Back in July, the SBA created an initiative which entailed creating 10 economic "clusters" (defined by the SBA as “collaborations between small businesses, the public sector, economic developers, and local institutions to advance a local industry sector”) that have been called “Innovative Economies.” Those small businesses awarded each received a cash grant of $600,000 which was given to each cluster’s organizing entity to build viable opportunities for the small businesses within each of the various clusters. Cluster development strategies are a tool for the promotion of the economic development in a region. SBA sought proposals from entities that lead regional cluster projects that will provide services to small businesses involved in clusters such as training, counseling, mentoring, technology transfer assistance and other services relevant to small businesses. The awardees were announced on September 20, 2010 and supported two types of innovative economies: Regional Innovation Clusters and Advanced Defense Technologies. These ten Innovative Economies include:

When submitting an offer to GSA, the overall process and interaction with GSA is typically consistent: 1) creation of offer, 2) submittal of the offer to GSA, 3) wait for the offer to be assigned to a GSA Contracting Officer, 4) engage in formal offer clarifications with the assigned CO, 5) negotiate offer terms and pricing with the Contracting Officer and, 6) receive a contract award!

One of the most common questions we get on a day to day basis has to be: "how soon will we have our Schedule in place?" The party line from GSA is that it takes a Contracting Officer, on average, 120 days to review, clarify, negotiate, and award a GSA contract. However, for many GSA Schedules and contractors, this is not always the case. What distinguishes a proposal that undergoes an "extended" review versus one that follows the traditional timeframe? It has everything to do with submitting a proposal that is fully responsive to a schedule solicitation, right? ....Well, not necessarily.

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?

For any of you out there pursuing the new COMSATCOM SIN's (132-54 &132-55) under Schedule 70, you may have noticed a pretty lengthy requirement called the 'Information Assurance Compliance Checklist'. Its 49 pages to be exact. At first glance, the form can seem pretty daunting and difficult to fill out. I've recently spent quite a bit of time on the phone with GSA in an attempt to figure out EXACTLY what they're looking for and it's pretty clear that they're still working through the requirements of the form, trying to determine precisely how they want to see the information requested.

GSA, the federal agency in charge of establishing per diem rates for federal travel, has released the reimbursement rates for fiscal year 2011, effective October 1st. Per Diem is essentially an allowance for daily expenses that are reset each fiscal year beginning on October 1. The federal per diem rate can be raised or lowered by a Per Diem Committee that surveys local meals and lodging rates. This committee uses local industry standards to ensure that taxpayer dollars aren't being misspent.