With the recent Veterans Day holiday having already passed, I have been giving extra thought to those in the service and wanted to finish up my initial blog covering the effectiveness of Executive Order 13360. To recap, Executive Order 13360 or “the 21 Gun Salute initiative” was implemented by the General Services Administration (GSA) and aimed at meeting and exceeding the 3% federal contracting goal with SDVOSBs. Here’s what I found out. Did Executive Order 13360 work? (Part 2 – The Results) On my last blog I reported that the Department of Defense only spent 1.43% on SDVOSB Prime contractors (1.35% for Subcontractors) in 2009. This was just my first search, however, and was sure I would see much better results from the rest of our federal agencies. I mean, 3% isn’t that lofty of a goal, is it? Well, here’s how the rest of the results looked (Format of the table below is Agency, 2008 SDVOSB Prime Contracting Achievement, 2009 Goal, 2009 SDVOSB Prime Contracting Achievement)

What is a Small business and how important are they to the US economy? Overshadowed every day by big business and constant media, Small businesses rarely get their share of attention and credit. Did you know Small businesses employ half of US workers and represent 99.7% of all employer firms? Yes, 99.7%! According to Office of Advocacy, there were 27.5 million Small businesses in the United States in 2009. Can you think of a more influential group?

A public opinion poll that came out last week revealed that most Americans hold members of the armed service in higher regard than any other profession or line of work. I myself am not a member of the military but my stepbrother is a service disabled veteran. He served three tours in Iraq, quickly making his was from Private to Staff Sergeant. On his third tour his armored vehicle was hit by an IED, which eventually ended his military career – but certainly not his business career. He has since rehabilitated and has considered creating a business venture with other vets from Iraq. Given the current climate of public opinion, there is a strong appeal to sell to veteran owned small businesses that have helped defend our country, particularly those operating in the federal market. Did Executive Order 13360 work? (Part 1)