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SBA Seeks Nominations for 2011 National Small Business Awards

October 19, 2010 By Leave a Comment

The U.S. Small Business Administration is now accepting nominations for its 2011 National Small Business Week Awards.

Each year, since 1963, SBA’s Small Business Week Awards have recognized outstanding individuals from America’s small business community for their achievements and contributions to our nation’s economy. In 2010, this celebration will honor the estimated 27 million small businesses in America, and is an opportunity to showcase and recognize some of the best and brightest of these with the SBA’s annual Small Business Week Awards.

Small Business Week 2010 Award Categories include:

  • Small Business Person of the Year
  • Small Business Exporter of the Year
  • SBA Young Entrepreneur of the Year
  • Jeffrey Butland Family-Owned Business of the Year
  • Financial Services Champion of the Year
  • Home-Based Business Champion of the Year
  • Minority Small Business Champion of the Year
  • Veteran Small Business Champion of the Year
  • Women in Business Champion of the Year
  • Entrepreneurial Success Award
  • Phoenix Awards (for disaster recovery)

State winners of the Small Business Person of the Year awards attend the national Small Business Week celebration in Washington, D.C., in May to compete for the title of National Small Business Person of the Year. Award winners in other categories go on to compete at the regional and national level, with national Champions, who are small business advocates, invited to attend the national event.

For nomination guidelines and a list of all awards, go to:
http://www.sba.gov/idc/groups/public/documents/ia_des_moines/sbwnominationguidelines2011.pdf or go to the “2011 SBW Nomination Guidelines PDF” link under “Spotlight” at: http://www.sba.gov/localresources/

More information about these and other SBA programs is available on the SBA Web site at www.sba.gov. Contact information for your local SBA field office can be found at http://www.sba.gov/localresources/index.html.

2009 Winner Waymon Armstrong pictured below:

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SBA finalizes women’s small business contracting program

October 17, 2010 By Leave a Comment

The Small Business Administration finally has started to implement a contracting program for women who own small firms, one decade after Congress first authorized it. On Monday (Oct 4, 2010), SBA filed a final rule creating the long-awaited procurement program, which focuses on 83 industries in which women are underrepresented in the federal contracting marketplace. Program participants will be eligible for set-aside deals of less than $3 million for most contracts and $5 million for manufacturing.

The Federal Register: Women-Owned Small Business Federal Contract Program

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SBA’s Patriot Express Loan Initiative Delivers Nearly $500 Million to 6,000 Vets and Military Community

July 1, 2010 By Leave a Comment

The SBA issued the following press release on July 1st:

Washington, DC – In just three years’ time, the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Patriot Express Pilot Loan Initiative has supported nearly $500 million in Patriot Express loans to small businesses owned and operated by veterans, reservists and their spouses.

Patriot Express Loans, which can be used to start or expand a small business, increased over the past two years due in part to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which raised loan guarantees to 90 percent, and temporarily eliminated fees for borrowers on all SBA loans. To date more than 6,000 loans have been made.

Patriot Express was launched June 28, 2007, to expand upon the nearly $1 billion in loans SBA guarantees annually for veteran-owned businesses. SBA also offers counseling assistance and procurement support each year to more than 200,000 veterans, service-disabled veterans, reservists and members of the National Guard.

“America’s veterans have the leadership skills and experience to become successful entrepreneurs and small business owners,” SBA Administrator Karen Mills said. “As we celebrate Independence Day, we renew our commitment to more than 26 million veterans and service members across the country, including the thousands returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. The Patriot Express initiative, in conjunction with other SBA programs, puts more capital and more tools in the hands of veterans as they grow their businesses and create the jobs America needs.”

Patriot Express is a streamlined loan product based on the agency’s highly successful SBA Express Program, but with an enhanced guaranty and interest rate. Patriot Express loans are offered by SBA’s network of participating lenders nationwide and features one of SBA’s fastest turnaround times for loan approvals. Patriot Express loans are available for up to $500,000.

The Patriot Express loan can be used for most business purposes, including start-up, expansion, equipment purchases, working capital, inventory or business-occupied real-estate purchases. Local SBA district offices can provide lists of Patriot Express lenders in their areas. Details on the initiative can be found at www.sba.gov/patriotexpress.

Patriot Express is available to military community members including veterans, service-disabled veterans, active-duty service members participating in the military’s Transition Assistance Program, Reservists and National Guard members, current spouses of any of the above, and the widowed spouse of a service member or veteran who died during service, or of a service-connected disability. The average loan amount is almost $82,000. Nearly 15 percent of those loans have gone to military spouses. After a loan application is approved by a commercial lender, it is submitted to SBA for approval. Most applications are approved by SBA within 24 hours.

Additionally, SBA has entered an agreement with six major universities to expand and deliver entrepreneurship training for service-disabled veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in a program called Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities (EBV). For more information go to www.whitman.syr.edu/ebv.

SBA also offers business counseling through veterans’ business development officers in district offices in every state and territory to provide access to SBA’s range of programs and services. SBA recently expanded the Veterans Business Outreach Centers to 16 locations. They can be located at http://www.sba.gov/aboutsba/sbaprograms/ovbd/OVBD_VBOP.html.

In addition to district offices, SBA’s resource partners SCORE, Counselors to America’s Small Business, an expanded Small Business Development Center program for veterans, and Women’s Business Centers, provide local and online assistance with: writing a business plan, financing options to start or grow your business, managing the business, expanding the business and selling goods and services to the government. The agency, along with other federal agencies, recently entered a joint agreement to help Native American/Alaska Native Veteran-owned businesses with an entrepreneurship education program at The Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.

For those who are already small business owners and who expect call-up, the SBA and its resource partners can help with preparing their businesses before deployment, managing their businesses, selling goods and services to the government, obtaining other SBA financing and financial assistance, and obtaining loans for economic injury – Military Reserve Economic Injury Disaster Loans (MREIDL). Loans of up to $2 million are available for small businesses sustaining economic injury because an owner or essential employee has been called to active duty as a military reservist.

The SBA and its Office of Veterans Business Development (OVBD) provides comprehensive assistance, outreach and support to veterans. Each year SBA helps more than 200,000 veterans, service-disabled veterans and reservists. To learn more about additional opportunities for veterans available through the SBA, please visit the website at www.sba.gov/vets.

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SBA Adds Eight New Veterans Business Outreach Centers to Assist Veteran Entrepreneurs

April 15, 2010 By Leave a Comment

The SBA will be offering Veterans in business and those considering getting into business support and services in eight new markets:

  • State University of New Jersey – Newark, New Jersey
  • Old Dominion University – Norfolk, Virginia
  • University of Pennsylvania – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
  • Fayetteville State University – Fayetteville, North Carolina
  • New Mexico Department of Veterans’ Services – Santa Fe, New Mexico
  • Southwest Louisiana Business Development Center – Jennings, Louisiana
  • Chippewa Cree Tribe – Box Elder, Montana
  • University of Guam – Mangilao, Guam

    _______________________________________________________________________________

    SBA Press Release:

    WASHINGTON – Eight new Veterans Business Outreach Centers (VBOCs) funded by the U.S. Small Business Administration will join seven existing SBA centers to provide entrepreneurial development services to eligible military veterans and reservists who own or start small businesses. SBA is providing a total of $2.5 million in grants to the centers, continuing funding to the existing centers, and new funding for the new centers.

    “Our service men and women have made invaluable contributions and sacrifices for our country and supporting them as they pursue their life’s dreams to start or grow their own business is one of our highest priorities,” SBA Administrator Karen Mills said. “Through these centers, we stand ready with a myriad of support, from entrepreneurial education and training to linking them with opportunities to compete for federal contracts and access much-needed capital – critical tools that will help them take their business to the next level, drive economic growth and create jobs.”

    Services provided by the VBOCs include outreach, assessment, long and short- term business training, counseling, directed referring, electronic or on-line assistance and other technical assistance services to veterans, service disabled veterans, and U.S. Military Reserve Component business owners and entrepreneurs.

    Veterans Business Outreach Center locations include:

    REGION I (Massachusetts, Maine, Vermont, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New
    Hampshire)
    • Northeast Veterans Business Resource Center – Existing Lawrence, Massachusetts

    REGION II (New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands) • State University of New York SUNY at Farmingdale – Existing Albany, New York • Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey – New Newark, New Jersey

    REGION III (Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Delaware, District
    of Columbia)
    • Old Dominion University – New
    Norfolk, Virginia
    • University of Pennsylvania – New
    Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

    REGION IV (Florida, Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, Mississippi, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina) • University of West Florida, Pensacola – Existing Pensacola, Florida • Fayetteville State University – New Fayetteville, North Carolina

    REGION V (Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio, Indiana) • VetBiz Central – Existing Flint, Michigan

    REGION VI (Texas, New Mexico, Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma) • University of Texas – Pan American – Existing Edinburg, Texas • New Mexico Department of Veterans’ Services – New Santa Fe, New Mexico • Southwest Louisiana Business Development Center – New Jennings, Louisiana

    REGION VII (Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska) • Veterans Advocacy Foundation – Existing Saint Louis, Missouri

    REGION VIII (Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado) • Chippewa Cree Tribe – New Box Elder, Montana

    REGION IX (California, Arizona, Guam, Hawaii, Nevada) • Vietnam Veterans of California – Existing Sacramento, California • University of Guam – New Mangilao, Guam

    In addition to these grants to the Veteran Business Outreach Centers, SBA recently awarded grants to 10 local SBA Small Business Development Centers
    (SBDCs) to increase entrepreneurial assistance to veterans. See the SBA press release on those grants at:
    (http://www.sba.gov/idc/groups/public/documents/sba_homepage/news_releas
    e_10-10.pdf.)

    For more information about SBA’s Veterans Business Outreach Centers (VBOCs), visit www.sba.gov/VETS . For information about all of the SBA’s programs and services, visit www.sba.gov. Follow SBA news on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/smallbusinessad

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    SBA to Revise Format for Small Business Procurement Scorecard

    April 11, 2010 By Leave a Comment

    WASHINGTON – The U.S. Small Business Administration is revising the format of the annual Small Business Procurement Scorecard to provide more clarity and transparency on the federal government’s performance in meeting its small business contracting goals. The revised scorecard will be based on an A through F letter grade system, as opposed to the previous red, yellow, green ratings.

    “This revision to the Scorecard will provide greater clarity and transparency on how well each agency is doing in meeting its small business prime contracting goals,” said SBA Administrator Karen Mills. “Federal contracts provide critical opportunities for small businesses to grow and create jobs. This revision builds on our ongoing efforts to strengthen the integrity of the overall process for small business contracting, while also expanding opportunities for small businesses to compete for and win federal contracts.”

    The revisions will appear when SBA issues its report later this year for federal contracting in fiscal year 2009. Over the past year, SBA has worked collaboratively with contracting and small business officials to develop the new system. The new system better reflects the unique needs of individual agencies while maintaining a focus on achieving the statutory small business contracting goals.

    The overall small business prime contracting goals have been established by Congress to ensure that small businesses get their fair share of federal contracts. The government-wide goal for prime contracts to small businesses is 23 percent of total qualified contract dollars, with additional goals of 5 percent for small disadvantaged businesses, 5 percent for women-owned businesses, 3 percent for HUBZone small businesses, and 3 percent for service- disabled veteran-owned small businesses.

    SBA negotiates individual goals for each agency, while ensuring that when combined they meet the overall statutory goals for the federal government. SBA’s small business procurement goal, for example, is 67.05 percent. While Scorecards will measure subcontracting activity, that information is not factored into the determination of whether the federal government meets the statutory small business prime contracting goals.

    The new scorecard holistically assesses an agency’s entire small business procurement performance. An agency’s overall grade will be comprised of three quantitative measures: prime contracts (80 percent), subcontracts (10 percent) and its progress plan for meeting goals (10 percent).

    The letter grades for prime contracting and subcontracting will show an A+ for agencies that meet or exceed 120 percent of their goals, an A for those between 100 percent and 119 percent, a B for 90 to 99 percent, a C for 80 to 89 percent, a D for 70 to 79 percent and an F for less than 70 percent.

    In last year’s Scorecard rating performance for the FY 2008 contracting year, small businesses won 21.5 percent of contract dollars, or about $93.3 billion out of a small business-eligible base of about $434 billion. More than half of all agencies met their individual goals. The small business eligible base for FY 2009 was about $437 billion.

    An example of the new Scorecard format can be accessed at http://www.sba.gov/idc/groups/public/documents/sba_homepage/score_card_mock_up.pdf

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