On Monday, May 11, SBA Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet will help women business owners learn about doing business with the federal government at the free ChallengeHER event. Throughout the program, attendees will learn about the SBA’s Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) Federal Contract program and hear from agency officials and successful small business contractors about growing their businesses by selling to the government. WOSB fede...

The Small Business Association (SBA) created the 8(a) Business Development Program to help small and economically disadvantaged businesses win contracts from the federal government. Throughout the nine year program, 8(a) members receive benefits and protection from the competition of established businesses also competing for government contracts. However, many businesses have difficulty transitioning out of the program and continuing to be suc...

According to the 2013 Small Business Association (SBA) Scorecard, the federal government awarded $83.7 billion in contracts to small businesses. Hiring a productive and reliable staff is one effective strategy to get contractors attention and increase the likelihood of winning a contract, due to firm proficiency. On April 22nd Give Me 5will host a free webinar to share best practices for finding team members who will increase company reputatio...

The Small Business Association (SBA) created the 8(a) Business Development Program to help small and economically disadvantaged businesses win contracts from the federal government. Throughout the nine year program, 8(a) members receive benefits and protection from the competition of established businesses also competing for government contracts. As the protections come to an end, many businesses have difficulty transitioning out of the progra...

The Small Business Association (SBA) created the 8(a) Business Development Program to help small and economically disadvantaged businesses win contracts from the federal government. Throughout the nine year program, 8(a) members receive benefits and protection from the competition of established businesses also competing for government contracts. However, many businesses have difficulty transitioning out of the program and continuing to be suc...

According to the recent Small Business Administration (SBA) Scorecard, the federal government awarded $83.1 billion in prime contracts to small businesses in 2013. The first step for business owners to apply for these contracts is registering on the System for Award Management (SAM). During the SAM registration process, the system asks questions based on the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), a set of rules outlining how the federal governm...

The Small Business Association (SBA) created the 8(a) Business Development Program to help small and economically disadvantaged businesses win contracts from the federal government. Throughout the nine year program, 8(a) members receive benefits and protection from the competition of established businesses also competing for government contracts. However, an alarming number of businesses fail within two years after leaving the benefits and pro...

According to an American Express OPEN survey, small business owners in the construction industry are among the largest cohort seeking federal contracts (investing $172,058), while the average small business owner will spend $128,638 on contract applications. Working with the federal government offers small businesses in the construction industry many growth opportunities, but the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) imposes an extra layer of...

In FY2013, the United States Department of Agriculture awarded $2.8 billion in government contracts to small businesses and of that, more than $400 million went to women-owned small businesses (WOSBs). Through the agency’s Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU), the USDA continues to work to find opportunities to partner with small businesses. The Give Me 5 program is hosting a free webinar on February 18th to tea...