Certification Alphabet Soup (or fun with acronyms)

In the world of diversity certifications there are many acronyms, some more familiar than others. This alphabet soup contains WBE, MBE, DBE, SBE, VBE, DSBE, HUB, LGBT and that’s only half of them. Some of the abbreviations are shared by government and third-party certifiers (MBE, WBE) and others are specific to the Federal government (8(a),…

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NACIS 2012

The United States Small Business Administration (SBA) has updated their size standards based on a company’s NAICS codes. NAICS (pronounced NAKES) is an acronym for North American Industry Classifications System, a set of codes used to classify the type of work a business performs or product(s) they provide. The SBA uses the size standards based…

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What is SAM?

We’ve discussed the CCR (Central Contractor Registration) web site back in 2010. Early this year it was announced that the CCR, Online Representations and Certifications Application (ORCA), Federal Business Opportunities (FBO), Federal Procurement Data System-Next Generation (FPDS-NG), Electronic Subcontracting Reporting System (eSRS), Past Performance Information Retrieval System (PPIRS), Excluded Parties List System (EPLS), Catalog of…

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Introducing the Small Biz Open Mic Forum

The U.S. House Small Business Committee has launched a new online forum — Small Biz Open Mic — to “give small business owners from all across America the ability to communicate directly with the House Small Business Committee” Rep. Sam Graves (Chairman of the Small Business Committee) stated in letter to small business owners.

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Narratives – What’s Disadvantaged?

Writing a narrative about your disadvantaged status? A simple definition of disadvantaged for certification purposes is “a systematic or systemic barrier to opportunity”. Your first step is a generic statement. “I perceive I have experienced professional rejection for reasons of “… ethnic origin, disability, residence, gender, race, education, or “Other, describe”. Then, you will need to write about specific instances of bias against you and how this bias has had a negative impact on your ability to enter into or advance in business.

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Small Business and the Federal Government

Because federal agencies and their primes are mandated to meet these goals – to spend 23% of their contract dollars with small business, including 5% with SDBEs and WSBEs and 3% with SDVSBEs and HUBZone businesses – there is incentive for them to work with small certified business.

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Introducing the Women-Owned Small Business Federal Contracting Program

Back in October 2010 the United States Small Business Administration finalized its WOSB Rule to start a new Women-Owned Small Business Federal Contract Program, after a study from the Kauffman-RAND Foundation found 83 industries (based on NAICS codes) where women-owned small businesses were being underrepresented. Beginning Friday, February 4th 2011 the WOSB Federal Contract Program implementation will move forward and it is anticipated the first contracts will be awarded in the fourth quarter of 2011.

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Diversity Value Add

Supplier Diversity as a circle of life construct brings value to government and private clients, business communities, job markets and future entrpreneurs.

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Maintaining Your Certification

Getting certified is just the first step. Next comes maintenance of that certification. Virtually all certifiers state that they MUST BE notified – usually in writing – within 30 days of any major change in your business.

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Is an 8(a) Certification right for your company?

A major feature of this program is the ability to participate in federal procurements that are specifically set aside for 8(a) certified businesses. If your company is interested in doing business with federal agencies and it meets the disadvantaged SBA standards, the 8(a) certification program might be a good fit for you.

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