Georgia Tech Procurement Assistance Center

OPIC to hold small business outreach event May 3rd in Atlanta and June 16th in Houston

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OPICAs more U.S. small businesses participate in the global marketplace, they are facing new questions and challenges.  Lack of knowledge about government programs available to support overseas investment, limited access to private sector-capital to pursue opportunities abroad, or concern over political risks in emerging markets can prevent small business from expanding overseas.

The Expanding Horizons workshop is the premier outreach event conducted by the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC).  The event is coming to Atlanta on May 3, 2016 to be held at This event is at the Omni Atlanta Hotel at CNN Center.  OPIC is the U.S. government agency responsible for supporting private-sector investment in developing countries. This is a unique opportunity to learn about:

  • How expanding overseas can benefit your business at home.
  • U.S. government programs offering assistance to small and medium sized enterprises planning to go global.
  • Political risk insurance and how it can protect your business.
  • Accessing capital for your overseas project.
  • Current opportunities in the renewable energy and clean technology sector.
  • OPIC’s special finance products for small businesses.

Speakers include senior government officials from OPIC, as well as from the Small Business Administration, the Export-Import Bank of the U.S., the U.S. Trade and Development Agency, the U.S. Department of Commerce, including the U.S. Commercial Service and the Minority Business Development Agency; and other agencies and representatives from businesses investing overseas who will share their insights and experiences.

Additionally, excellent networking opportunities will be available and participants will have the opportunity to arrange one-on-one meetings with OPIC and other government officials.

To learn more and to register for the May 3 event go to: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/opic-workshops-for-small-businesses-entering-emerging-markets-registration-21090960631.  There is a $50 registration fee for this day-long event.

To receive e-mail updates about Expanding Horizons Workshops, you may sign-up through OPIC’s mailing list.

For questions or more information, please contact:

Dr. Lawrence Spinelli
Director of Outreach and Public Affairs
Office of External Affairs
Lawrence.Spinelli@opic.gov
(202) 336-8690

Ms. Alison Germak
Director of Corporate Development
Small & Medium Finance Enterprise
Alison.Germak@opic.gov
(202) 336-8651

SBA says government beat small business contracting goal for 2nd consecutive year

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The federal government awarded 25 percent of its prime contracting dollars to small businesses in fiscal 2014, according to the Small Business Administration (SBA).

SBA logoThat marks the second consecutive year that federal agencies have met the government’s 23 percent small business contracting goal, something rarely achieved in the past.

There are some caveats: some contracts, such as contracts awarded for overseas work, are excluded from the base of contracts considered in this goal report. If they were included, the small business share of total contracts likely would be lower. Plus, there are bound to be cases where contracts that were awarded to large businesses were mistakenly counted as small business contracts.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.bizjournals.com/bizjournals/washingtonbureau/2015/06/sba-says-government-beat-small-business.html

Skeptical Senate chairman asks SBA for list of every contractor it counted as a small business

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A Senate chairman has asked the Small Business Administration to provide him with a list of every company that was counted toward the federal government’s small business contracting goal in 2014.

Last year, the SBA reported the government had met its goal of awarding small businesses 23 percent of all federal contracting dollars for the first time in eight years.

Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship

“We’re expecting even better results when we release the 2014 scorecard in the coming weeks,” SBA Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet said May 8, during a White House event honoring National Small Business Week award winners.

But a report by Public Citizen (see http://contractingacademy.gatech.edu/2015/05/12/advocacy-group-accuses-sba-of-misapplying-law-on-small-business-set-asides) questioned the accuracy of the SBA’s procurement report for 2013. It found that contracts awarded to giant federal contractors such as Lockheed Martin were counted as small businesses in the SBA’s numbers. This is just the latest example of flaws in the SBA’s contracting data though the years.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.bizjournals.com/bizjournals/washingtonbureau/2015/05/skeptical-senate-chairman-asks-sba-for-list-of.html

SBA to include overseas contracts in rating agencies

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The Small Business Administration will begin to include overseas contracts as part of the baseline used to rate agency performance against small business contracting goals.

SBA logoCurrently about $100 billion a year in federal contracts — including contracts that support overseas projects — aren’t considered when the agency calculates small businesses’ share of procurement dollars annually. It’s been a bone of contention among the small business community, which argues that all awarded contracts should factor into individual ratings, as well as the overall goal of federal government to allocate 23 percent of contracts to small businesses.

“Overseas contracts, we couldn’t find a justification to continue to exclude that,” said John Shoraka, associate administrator of government contracting and business development at the SBA, during a keynote session at a procurement conference hosted by the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce. “So coming into 2016, we’re working with the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, Defense, USAID and State on including those contracts in the base.”

Keep reading this article at: http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/blog/fedbiz_daily/2015/05/sba-to-include-overseas-contracts-in-rating.html

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