White House launches BusinessUSA.gov
February 17th, 2012 | Commerce Information Technology Small Business Administration White House | Posted by Nicole Johnson
The administration on Friday launched a new beta website called BusinessUSA.gov to simplify online interaction between businesses and the government.
BusinessUSA.gov matches “businesses with the services relevant to them, regardless of where the information is located or which agency’s website, call center, or office they go to for help,” federal Chief Information Officer Steven VanRoekel said in a blog post Friday.
The website is currently in a beta version but will evolve to incorporate user feedback.
Business owners can browse the site and customize their search results to receive information about topics of interest, such as federal contracting, grants, or opportunities that meet their specific needs. For example, if a veteran- or minority-owned business is interested in loans or exporting, the website provides information about those topics.
President Obama first announced plans to launch BusinessUSA.gov in January and also said he would ask Congress for authority to merge agencies that handle business and trade functions into a single department. Sens. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., and Mark Warner, D-Va., plan to sponsor a bill that would give the president “fast track” authority to consolidate government agencies, pending Congress’ approval.
“We shouldn’t be an inhibitor through the complexity that we present people,” VanRoekel said.
Tags: BusinessUSA.gov
New OMB adviser in line to replace procurement chief
November 30th, 2011 | OMB Procurement Small Business Administration | Posted by Sarah Chacko
Word around town is that Joseph Jordan, an associate administrator at the Small Business Administration, has been tapped to replace outgoing Office of Federal Procurement Policy Administrator Dan Gordon.
The Office of Management and Budget won’t confirm that Jordan is the nominee for Gordon’s job, which requires Senate confirmation. But
Jordan has been named as a senior adviser to Jeff Zients, the federal Chief Performance Officer and OMB’s deputy director for management.
Jordan will start advising Zients and his senior staff on policy and procurement matters this month. Jordan did not respond to requests for an interview.
Being brought on as a senior adviser is a common first step before being nominated to a position like this. In the meantime, OFPP Deputy Administrator Lesley Field will serve as acting administrator starting Jan. 1.
Gordon announced last month that he will leave his post later this year to become associate dean for government contracts law at the George Washington University Law School.
Jordan has been SBA’s associate administrator of government contracting and business development since March 2009. His team oversees
several programs and services that help small businesses meet the requirements necessary to win government set-aside contracts.
Prior to joining SBA, Jordan was an engagement manager with McKinsey & Company, a global management consulting firm, where he
specialized in developing purchasing and supply management strategies for clients. He also worked in the firm’s public sector practice, advising state governments on how to cut costs and capture efficiencies.
Jordan also worked as a consultant at Corrigan Communications in Boston; built and managed operations of the Web-based publisher and marketer formerly known as Backwire; and was an associate producer on MSNBC’s “Hardball with Chris Matthews.”
Jordan holds a bachelor’s in political science from College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass. and an MBA from the University of Virginia’s Darden Graduate School of Business Administration in Charlottesville, Va.
Tags: Dan Gordon, Joseph Jordan, Office of Management and Budget, OFPP
Drawing the line between big and small biz
July 8th, 2011 | Procurement Small Business Administration | Posted by Sarah Chacko
If proposed changes to small business size standards are finalized, most of the nation’s engineering fims will be defined as small businesses, allowing them access to set-aside contracts that should go to “truly small firms,” the American Council of Engineering Companies said this week.
The Small Business Administration (SBA) is redefining what constitutes a small business in the professional, scientific and technical services sector for the first time in more than 25 years.
SBA has said the changes aim to reflect the current realities of industry.
For example, the revenue standard defining a small engineering services firm would increase from $4.5 million to $19 million under SBA’s proposal. For computer system design services, the change is more slight — from $25 million to $25.5 million.
The SBA started reviewing its size standards after its inspector general found that several large contractors were getting small-business contracts. SBA officials said at the time the findings demonstrated a need to change the rules for situations where long-term contracts let a small company grow past revenue size limits.
Craig Rose, an employee of Wetland Studies and Solutions Inc., said in a public comment to SBA that his company, with 75 employees and $9.7 million in annual revenue, is in a “no man’s land” in the marketplace — too big to qualify as a small business but too small to compete effectively against large companies.
The increased size standard would provide more opportunities for moderate size firms like his and also allow federal agencies a larger pool of technical expertise from which to choose.
But the changes would force engineering firms with a dozen employees or fewer to compete for work against companies with hundreds of employees, ACEC President David Raymond said in a news release.
“In engineering-and in many other industries-such a size difference produces unassailable advantages for the larger firms in vying for federal contracts,” he said.
ACEC, which represents more than 5,300 engineering firms nationwide, has recommended to the SBA a size standard increase to $10 million.
The SBA is in the process of finalizing the size standards after receiving hundreds of comments both in support and opposition of the changes.
Tags: professional and technical services, set-aside contracts, small business size standards