If you are thinking about starting a small business or if you have a business and would like to explore ways of building it and enhancing it, visit the Small Business Administration (SBM) Web site. Although SBM does not offer individual grants (“free money”), it offers something potentially more valuable: counseling, training, and even one-on-one advice. Free online courses, typically 30-minute sessions, on a myriad of subjects are at your fingertips. Moreover, there are SBA offices located in all 50 states and even the territories, and you can look up an office near you on the SBA Web site (http://www.sba.gov/) for more help.
The Service Corp of Retired Executives is an example of a resource affiliated with the SBA. It is worth a visit to SCORE’s Web site (http://www.score.org/) to find out what this organization has to offer. There are SCORE groups all over the country. You may have one in your town or county. Among other things, SCORE volunteers teach classes on many topics related to starting and managing a small business, for example, how and why to create a business plan. These classes are available free of charge or for a nominal fee. Volunteers are also available free of charge for one-on-one counseling.
Getting a fair share of business in the form of contracts from the Federal Government
SBA offers assistance to small businesses in obtaining procurement grants from the Federal Government under the Small Business Act of 1953. The objective is to help small businesses obtain a fair share of contracts and subcontracts for Federal government supplies and services and a fair share of property sold by the government. A brief description of two such programs, 59.006 8 (a) and 59.009 follows. You can find more detail in the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA). Your local librarian can help you locate the CFDA online, or you find it yourself by entering "CFDA" in a search engine. You can also call your local SBA office for information.
59.006 8(a) is a Business Development Program that fosters business ownership by individuals who are both socially and economically disadvantaged. It gives business development assistance including, but not limited to, management and technical assistance, access to capital and other forms of financial assistance, business training and counseling, and access to sole-source and limited-competition Federal contract opportunities, to help firms achieve competitive viability. Applications are available at SBA district offices and on the SBA home page at http://www.sba.gov/.
59.009, Procurement Assistance to Small Businesses, is intended to help small business in obtaining a fair share of contracts and subcontracts for Federal government supplies and services and a fair share of property sold by the government. As one small part of the implementation of this program, subcontracting plans of large prime contractors are reviewed to determine the extent that they are providing subcontracting opportunities to small veteran-owned, service-disabled veteran-owned, HUBZone-owned, and small disadvantaged and women-owned small businesses. Forms to obtain necessary assistance are provided by SBA field offices.
This is but the “tip of the iceberg” of what could be available to you if you qualify. If you have questions, comments, or requests about any of this, send them to us. You have nothing to lose but a few minutes of your time. You don’t even have to give us your name, although that might help if you want a personal reply.:-)
Photo courtesy of Angela Radelescu
No comments:
Post a Comment