How to Break Into the Intelligence Agency Market: There are 15 Intel Agencies controlling billions in contracting dollars. Attend this teleconference to open the door to this secretive market.

September 21, 2006 -- Non-Profits, Grants and Government Contracting Learn how your not-for-profit organization can take advantage of grants and business opportunities available through the federal government.

October 19, 2006 -- Two Track GSA Teleconferences -- Track 1: What a GSA Schedule Is and How to Obtain One from and Track 2: Now That You Have a GSA Schedule, Learn How to Use It to Get Contracts

Federal Contracts and Small Business

Federal Agencies Slammed on Set-Asides
A new report from Democratic members of the House Small Business Committee is highly critical of Federal small business set-aside contracting practices. According to the study, nearly $12 billion in contacts have been mislabeled as small business set-asides. In reality, these contracts were awarded to large corporations, universities and non-profits. With this new data, the report claims that federal agencies provided only 21.5% of their contracts to small businesses, missing President Bush’s target of 25%. Overall, the report notes that Washington’s small business support efforts warrant a “D” grade. Twelve federal agencies also received failing grades for their poor performance in small business contracting, with the Departments of Education, Energy, and the US Agency for International ranking as especially poor performers. Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY) has formally asked the Government Accountability Office to investigate these practices and to suggest ideas for improving the small business contracting process.

To learn more about the July 2006 House of Representatives Small Business Committee Democratic report on small business set-asides, Scorecard VII, Click here



The Impact of New Contracting Rules on Small Business
In last week’s NDE-news, we highlighted a study that criticized federal agencies for their poor performance in doing business with small business. New research sponsored by the Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy offers some potential good news on this score. The research examines the effects of government-wide acquisition contracts on smaller firms. These contracts were introduced in the 1990s with the intention of creating a more performance-based, streamlined process for government agencies seeking to procure technology (especially information technology services) from the private sector. The shift was needed. Prior to the changes, information technology contracts could take up to two years to complete. In the meantime, the purchased technology had become obsolete. However, some observers feared that the new process might make reduce the amount of small business contracting. Fortunately, it appears that the new process is working fairly well—at least in terms of providing opportunities to smaller firms. The use of government-wide acquisition contracts has grown rapidly, and the small business share of this market has also grown. In total, small business set asides account for 31% of all spending on these contracts, and that number has continued to grow. One take-away from this research is that it is possible to implement more effective business management practices while also meeting the government’s commitment to sharing business with small and medium-sized firms.

Access the August 2006 US Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy-sponsored report, The Impact of Government-Wide Acquisition Contracts on Small Business (No. 279), by clicking here

Looking for Funding? Go Online

As social networking sites continue to expand, entrepreneurs are now seeking to use these technologies as a way to build peer funding networks. Several interesting new businesses have emerged in the peer-to-peer lending market. The UK-based Zopa.com was one of the first such efforts while Prosper.com is a recent entrant on this side of the Atlantic. The sites work as follows: a user posts his or her request for funds. Other users review the requests, and then decide if they want to invest(alone or in a group).


The sites serve as a marketing vehicle for those seeking funds, and then they help manage the transactions that occur via the site. At Prosper.com, current opportunities include funding for a new business in New Orleans, paying off student loans, and new equipment purchases for an existing business. While these sites are fairly new, they may offer a new method for financing entrepreneurial ventures.

To learn more about Zopa, click here

To learn more about Prosper, click here

Creating Valuable Customers with A Contact Manager

ACT! has certainly proven itself to play an important role in government contracting business. From simple contact management to contact segmentation, you may feel it has accomplished everything you hoped it could. Is there more?!

With nearly 3 million people using ACT! as a contact manager, there must be a group of people that are getting more out of the application than maintaining a history of customer touch points. So, how do you leverage ACT! and the existing contact data to bring more value to your business? What makes a lead more valuable than another…document downloads, webinar signups, requests for more information?

Click here to see the rest of this post

Begin With Financing Strategy Early to Avoid Headaches Later

By Todd Crandell

If you’re part of the TargetGov community, you appreciate the fact that business, even business with the federal government, is done through communication. Deals don’t happen by trading paper via fax and email. Deals happen because two people sit down together and hammer out a win- win. RFQ’s typically raise more questions than they answer, and RFP’s are almost always followed up with some sort of due diligence on the customer’s part.

Dialogue between vendor and customer is essential to build sustainability, credibility, and scalability to a relationship. All good business people understand communication’s importance. However, one issue my firm has seen happen to too many aspiring companies is that their communication is focused on winning the deals, but not necessarily on the terms and conditions that govern them.

Full Story Click Here: http://www.targetgov.com/Content.asp?id=2334

Nominate Top 100 MBE

NOMINATIONS SOUGHT: Maryland’s Top Minority Business Enterprise Awards

Maryland’s Top Minority Business Enterprise Awards salute minority and women business owners who, through their innovation, sacrifice, and dedication, provide products and services that fuel our state’s economy. These enterprising risk-takers are living the American dream of business ownership by providing significant value to their clients, professions and communities.

Winners will be honored at an awards ceremony at the Inn and Conference Center, University of Maryland University College, in Adelphi, Maryland, on FRIDAY, OCTOBER 27. Additionally, winners will be featured in a special magazine in The Daily Record, and promoted around the State by the Governor’s Office of Minority Affairs.

For More Information Click Here: http://www.targetgov.com/Content.asp?id=2335

This seminar is intended for businesses that are considering competing in the Federal market, or those that are in the early phases of entry.

Date: Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Time: 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Cost: $149.00 (no credit cards - checks payable to Howard County EDA)
Location: The Center for Business and Technology Development, The Thomas Dorsey Building 9250 Bendix Road, North, Columbia, MD 21045

Speakers
Government Business Development
Gloria Berthold, TargetGov
Sessions will cover the 5 key Steps to Procurement Success

1. Basic definitions
2. Identifying Who Buys What you Sell
3. Finding Business Opportunities
4. Finding Decision Makers
5. Effective Strategies and Tactics

Government Contracting—Overview
Dennis Smythe; Government Contractor Resources,
LLC Session will cover the following topics
1. How the Government Buys
2. Myths Associated with Government Contracts
3. Minority, Small Disadvantaged Business Certifications
4. Contract Administration and the FAR

Accounting for Government Contracts
Rhonda J. Tomlinson,
CPA,Government Contractor Resources,
LLC Session will cover the following topics
1. Components of Government Contract Accounting
2. Specialized Rules and Regulations
3. Policies and Procedures
4. Document and Best Practices

Valuable Handouts Included Presented by
Government Contractor Resources, LLC
We help you navigate the contracting maze!
For More information or to register:
The Center for Business and Technology Development
Phone: 410.313.6550

GSA Spending for IT to decline this year

Federal spending by the General Services Administration for information technology is expected to sink again in fiscal 2006, the second year in a row, according to one research firm's projections.

After achieving an all-time high in fiscal 2004, annual spending through GSA's multiple-award schedule contracts for IT products and services will decline 1 percent this year to $16.3 billion, following a 2 percent drop in fiscal 2005.
The downturn is driven by decreasing IT services sales on the GSA schedule. Input predicts a 5 percent decline in the IT schedule's services sales for fiscal 2006, which is a mirror image of the 5 percent annual growth expected for the federal IT market through fiscal 2011.

Winning the Contracting Game

Billions of dollars in federal contracts are supposed to go to small businesses. What really happens, and how do you get your share?

http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/jul2006/sb20060726_724414.htm?chan=smallbiz_smallbiz+index+page_today's+top+stories

’….Big business winning some contracts set aside for small business isn't new, but the current magnitude is unprecedented. In December, 2004, the SBA Office of Advocacy released a report stating that 39 large corporations in 2002 received over $2 billion in contracts that the administration had mistakenly counted as small-business contracts. The New York Times reported recently that last year at least $4.9 billion worth of contracts, coded as small business, went to 13 of the largest government contractors…’

CCR Name Lockdown

Notes: D&B Name Address Lockdown becomes active with release 3.06.3. This CCR revision will render most CCR registrants unable to change, directly in CCR, their Legal Business Name, DBA (Doing Business As) and Physical Address. They must correct name and address information for those fields at DUN & Bradstreet (D&B). Then the registrant will return to the CCR registration, which will only pull that data from D&B. Countries not monitored by D&B or not recognized by D&B must make all their own updates in CCR, after they become active

Fax Law Update

Federal Communications Commission rules going into effect Aug. 1 codify, after nearly 15 years of regulation, exactly what constitutes an established business relationship. The FCC, which issues regulations for implementing the law, attempted to further limit the advertisers’ reach in 2003 with stricter rules. But Congress instead opted to step in and amend the statute itself with the Junk Fax Prevention Act of 2005.

Under the regulations about to take effect, advertisers can still send unsolicited faxes to recipients with whom they have an established business relationship or from whom they have express written permission. The commission now defines an established business relationship as a prior or existing relationship formed by two-way communications, with or without a money transaction.

The rules clarify that senders can only use fax numbers voluntarily provided by the recipient. However, the sender does not have to demonstrate how it obtained the fax number if it can prove an established business relationship prior to July 9, 2005. The changes also create a requirement for “opt out” language in the fax directing recipients to a cost-free mechanism for removing themselves from a fax list. The law still allows private parties to sue for a violation, with damages of up to $500 per faxed page or $1,500 per page if the court finds a willful violation. Although seemingly insignificant sums, these fines add up quickly in the class-action suits often brought against mass-fax advertisers.

Separately, the FCC can fine up to $11,000 for each fax violation it discovers as part of an investigation.

For companies distributing faxes, the most significant element of the rule changes is the opt-out language. If a fax does not have the right opt-out language penalties can be quite costly.
Note: This information is not meant to replace appropriate legal counsel. For updated information concerning lax communications contact your legal counsel.

USA Today: How small firms lock down data

In Baltimore, business owner Gloria Berthold hasn't allowed her five employees to store customer data on laptops since she founded TargetGov in 1997 to help companies win government contracts.

At first, she worried she was being too restrictive. But lately she's been reading stories about workers losing laptops to thieves or accidents while on the road. "I just don't want to lose sleep worrying about who has access to laptops," she says.
As TargetGov's offerings grow more sophisticated, so do its information-security needs and costs.

Berthold's most valuable asset is a database of federal, state and local government employees who take bids on contracts for computers, office furniture and other goods. She sells subscriptions to the database, which customers access online through TargetGov's website.
Two years ago, Berthold spent $50,000 rebuilding the site so it would be more secure. The information is encrypted, or scrambled, so unauthorized users can't read it in the unlikely event they hack into the site.

The database is now stored at a remote computer server instead of at her office. And all customer records are now stored on a separate computer server, also away from her office...."
Click here for the full story

Federal Fiscal Year End = Use It or Lose It

We have now entered the fourth quarter of the federal fiscal year. Are you taking advantage of this timing to bring in summertime business and sow the seeds for next year's (which starts October 1) business?
The federal government spends over 50 percent of the year’s budget between July 1 and September 30 because of “use it or lose it” requirements. This means that government spending is at its yearly high right now and vendors can take advantage of this spending by knowing who is placing the orders.
It is your job as an informed vendor to research the budgets and know what the agencies are planning to spend. In addition, it is important to market your company to the appropriate people within each individual agency so that they know what you offer.
When is the fiscal year end for federal government agencies?

For Full Story Click Here: http://www.targetgov.com/Content.asp?id=2325

BRAC Teams Forming NOW

Let us know if you would like to be considered for the teams we are putting together to address the local and nationwide Base Re-Alignment and Closure (BRAC) related contracting opportunities.

These are wide-ranging, long-term opportunities related to the specific needs regarding the mandated base closures such as construction, information technology, staffing, moving processes and more.

There is no fee or long-term commitment for this first step to let us know that you are interested.

Click here to send us an email and please mention BRAC Teams in the Comments field. We look forward to working with you!

New SBA Administrator

The US Small Business Administration (SBA) has a new Administrator.

Steve Preston, was confirmed by the Senate in late June, and was formally sworn in last week. Preston is the 22nd Administrator since SBA was first created in 1953. Previously, Preston served as Executive Vice President at The ServiceMaster Company, a major franchising operation. Preston has not offered a lot of details about his vision for SBA, but we hope that he will continue the agency’s strong support for America’s entrepreneurs.

To view a Small Business Administration press release about Preston’s swearing-in, click here.

SBA News: RFQ For Small Business

SBA News: RFQ Seeking Small Business Researchers

The Office of Advocacy seeks small business researchers, or researchers who want to become small businesses, to perform economic research via a request for quotations RFQ). The topics are chosen because they are researchable, show the status or role of small businesses, can be a springboard for further research, and can affect public policy.

Proposals on the following topics are due July 26, 2006:
• Owner demographics,
• Human capital and business ownership by demographic,
• The impact of HUBZone–qualified areas on small business development and job creation,
• Research using the Survey of Small Business Finances,
•Small business research using large databases,
• Graduate student research.

For More Information Click Here: http://www.targetgov.com/Content.asp?id=2327

Guidance for Entrepreneurs on Selling a Business

For most entrepreneurs, deciding whether and when to sell their business is one of the toughest calls. To help them evaluate their options, Kauffman eVenturing features a new collection of articles on successful selling strategies.

This new collection, written by financial experts and several entrepreneurs who have successfully sold companies, offers business owners practical guidance on timing and other difficult issues, such as deciding who to sell your company to, whether to seek a buyer yourself or use an investment banker, how to get the best price once you do decide to sell and how to tell your employees.

Click here to read this month's collection on Kauffman eVenturing. This story is © 2006 The Public Forum Institute. Content from this newsletter may be reproduced for non-commercial purposes with proper attribution to the National Dialogue on Entrepreneurship

If you would like a personal contact to guide you through the buying or selling process, call TargetGov at 1-866-579-1346 and we will help you get started.

Bundling and Consolidation Course now LIVE on SBLC

The US Air Force Small Business Learning Center's newest module, Bundling and Consolidation, has launched!!

"...This module provides valuable training for acquisition professionals as well as small business owners to become familiar with the definitions, rules and procedures from market research stage up through contract file documentation, when consolidation and/or bundling may be involved.

We are very excited about the presentation style of this module as the training is provided in an informative, yet entertaining format. We invite you to enjoy this course, and please share with your field specialists and other customers. Acquisition teams should be encouraged to take the course when first discussing requirements. As always, your feedback on this and all of the SBLC courses is greatly appreciated..."

To view the course, click here and select Bundling and Consolidation from the Master List, click on the Tutorial Launch button and enjoy

Navigating the World of Teaming Agreements

Teaming agreements, while not new, have emerged again as a useful way for companies to pool resources (and share costs) when bidding on increasingly complex contracts, particularly federal government contracts.

Teaming agreements can take many forms, the most common of which is the prime/subcontractor relationship. One party acts as the prime contractor, maintaining the contractual relationship with, for example, a Government customer and assuming all of the associated contractual liability. The other party acts as a subcontractor, maintaining a contractual relationship only with the prime. Typically teaming agreements represent a general framework in which the parties agree to pursue certain contracts, leaving most specific details to be negotiated upon an actual contract award to the party acting as the prime contractor.

Click for Full Story: http://www.targetgov.com/Content.asp?id=2319

Small Businesses Win $79.6 Billion In Federal $'s

Small Businesses Garner $79.6 Billion In Federal Contracts in FY 2005
For the first time in history, small businesses received a record-breaking $79.6 billion in federal prime contracts, $10 billion more than the year before.The contracts represented 25.4 percent of federal prime contracting dollars in FY 2005, surpassing the overall government statutory goal of 23 percent for the third consecutive year.

The small business contracting data was reported by the government’s Federal Procurement Data –Next Generation (FPDS-NG) system, the only official data reporting system for federal procurement data. The data show that the federal government purchased $314 billion worth of goods and services from businesses large and small.

“This is excellent news for small businesses doing business with the federal government,” said previous SBA Administrator Hector Barreto. “For the third year in a row, the federal government has met or exceeded its small business contracting goal.

The Department of Defense, the leading purchaser of goods and services, awarded $53.8 billion of its contracts, or about 24.6 percent, to small businesses.

For the full report, visit http://www.sba.gov/GC/goals/SmallBusinessGoalingReport_2005.pdf.
For supplemental information on the data, visit http://www.sba.gov/GC/goals/DisclaimerstotheFY2005SmallBusinessGoalingReport.pdf.

Procurement Spending up $175 Billion Since 2000

Procurement spending grew 86 percent from 2000 to 2005, but management problems have resulted in significant levels of waste and abuse, according to a report released by Democratic lawmakers last week.

The report, titled "Dollars, Not Sense," was prepared by Democrats on the House Government Reform Committee, and was based on more than 500 reports by the Government Accountability Office, agency inspectors general and the Defense Contract Audit Agency, as well as interviews and data from a government procurement database.

Investigators found that procurement spending has increased significantly under the Bush administration, growing by 86 percent from $203 billion in fiscal 2000 to $377.5 billion in fiscal 2005. The present spending level represents a record 40 cents on every dollar of federal discretionary spending, according to the report.
Click here for the full story.

SBA seeks comments on proposed women-owned business program

The Small Business Administration is seeking public comment on a proposal to provide contracting preference to women-owned small businesses through a set-aside program similar to those in place for other disadvantaged business sectors. The proposed Women-Owned Small Business Federal Contract Assistance Program, which was the subject of a successful lawsuit by the U.S. Women's Chamber of Commerce relating to implementation delays, was detailed in a Thursday Federal Register notice.

Full Story:http://www.targetgov.com/Content.asp?id=2312

GSA solicits your input on IT contracts worth $65 billion

The General Services Administration last Thursday released a draft request for proposals for its long-delayed Alliant and Alliant Small Business contracts, two governmentwide information technology vehicles together valued at $65 billion over 10 years.

The draft RFP is the second to be released for this work; GSA first announced the two Alliant contracts in early 2004 and issued a draft proposal in March 2005. The procurement dragged on through delays and leadership changes, however, and the agency decided to reassess, leading to a February 2006 announcement of new plans for the contract.

Under the revised schedule, the public has until June 30 to submit comments on the draft RFP, and a final version will be published in October for contract award by summer 2007, according to GSA announcements. The draft RFPs, along with other documents for the contract, are posted on the FedBizOpps Web site, with additional information on GSA sites dedicated to the main contract and small business component.

Click here for the full story

IMPORTANT DHS SURVEY: Has Your Company Held or Bid on Contracts from the Department of Homeland Security?

Is your firm a small business that has held contracts or has bid on contracts with the Department of Homeland Security? If so, make your voice count here.

The House Committee on Homeland Security has requested that we send out a survey to obtain your views on the ability of small and minority businesses in obtaining homeland security government contracts through the Department of Homeland Security. The goal of this survey is to gain insight into your company's experiences with and perspectives about the Department of Homeland Security's contracting process, ranging from development and issuance of Request for Proposals (RFPs), responses to RFPs, success in securing contracts, the responsiveness of the bid protest process and difficulties faced in the payment process.

This survey will take less than 30 minutes of your time but will provide valuable information on the DHS contracting process. Individual responses will be confidential, and no identifying information will be released or revealed in any manner. Responses will be used to compile a statistical overview of issues covered in the questionnaire. The statistical compilation of the data collected may be presented to the general public for informational purposes or to Members of Congress for potential legislative action. DEADLINE: June 23rd.

Make your voice count here! Or contact:

Zahra Buck, J.D.
Professional Staff
House Homeland Security Committee
Minority Staff
H2-117 Ford House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515

Small Business Contracts Plunge to Record Low

The latest statistics on Federal small business contracting show the lowest participation by small businesses in recent history. According to current government figures, small businesses received a meager 17% of the total value of Federal contracts during fiscal year 2005. This number represents the lowest level of Federal contracts that have been awarded to small businesses in the past 20 years.

The Small Business Act of 1953 requires that 23% of Federal contracts go to small businesses. Last year, the SBA reported that 23.09% of contracts were awarded to small firms during FY 2004.

Full Story: http://www.targetgov.com/Content.asp?id=2313

SBA Closes Veterans Assistance Office

Without consultation or notification, the Bush Administration has closed its office at the Small Business Administration (SBA) solely dedicated to helping veteran-owned small businesses gain access to federal contracts. The Administration has also informed the Veterans Advisory Committee, another group dedicated to helping veteran small business owners, that their charter will not be extended and instead will expire this September. These unprecedented moves hurt America's veteran entrepreneurs and raise serious questions about the Administration's commitment to comply with federal law.

Budget cuts and Barreto's resignation leave SBA toothless. One small- business advocate is sounding the alarm as best he can that companies should prepare for the possible closure of the Small Business Administration. It's just a matter of time, said Lloyd Chapman, president of the American Small Business League. President Bush and the Republican-controlled Congress want to shut SBA's doors for good, he said.

Full Story:http://www.targetgov.com/Content.asp?id=2313

Web Site Governance Hotly Contested In Many Agencies

Who should be responsible for the content on a federal agency’s Web site—the agency’s public affairs office, CIO office or some other oversight body? Or should the program managers actually control the material?

This is the issue that many federal agencies are now grappling with, according to two researchers at George Mason University.

“As agency [W]eb sites become the most public agency presence for most citizens, the approval process for content [within these agencies] appears to be increasingly contested,” argued Julianne Mahler and Priscilla Regan of GMU’s Department of Public and International Affairs. Professor Regan is currently on leave from GMU, serving as a program director at the National Science Foundation. The two researchers studied how agencies manage their sites. They presented their findings at the International Conference on Digital Government Research, held recently in San Diego.

Full Story: http://www.targetgov.com/Content.asp?id=2314

More Companies Watching E-mail

By LARRY FIORINO
Special to The Daily Record

Forrester Research recently released a comprehensive survey of 294 U.S. companies with more than 1,000 employees concerning e-mail usage in their corporate environments.

During the last year, almost 33 percent of the companies have fired an employee for inappropriate usage of corporate e-mail, and over half the companies have disciplined an employee for the same types of infringements.

Currently, 38 percent of companies surveyed employ staff to analyze or read outgoing messages. This statistic may make many employees bristle, if they happen to be using corporate e-mail services for personal reasons. However, the main reason behind this trend is a bit more justifiable when companies were asked why they were concerned about outgoing employee e-mail.

Full Story: http://www.targetgov.com/Content.asp?id=2315

Negotiation Strategies for Entrepreneurs

Negotiation skills – an increasingly important part of virtually every aspect of business and life – are especially valuable to entrepreneurs engaged in growing their companies.

This month, Kauffman eVenturing features new articles to help emerging business owners become better negotiators in their daily and longer term business dealings. The articles include “Negotiation for Mutual Gain” by William Ury, distinguished global expert and co-founder of Harvard Law School’s program on negotiation. Ury explains how to enable both sides in a negotiation to gain by expanding (rather than dividing) the economic pie.
Click here to read this month’s collection on Kauffman eVenturing.

2006 Congressional Procurement Conference

Monday, June 12, 2006

The Procurement Conference will highlight the many opportunities that exist in the private and public sectors, at the federal, state & local levels. Special sessions will be devoted to the many new programs geared towards helping small/mid-size; women; and minority businesses to succeed in winning procurement contracts. Opportunities of referrals to organization with programs that would assist you getting the services you need to develop and grow.

The annual Congressional Procurement Conference & Expo, presented by the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce, is intended to help small, mid-sized, women and minority businesses to get a piece of the procurement pie.

Speakers include: Gloria Berthold: Government Business Development; Herbert Jordon: Minority Business Opportunities; Lockheed Martin, Ft Deitrick, GSA, Montgomery County, Clark Construction and many more!

More Information:http://www.targetgov.com/Content.asp?id=2305

Tax Bill Contains Tax Withholding On Payments To Contractors

Inserted into the massive tax bill passed in May, the Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2005 (H.R. 4297) signed by President Bush, is a new requirement mandating a 3% tax withholding on payments to contractors for goods and services provided to federal, state, and local governments. This new requirement could be potentially devastating to small federal contractors.

The provision does the following: requires tax withholdings at a rate of 3% on payments for products and services made by the federal government, as well as State and local governments with contracting expenditures of $100 million or more; imposes burdensome information reporting requirements on payments that are subject to the withholding; does not apply to payments for government employee wages, interest, real property, tax-exempt entities, foreign governments, classified contracts, and intra-governmental payments. The provision applies to payments starting in 2011.

The impetus for this provision came from five recommendations issued in Treasury’s Bluebook that was released with the President’s budget in February addressing the Tax Gap. The Treasury estimates this new requirement will result in raising $225 million in the next four years for the U.S. Treasury. WIPP is getting involved with a coalition headed up by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to address this provision. WIPP will continue to keep you informed of this issue.

New Kauffman Index

New Kauffman Index Presents State of Entrepreneurship in America

A national assessment of entrepreneurial activity by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation provides some eye-popping numbers. The new report shows that there were 464,000 people creating new business each month in 2005 – a rate of 0.29 percent of the total adult population. Besides year-to-year changes in entrepreneurship activity, the Kauffman Index -- defined as the percent of the adult U.S. population of non-business owners who start a business as their main job each month -- captures long-term trends. While the 2005 figure is actually down slightly from the previous year, it is equal to the average rate for the past ten years.

All stories © 2006 The Public Forum Institute Content from this newsletter may be reproduced for non-commercial purposes with proper attribution to the National Dialogue on Entrepreneurship and a link to www.publicforuminstitute.org/nde.

Full Story: http://www.targetgov.com/Content.asp?id=2307

GSA Has New Leadership and DHS Awards 32% Less

Doan Takes Oath of Office

Source: GSA Press Release
Lurita Doan Assumes Role as GSA AdministratorWednesday May 31, 4:52 pm ET
WASHINGTON, May 31 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Lurita Doan took the oath of office, becoming the 18th Administrator of the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA). Mrs. Doan is the first woman to hold this position. President George W. Bush nominated Mrs. Doan on April 6, and the Senate confirmed her nomination on May 26. U.S. District Court, Federal Judge, the Honorable Richard W. Roberts administered the oath of office at GSA headquarters with Mrs. Doan's husband, Doug, her two daughters and other family members, friends and GSA employees in attendance.

Full Story:http://www.targetgov.com/Content.asp?id=2308

GSA Solicits Input on IT Contracts Worth $65 Billion
By Jenny Mandel
The General Services Administration on Thursday released a draft request for proposals for its long-delayed Alliant and Alliant Small Business contracts, two governmentwide information technology vehicles together valued at $65 billion over 10 years.

The draft RFP is the second to be released for this work; GSA first announced the two Alliant contracts in early 2004 and issued a draft proposal in March 2005. The procurement dragged on through delays and leadership changes, however, and the agency decided to reassess, leading to a February 2006 announcement of new plans for the contract.

Full story: http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=34228&dcn=e_gvet

DHS Awards 32% Less Than Last Year In State, Local Grants

By Jonathan Marino
The Homeland Security Department on Wednesday announced that it has awarded $1.7 billion in grants this year to help states and localities combat terrorism and respond to disasters, representing a 32 percent decrease over grants awarded the previous year. DHS officials said they received applications for more than $5 billion in grants, but funding cutbacks forced them to re-evaluate some programs and make reductions. According to DHS documents published online, the department awarded more than $2.5 billion in grants in fiscal 2005. "We're dealing with significantly less money this year," said Tracy Henke, DHS' grants and training assistant secretary.

Full story: http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=34217&dcn=e_gvet

Summer: Doldrums or Sales Boon

"Our summer is extremely busy,"

"I expect some robust fiscal-year-end buying."

"Nearly $2 billion is sitting in vehicles that will probably be spent before Sept. 30."

"We see a fair amount of task order activity going on."

"Movement on procurements that were stalled earlier in fiscal 2006 provides another lift for summer sales."

These quotes came from an article on FCW.com which is listed as story number four, "Integrators brace for summer onslaught". Why are these companies seeing the summer months as a boon to their government sales while others are crying the blues about low sales or missed opportunities?

Generally, the successful people know how to work the federal sales cycle, they understand the importance of relationship-building and they are not afraid to aggressively pursue business opportunities when everyone else is settling in with a vacation attitude. Which camp are you in? Which camp do you want to be in?

Proactive marketing to government agencies can open doors to fiscal-year end business opportunities right now. And, even more important, you and your team will benefit from every targeted contact you make right now and for the rest of this last quarter.
Successful Strategies to Increase Summer Federal Government Sales:

1. Develop a strategy to identify and target the agencies with budgeted money left to spend.
2. Create a "fiscal-year-end" sales campaign to stress the benefits, advantages and special offers your company provides
3. Identify the SPECIFIC PEOPLE is the agencies who have purchased your services/products in the past.
4. Set up an aggressive contact schedule to include phone, email, direct mail and fax (if allowed) to these specific people.
5. Follow-up until you close the sales.

TargetGov is your secret weapon to zero in on the people who are involved in making purchasing decisions – become a subscriber and start using it today! Call toll-free: 866-579-1346. Want to learn more first hand from the experts? Attend the TargetGov Teleconference.

Click here for date/time details.

Slowed Security Clearances

Agencies may not meet goal of speeding security clearances

Government contractors and potential federal employees anticipating that the wait for security clearances will get shorter in December may be disappointed, industry officials are cautioning.
The 2004 Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act requires federal agencies to cut the wait for clearances to a maximum of 120 days for at least 80 percent of applications by the end of 2006. The deadline is a warm-up for 2009 deadlines that will require security clearances to be processed in 60 days and all Top Secret clearance requests to be completed in 120 days. But Trey Hodgkins, director of defense and intelligence issues for the Information Technology Association of America, said he doubts agencies will be up to the task.

"They are not even close to where they should be," he said. "They aren't anywhere in the ballpark."

Multiple intelligence sources said that when requests for a Top Secret clearance or for access to Sensitive Compartmentalized Information are handled through the Office of Personnel Management, they can take up to 18 months to process. An OPM spokesman, however, challenged that estimate, saying the agency's average time for an initial clearance investigation was closer to 150 days, or five months. "In fact, for Top Secret clearances with priority handling, the average processing time is only 53 days, [and] for all other clearance levels with priority handling, it's 64 days," said OPM spokesman Peter Graves.

Full Story:
http://www.govexec.com/

Defense agency resumes processing some clearances

By Jonathan Marino
The Defense Security Service late Tuesday announced it has located enough funding to partially resume processing of security clearances.

In a brief statement posted on its Web site, the agency said it has started processing initial requests for secret clearances. It still has not resumed its work on Top Secret clearance requests – which take more time – or on re-investigations of already cleared contractors who are renewing credentials, but said it will do so when additional funding is available.

The agency's move came on the eve of Senate and House committee hearings Wednesday to examine how DSS ran out of funds to process clearance requests, and what can be done to remedy the situation quickly. DSS' unexpected move to halt clearance processing late last month stunned and enraged some private sector managers who said it exacerbates recruitment problems. Some requests take more than a year to process.

Full story: http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=34105&dcn=e_ndw

Crisis at GSA

Agencies take their business elsewhere

After a decade-long stretch of red-hot IT sales at the General Services Administration, other federal agencies started looking elsewhere for IT procurements in 2004. In 2005, for the first time in years, GSA’s IT sales actually declined.

GSA’s information technology business is even more troubled than its chiefs initially let on. Revenues for its niche business of assisting agencies in buying highly customized systems and services — known as IT solutions — plummeted nearly $3 billion — about 40 percent — in the last two years.

Click here for full story

Telework in the Buff

There is one advantage to working from home you won't hear about from those who advocate for greater flexibilities in government agency's telework policies. According to a recent survey, 10 percent of teleworkers worldwide work in the nude. Another 39 percent wear sweats when working out of their homes.

Click here for full story

Lives of the Rich and Famous Tax Deadbeats

GAO finds 10 percent of GSA contractors owe back taxes

About 10 percent of all contractors hired by the General Services Administration owed $1.4 billion in unpaid taxes as of last June 30, GAO officials testified Tuesday before a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs subcommittee.

In the third hearing on delinquent contractors, GAO officials told the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations that the agency does not routinely check whether prospective contractors have tax liens against them or have failed to pay the payroll taxes they have collected from employees, which is a felony.

Some abuses were so egregious, said Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations Chairman Norm Coleman, R-Minn., they could be turned into a reality TV show called, "Lives of the Rich and Famous Tax Deadbeats

Click here for full story

How a Loss Can Turn Into a Win

Thank you to the US Department of Health and Human Services for this story from their most recent newsletter: HHS Pulse. Subscribe here.

In 2003, the owners of a relatively new company, TurningPoint Global Solutions, pursued a small business contract with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). TurningPoint was one of 23 companies that submitted a bid even though it had no prior relationship with FDA staff. Not surprisingly, TurningPoint didn’t win the contract.

Instead, the firm’s managing partners, Bangalore Shivacharan and David Hughes, used the procurement post-award debriefing as an advantage to get TurningPoint’s foot in the door and meet what would soon become its future client. “The debriefing presented us with the opportunity to meet the FDA staff and develop personal relationships and gain the confidence with the individuals at FDA who make the procurement decisions,” said TurningPoint’s Hughes.

To learn How to Do Business with HHS and Access a $600 Billion Market click here.

10 Cool Colleges for Entrepreneurs

Fortune Small Business (FSB) is out with an interesting list of ten cool colleges for entrepreneurs. Instead of ranking schools, FSB opted to list schools that are doing interesting and innovative things in terms of teaching entrepreneurship.
The list includes:
-DePaul
-Florida International (FIU)
-Harvard
-Howard
-Simmons College
-Sitting Bull College
-University of Arizona
-Tucson
-University of Colorado
-Boulder
-University of Texas
-Austin and the University of Rochester

Several of these schools (FlU, Howard, and Rochester) were winners of grants from the Kauffman Campuses Initiative, sponsored by the Kauffman Foundation. Others had unique niches like Sitting Bull College’s focus on Native American entrepreneurship, Colorado’s stress on “green” entrepreneurship, and Simmons College’s focus on supporting women entrepreneurs.
Click here for the article “Ten Cool Colleges for Entrepreneurs,” by Patricia Gray, which appears in the March 2, 2006 edition of Fortune Small Business.

Security Institute Conference

The Third Annual Government Security Market:Opportunities and Challenges

•April 24-25, 2006
National Press Club529
14th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20045

The Security Institute was created to further the education and information sharing among providers of security services and security end users. We partner with many leading organizations and associations working to improve security by opening additional lines of communication between commercial vendors of security products and services and a wide range of security end users, including the corporate and government communities. The Security Institute offers educational programs for security service provider management regarding business operations and marketing, as well as targeted programs for security end users.

For more information and registration, click here

OSDBU Conference April 20, 2006

Come by the TargetGov booth #205 on Thursday, April 20, 2006

8:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
The Show Place Arena
14900 Pennsylvania Avenue
Upper Marlboro, MD

The OSDBU Procurement Conference is a national conference fostering business partnerships between the Federal Government, its Prime Contractors, and small, minority, service-disabled veteran-owned, veteran-owned, HUBZone, and women-owned businesses.

The cost to attend the OSDBU 2006 Conference is $100 for industry attendees registering before 4/1/2006 and $175 for industry attendees registering on or after 4/1/2006.

Click here to go to the secure on-line attendee registration form.

Hiring Strategies for Entrepreneurs Seeking Top Talent

Identifying and hiring the top team to help take a company to the next level is one the toughest challenges faced by entrepreneurs. A new collection of articles on the Kauffman eVenturing website addresses that challenge, looking to help business owners become more successful in their quest to hire more “A-list” winners. Filled with practical, actionable advice written by experienced entrepreneurs and hiring experts, the articles emphasize the longer-term value of using a more structured, disciplined approach to add an element of ‘science’ to the art of hiring the best people for an entrepreneurial company.

To read the full collection on “Methods for Evaluating Top Team Candidates” please visit Kauffman eVenturing at www.eVenturing.org.

U.S. Department of Defense Contracts

McDonnell Douglas Corp, St Louis, Mo., is being awarded a $240,060,000 firm fixed price with cost reimbursement type for alternate disputes resolution contract for Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) Lot 10 Guided Vehicle (GV) kits quantity of 10,000. The Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) weapon system provides the Air Force and the Navy with an improved aerial delivery capability for existing 500, 1000 and 2000-pound bombs. The JDAM is a strap-on kit with Inertial Navigation System (INS/Global Positioning Systems (GPS) capability. At this time, total funds have been obligated. Solicitations began in November 2005 and negotiations were complete in March 2006. This work will be complete March 2008. The Headquarters Air to Ground Munitions Systems Wing, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity (FA8681-06-C-0058).

For more information:
http://www.dod.mil/contracts/2006/ct20060303-12595.html

DHS earns poor marks from House Democrats

By Alice Lipowicz
3/02/2006
Government Computer News

The Homeland Security Department scored a D grade for emergency preparedness, critical infrastructure protection, redress for errors on the terrorist watch list, and overall procurement and contracting, according to the 2006 annual report card issued by Democratic members of the House Homeland Security Committee.

The department received C’s for port, aviation and transportation security, border security, chemical plant protection, information-sharing, science and technology, and cybersecurity. The highest grades were B-minuses for the Safecom interoperability program and for privacy protection.

“In the past three years, the department’s evolution has been a troubled one,” Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), senior Democrat on the committee, said in a news release.

While, thankfully, the department has not yet been tested by another terrorist attack, its performance fell well below expectations in the face of Mother Nature and Hurricane Katrina last year,” he wrote.

For full story
http://www.gcn.com/online/vol1_no1/38366-1.html

The Incredible Shrinking Company: Corporate giants snag federal small business set-aside contracts

By Christopher Moraff
January/February 2006
Dollars & Sense Magazine

Between 2002 and 2005, St. Augustine, Fla., exercise equipment vendor Raul Espinosa watched mystified as, one after another, a series of Air Force contracts he had placed bids on were given to other companies. Of the 14 bids that Espinosa has documented, his company, FitNet International, did not win one. To his surprise, Espinosa learned that some of the competitors he was losing contracts to had never even bothered to bid on them.

Espinosa was no stranger to adversity. At 14 he came to the United States alone from Cuba and managed to work his way through college and graduate school. He formed FitNet in 1995 to sell exercise equipment to the U.S. military. A certified minority-owned small business, FitNet describes itself as a purchasing alliance that represents over 400 equipment suppliers. The company has three employees and grosses under $1 million a year.

Now, Espinosa was getting a first-class lesson in corporate pandering that he'd never bargained for; it would take him three years to uncover the full story.

Click here for full story:
http://www.dollarsandsense.org/archives/2006/0106moraff.html

Federal IT Dollars

President Bush’s fiscal year 2007 budget, released by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), will favor information technology (IT) requests in support of the war on terror and homeland security. The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) IT budget increase is the most significant, with an increase of 21% to more than $4.4 billion. The President’s budget adds $772 million to the DHS fiscal ’07 budget, which represents 44% of the new money added to federal IT spending overall.

Federal agencies plan to spend $64.3 billion on IT in fiscal ’07, which represents a 3% increase from the fiscal ’06 budget. “The message delivered by OMB is that performance and measurement will play critical roles in the review and approval of budgeted spending, especially the close review of agency-by-agency progress reports on meeting administration goals for managing IT projects and developing effective business cases,” said James Krouse, acting director, public sector market analysis for INPUT.

Overall, 21 of 27 civilian agencies received an IT budget increase. Other significant agency winners in the President’s budget request include the Department of Labor, with a more than 13% increase, and the Department of the Interior, with a nearly 9% increase. Cybersecurity has also been elevated as a priority area with a budget increase to $5.2 billion.

Federal Government Contracting Driving Growth

Record federal spending, which has increased significantly in the Greater Washington area since 9/11, continues to be the engine driving the current economic upswing. At an Economic Conference today, Stephen Fuller, PhD, Director, Center for Regional Analysis at George Mason University, announced that the U.S. Government spent $339 billion nationally in federal procurement in fiscal year 2004. More than 15 percent ($52.6 billion) of this national total stayed in the Greater Washington region. This represents a 19 percent increase over the previous fiscal year.

Which sector is benefiting most from the increase in federal dollars? The area’s technology sector has been the winner for the past few years. According to Dr. Fuller, the government accounts for more than 70 percent of the sales of technology products and services in Greater Washington.

www.greaterwashington.org

Small businesses (under 500 employees) won over $100 billion in federal contracts in 2004

Small businesses (under 500 employees) won $69 billion in federal prime contracts in fiscal 2004, or 23 percent of the total pot of almost $300 billion that was open to small companies, according to a report released Thursday by the Small Business Administration's Office of Advocacy.
Subcontracting figures were unavailable for 2004, but were estimated at nearly $50 billion based on projections from 2003 subcontracts valued at about $45.5 billion, according to the document.

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