US Innovation is Strong – with Federal Help

Today’s innovation is not your father’s—or your grandfather’s---innovation. The way that new products, services, and technologies emerge has changed. A new study sponsored by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation analyzes decades of data with interesting results. One major finding is that the role of Federal investments in supporting innovations has grown rapidly.

Click here for more of the report’s interesting results.

$162 Billion War Appropriations Bill Signed

President Bush on Monday signed legislation to pay for the war operations in Iraq and Afghanistan for the rest of his presidency and beyond, hailing the $162 billion plan as a rare product of bipartisan cooperation...The legislation will bring to more than $650 billion the amount Congress has provided for the Iraq war since it began more than five years ago...

Click here to read the entire article

Is Your Firm A Gazelle?

New SBA Office of Advocacy-sponsored research offers compelling evidence in support of findings that should come as no surprise: high-growth gazelle firms matter. The research uses a new data set developed by the Corporate Research Board to get a sense of what high-impact firms look like and how they affect the economy. The study reviews the period between 1994 and 2006, and, in the last time frame of 2002-2006, it identifies more than 376,000 high impact firms... There’s a reason why these companies are called “high impact.”

Click here to read the entire article

© 2008 The Public Forum Institute and the National Dialogue on Entrepreneurship

Have you heard?

Good News for Small Business and the DoD
"Notice of reinstitution of small business set-asides under the Small Business Competitiveness Demonstration Program."

Click here for more details

IRS Gas Mileage Reimbursement Going Up
"The IRS announced on Tuesday that beginning July 1, the standard rate used to calculate the deductible costs of operating an automobile for business purposes will be increased to...the highest rate ever"

Click here to read more

House appropriators approve DHS spending bill
"The House Appropriations Committee Tuesday approved an fiscal 2009 spending bill for the Homeland Security Department, after voting on a handful of Republican amendments...$2.3 billion more than President Bush requested."

Click here for more details

Teaming for Growth: Diversity Procurement Fair

The Diversity Fair is an opportunity to participate in a forum for regional companies and professionals, Tuesday, June 24, 2008, to explore the unique and lucrative business of Government Prime and Subcontracting. The day will feature strategic networking opportunities and several educational workshops where TargetGov will present: "New Strategies and Tactics to Win Government Contracts"

Click here for more information on the conference and how to register

Certifications: Learn the Basics and the Crucial Next Steps

Do you qualify for certifications? Attend the Certifications: Learn the Basics and the Crucial Next Steps conference, Thursday, July 17, 2008, sponsored by TargetGov and the Center for Business and Technology Development. This conference is specifically designed to teach the small business owner to use certification as a tool to open the door to increased business opportunities.

Learn to tap into over $15 billion in federal contracts set aside for companies meeting Minority, Disadvantaged and other certifications.

Click here for more information

Diversity Procurement Conference

Teaming for Growth is a Diversity Procurement Fair that you won’t want to miss. The Fair will be held on June 24th, 2008 at the Engineer’s Club beautiful Garrett Jacobs Mansion in the historic Mt. Vernon neighborhood of Baltimore City. The purpose of the fair is to create a forum for regional companies and professionals to explore the unique and lucrative business of Government Prime and Subcontracting. The day will feature; scheduled one-on-one matching sessions with purchasing and procurement officers from Government Agencies and Prime Contractors who have small and diversity business goals. It will also include several educational workshops and strategic networking opportunities.

Click here for more information about the conference

We've Got Good News and...

'Churn' Good for Growth and Productivity

"Job losses and business failures are certainly distressing to the individual... the churning process replaces lower productivity businesses with new, more productive ones, thereby increasing productivity and raising living standards."

Click here to learn more

Wells Fargo/Gallup: Small Business Confidence at Record Lows

"confidence has been dropping for more than a year...A number of factors are scaring small business owners--especially concerns about future cash flow."

© 2008 The Public Forum Institute and the National Dialogue on Entrepreneurship

Click here to learn more

340 out of 351 Contractors Win Navy IDIQ

The U.S. Navy is awarding indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity multiple award contracts to 340 contractors that will provide for their competition for service requirements solicited by Naval Sea Systems Command, Naval Air Systems Command, Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command, Naval Supply Systems Command, Military Sealift Command, Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Strategic Systems Programs, Office of Naval Research, Defense Threat Reduction Agency and the United States Marine Corps.

Click here for the entire listing

GOVERNMENT CONTRACTORS ETHICS GUIDANCE NOW AVAILABLE

"Under new Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) Part 3.10 that took effect last December, all government contractors are now required to establish ethics programs suitable to the size of the company and the nature of their federal contracting to help prevent fraud and drive ethical conduct," said Open Compliance and Ethics Group (OCEG) President, Carole Stern Switzer. "But like similar regulations imposed on other industries and activities, these regulations don't tell contractors how best to comply.” Click here for more details.

Clean Contracting Act

Congressman Henry Waxman, Chair of the House Government Reform Committee, which has jurisdiction over government contracting, introduced a wide ranging contracting amendment last week called the “Clean Contracting Act” that will affect ALL government contractors.

A sampling of the changes include:

TITLE XLI—ENHANCED COMPETITION
Sec. 4101. Minimizing sole-source contracts.
Sec. 4102. Limitation on length of certain noncompetitive contracts.

TITLE XLII—CURBING ABUSE-PRONE CONTRACTS
Sec. 4201. Regulations to minimize the inappropriate use of cost-reimbursement contracts.
Sec. 4202. Preventing abuse of interagency contracts.
Sec. 4203. Prohibitions on the use of lead systems integrators.

Additional acquisition, fraud and transparency topics are covered as well. Click here for the full text.

I am looking for feedback from contractors regarding the suggested changes. This amendment will be proposed as part of the DOD Authorization bill. Let me know what you think! Deadline for replies to me is June 13, 2008. Email me at info@targetgov.com. Of course, feel free to contact your Congressperson to let them know what you think of the bill as well!

WIPP announces 2008 Elizabeth Dole Young Entrepreneur Scholarship

Women Impacting Public Policy is pleased to announce the release of the application for the 2008 Elizabeth Dole Young Entrepreneur Scholoarship: this year’s application deadline is June 30th. The Scholarship, established in 2006 honoring Senator Dole as the WIPP Congressional Award Winner, is completing its first program year watching young women business owners grow and thrive in their community. It has been an exciting and educational process and we are eager to begin the process for the coming program year.

The scholarship is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to gain knowledge, skills and guidance from successful women business owners – as well as have a chance to receive a cash award to help grow their business!

The Elizabeth Dole Young Entrepreneur Scholarship is a bi-partisan effort, established to recognize high potential young women business owners who are leaders in their community, with resources and guidance to excel their businesses and personal success.

Here are the qualifications to take advantage of this opportunity:

• At least 51% woman-owned
• Entrepreneur between the ages of 21-35
• U.S. Citizen
• Business 5 years old or less
• Revenue of $500, 000 or less for service industries OR $1milion or less for manufacturing industries
• The business has capacity to assume more debt
• Owner has a satisfactory personal credit history

Interested in supporting the Elizabeth Dole Young Entrepreneur Scholarship?

WIPP also invites you to join us as a sponsor of this important effort. Sponsorship opportunities are available for as low as $50.00 and all sponsors will be recognized along with the program and at the 2008 WIPP Annual Conference in Washington, DC. Sponsorship of the Elizabeth Dole Young Entrepreneur Scholarship sends a powerful message of women business owners helping women business owners.

If you or know someone who might be interested, click here for more details

Calling All Ant Fighters: Texas Needs You!

"If you open a computer, you would find a cluster of ants on the motherboard and all over. You'd get 3,000 or 4,000 ants inside, and they create arcs. They'll wipe out any computer."

Hoards of aggressive ants are damaging computers and other electronic equipment in Texas. The “crazy rasberry ant” has been named after Tom Rasberry, owner of Budget Pest Control in Pearland, Texas. Exterminators have found it nearly impossible to kill the ants. Yes, you can kill some of them, at least the first wave, maybe. However, there are so many more ants coming behind them, that the insecticide becomes ineffective. Even NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston is threatened by these tiny creatures.

For more details go to: http://urbanentomology.tamu.edu/ants/exotic_tx.cfm

Are the DHS Small Business Figures Accurate?

In 2007, the Homeland Security Department was one of the few federal agencies to state that they met each of the government's small business contracting goals.

House lawmakers now have suggested those figures may have been boosted by creative double counting, in which small firms that fall into more than one socio-economic category are counted more than once for each contract they were awarded.

"DHS has met each of its federal contracting goals for small, minority, and disadvantaged businesses, but crediting a single procurement action to more than one contracting goal may create a misperception of the participation of small, minority and disadvantaged businesses." according to a report issued by the majority staff of the House Homeland Security Committee.

Click here to read full article

SBA increases size limits for small firm contracts

Dallas Business Journal

Kent Hoover Washington Bureau Chief

The U.S. Small Business Administration plans to increase the size limits on federal research contracts made to small companies through the Small Business Innovative Research program.

Eleven federal agencies with outside research budgets of $100 million or more are required to award at least 2.5 percent of this R&D spending to small businesses through the SBIR program, which was created in 1982.

The awards are granted in phases, with up to $100,000 available to test the technical merit or feasibility of an idea or technology, and $750,000 available for additional research and development and evaluation of the technology's commercial potential.

Click here to read the full article.

New Sessions for Government Contractors

TargetGov and the Center for Business and Technology Development are sponsoring two sessions
for government contractors.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Introduction to Government Contracting: Entering the Market

This workshop is designed for the novice and will provide an overview of how and what the government buys, registrations, certifications, purchase vehicles, the capability statement, marketing processes, and more.

time: 8:30am-12:00 noon

Advanced Government Contracting: Winning the Contract

The advanced session is designed for those already in the procurement arena and will include discussion of the federal purchase process, evaluating the various bid offers, analyzing opportunities for the best match, the prooposal and response process, strategies for securing the contract, contract management, and more.

time: 1:00-4:30pm

Preregistration is required. Cost: $129 each session, $229 for both sessions

Location:
The Center for Business and Technology Development
The Thomas Dorsey Building
9250 Bendix Road, North
Columbia, MD 21045

For more information and to register:
www.hceda.org/CBTD/busevents.aspx
Phone: 410-313-6550

Business Week’s Most Innovative Companies

The latest issue of Business Week contains its rankings of the world’s 25 most innovative companies. The list, developed in cooperation with the Boston Consulting Group, is based on surveys of more than 2500 leading corporate executives. Not surprisingly, Apple tops the list for the third straight year. Most respondents lauded Apple for its introduction of the iPhone which has, in only ten months, pushed Apple to #3 in the global smartphone market. Other innovative firms include (in rank order): Google, Toyota, General Electric, and Microsoft.

“The 25 Most Innovative Companies: Smart Ideas for Tough Times,” appears in the April 28, 2008 issue of Business Week.

© 2008 The Public Forum Institute and the National Dialogue on Entrepreneurship www.publicforuminstitute.org/nde.

New National Innovation Foundation Proposed

A new report from the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation and the Brookings Institution suggests that a new National Innovation Foundation could do a better job of structuring key Federal agencies to support innovation. The study recommends that a newly created National Innovation Foundation serve as the Federal government’s primary support mechanism and point of contact for issues related to innovation. The report proposes three possible structures for a new NIF: housed within the Commerce Department; a publicly-sponsored corporation similar to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting; and, as an independent federal agency like the National Science Foundation. Regardless of the final structure, the NIF would seek to:

Catalyze industry-university research partnerships through national sector research grants.
Expand regional innovation-promotion through state-level grants to fund activities like technology commercialization and entrepreneurial support.
Encourage technology adoption by assisting small and mid-sized firms in implementing best-practice processes and organizational forms that they do not currently use.
Support regional industry clusters with grants for cluster development.
Emphasize performance and accountability by measuring and researching innovation, productivity, and the value-added to firms from NIF assistance.
Champion innovation by promoting innovation policy within the federal government and serving as an expert resource on innovation to other agencies.

It is anticipated that legislation will soon be introduced in the Senate. This promises to kick-off a new round of discussion about how big a role the Federal government could or should play in unleashing America’s innovation capacity.

Download the April 2008 report from the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation and the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program, Boosting Productivity, Innovation and Growth through a National Innovation Foundation, by Robert Atkinson and Howard Wial.

© 2008 The Public Forum Institute and the National Dialogue on Entrepreneurship www.publicforuminstitute.org/nde.

Briefing and Small Business Conference for potential Army Government Contractors

Army Team Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) will be hosting the annual Advance Planning Briefing for Industry (APBI) and Small Business Conference (SBC) at Ft. Monmouth, NJ on May 28-29, 2008.

Advance Planning Briefing for Industry

The purpose of the Advance Planning Briefing for Industry (APBI) is to provide industry with a comprehensive overview of Army Team C4ISR requirements and corresponding contract opportunities that will be available within the next few years.

Small Business Conference

The Small Business Conference brings together small business leaders and key CECOM LCMC decision makers. It provides a forum for direct exchange of information and ideas among senior officials and small business leaders and will facilitate small businesses getting their fair share of CECOM LCMC contracts and ensure that the command maintains a viable small business program.


Click here to learn more and for registration information.

Speak up Now! The IRS seeks public comment on law: a 3% withholding tax required by all government contractors

Companies that do business with government entities should be aware that in May 2006 both the House and Senate passed the Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2005, Pub. L. No. 109-222 (TIPRA). Accordingly, the Internal Revenue Service recently posted a notice regarding the new requirement for government entities to withhold three percent on payment for property and services. The IRS is seeking public comment on this notice by April 28, 2008. If implemented, this notice will impact companies with existing government contracts that expire after December 31, 2010. To read Notice 2000-38 visit the IRS website: http://www.irs.gov/govt/fslg/article/0,,id=180377,00.html