Baltimore Businesswoman Returns from Middle East Business Development Summit

Berthold Chosen to Speak with Summit Attendees from 17 Countries

November 28, 2006. (Baltimore, MD) 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.

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.

Berthold said “Businesswomen in the Middle East and North Africa deal with the same challenges as we do in the U.S. – start-up issues, financing growth, opening new markets, and finding, training and keeping good employees all while contributing to the community and caring for family. I found that we had more similarities than differences and was delighted to discover that these common threads allowed frank and open discussion of not just the common problems, but also encouraged creative thinking of a range of solutions.”

The Summit was a forum for 250 dynamic women from 17 countries and territories from Iraq to Morocco to join with women executives and leaders from the United States to take entrepreneurship in the region to the next level. MEPI announced at the Summit that new businesswomen’s hubs have been formed to provide ongoing support of this network in Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, the Palestinian territories, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. These hubs are as a result of the dreams and goals expressed by the businesswomen at the first summit in 2005, which was held in Tunisia.

In addition to the discussions and roundtables, featured presenters included a speech of Her Highness Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak, H. E. Suhair Al Ali, Minister of Industry and International Cooperation, Jordan; The Honorable Karen Hughes, Under Secretary of State and Public Diplomacy; The Honorable Michele Sison, U. S. Ambassador to the U.A.E. and from the Forbes List of the 50 Most Influential Women in the Arab World: Raja Easa Al Gurg, Managing Director Easa Saleh Al Gurg Group.

“To say I was honored to be chosen to participate is an understatement of great magnitude” said Berthold. “While I consider this to be a trip of a lifetime, it has also opened my eyes to the opportunities we have outside of our own borders. I am now inspired to redouble my efforts to be a business facilitator and connect U.S. businesspeople with global opportunities and help open doors here for those who wish to do business with us.”

Berthold coordinated the creation and in-person delivery of proclamations from the following organizations declaring congratulations and support for the businesswomen’s efforts in Abu Dhabi, U.A.E.: Women Impacting Public Policy (WIPP), a national. organization representing a half million business women throughout the U.S., the Baltimore-Washington Corridor Chamber of Commerce, the only regional chamber in the mid-Atlantic area, and the Business Women’s Network of Howard County. “I felt that these three organizations represented a wide range of businesswomen in the U.S. and was moved that they would each agree to participate in sending official greetings and open the doors to future communications with the women in Abu Dhabi.

Note: Photos can be provided in electronic format upon request.

Gloria Berthold is president of TargetGov at Marketing Outsource Associates, Inc, a full service business development firm specializing in government contracting and business to business markets. She can be reached through the web site: http://www.targetgov.com/.

Ignorance is NOT Bliss in Government Contracting

By: Don Walsh

Many government contractors are baptized by fire into the labor requirements of government contracts.

Although a bumpy ride, the majority of government contractors have become familiar with such things as having appropriate documentation of employment eligibility, security clearances and the importance of accurate and certified payrolls.

Over the past few years, however, the landscape for employers has dramatically changed creating issues for unsuspecting contractors who do not realize that these requirements may trump even contractual requirements and bid prices.

For contracts imposing the Service Contract Act (SCA), employees must be paid wages and fringe benefits that are no less than the prevailing wages and fringe benefits paid to private and public sector employees in the same locality who perform similar work. Unlike the commercial market where the parties to a contract may agree on the wages to be paid an employee, the SCA interjects the Department of Labor into the process. Its Wage and Hour Division is authorized to make the determination of the "prevailing wage" regardless of what the contracting officer may have agreed to and regardless of what the contractor may have proposed.

This ability of the Department of Labor to modify the payment terms of the contract poses an inherent risk to the contractor and has provided fertile ground for contract disputes.

In addition to incorrectly classifying an employee’s labor category, the Department of Labor and private litigants have also launched increased scrutiny into whether salaried employees are exempt from overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Careful inspection of the duties of all salaried employees is necessary to ensure that they meet one of the tests created for overtime exemption. Similar to labor misclassifications, the overriding power of the Department of Labor and the jurisdictional limitations of the various Boards of Contract Appeals limit the ability of the contracting officer to permit the employer to defend these misclassifications based on the contract, the treatment of employees by predecessor contractors or even by similar positions and pay by the government.

Improper classification of labor category or overtime exemption status frequently involve multiple current and former employees and expose employers to back wages, liquidated damages, and the employee’s counsel fees.

This is not to say, however, that contractors are left without any contractual remedies. With moderate success, many contractors have recovered increased costs utilizing either the Price Adjustment Clause in their contracts or "common law" theories, such as constructive change, mutual mistake, superior knowledge, and equitable estoppel.

To avoid such entanglements, prudent contractors must take special precaution to carefully review all of the duties of positions proposed to ensure the appropriate classification.

Don Walsh is a partner at Offit Kurman, PA concentrating in commercial litigation, employment law and all aspects of government procurements including contractual and administrative issues arising when doing business with federal, state and local governments. He can be reached at 443.738.1583.

Exit Strategies for Women-Owned Firms

For some time, the conventional wisdom was that women are more “attached” to their businesses than men. As a result, some observers felt that women entrepreneurs were less open to clear exit strategy (IPO or a sale) than their male counterparts.

This belief has little grounding in reality according to new research from Center for Women’s Business Research and MassMutual.

In a survey of successful business owners (firms more than five years old with more than $1 million in annual revenue), researchers found few differences between men and women in terms of their development of a long-term exit strategy.

Both men and women entrepreneurs had developed such a strategy, and both groups deemed price to be the key factor in determining whether to sell a business. Women business owners did express a greater concern about the sale’s impact on their employees.

First time women business owners were more reluctant to sell their companies. Serial women entrepreneurs showed no differences compared to men when it comes to propensity to sell their business.

Click here to learn more about the Center for Women’s Business Research Report, Exit Strategies of Women and Men Business Owners

© 2006 The Public Forum Institute and the National Dialogue on Entrepreneurship

Changes on the Hill: Will Business Benefit?

The New Landscape on the Hill: What Will it Mean for America’s Entrepreneurs?

Now that the dust from Election 2006 appears to be settled, it is time to take a closer look at the potential effects of the changed political landscape on America’s innovation economy. Most of the recent economic news has been pretty good. American companies are prospering, and the base for innovation and entrepreneurship is fairly strong. However, long term worries -- related to trade and current account deficits and a challenged K-12 education system -- lay on the horizon.

At the highest level, it’s unlikely that Democratic control of Congress will change this pattern very much. While Democrats have assumed the majority, their margins are not huge – and quite vulnerable to a veto from the White House. Thus, Congress will be unlikely to introduce huge shifts in policy in the coming two years. However, they will be able to get new issues and ideas on the table via Congressional hearings, and, as we will see below, they will also likely generate some changed policies and priorities in targeted areas.

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Upcoming Training and Seminars January 2007: Jan & Feb

Click here for the complete TargetGov Teleconference schedule.

Government Contractor Resources Seminar January 30, 2007: 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

Click here to view further information