SBA Offers Free Online Course on Winning Federal Contracts

The U.S. Small Business Administration [SBA] just launched a new online training course to help strengthen access to contracting opportunities for small businesses -- including those owned by women, minorities, disadvantaged individuals and veterans.

The free training program, "Recovery Act Opportunities: How to Win Federal Contracts," is part of a federal government-wide initiative announced last month by President Obama, and being led by SBA and the U.S. Department of Commerce.

"Government contracts can play a key role in helping small businesses turn the corner, in terms of expansion and job creation," said SBA Administrator Karen G. Mills [pictured]. "But make no mistake, the benefits the government receives are equally as impressive. Working with small businesses allows the federal government to work with some of the most innovative companies in America -- often with direct contact to the CEO.

"The SBA online training course can help businesses access the federal purchasing system, and position themselves to compete for the commercial opportunities offered by government contracting."

In announcing the government-wide initiative, President Obama reiterated his Administration’s commitment to providing "our Nation’s small businesses with maximum practicable opportunity to participate in federal government contracting."

As part of the initiative, federal agency procurement officers are participating in more than 200 events over the next several weeks to help connect small businesses with contracting opportunities. Additionally, SBA and Commerce are expanding their outreach to contracting officials across the federal government, to ensure they have the tools to meet their annual contracting goals and increase opportunities to small businesses -- including those owned by veterans, women and minorities, as well as those enterprises located in designated HUBZones.

As part of the outreach to small businesses, the comprehensive online course uses both audio and script to provide information about the federal marketplace, contract rules and, most importantly, how to sell to the government and where to find contract and Recovery Act-related opportunities.

The new training portal is a free online training course designed to assist entrepreneurs during this period of economic recovery. This self-paced instructional guide provides an overview of the federal procurement process.

The "Recovery Act Opportunities" course is available on SBA’s website: http://www.sba.gov/fedcontractingtraining. It's indexed by subject matter to allow ease of use, and includes multiple direct links that highlight the best contracting resources.

The course also includes practical and fundamental steps to engage small-business owners in the federal contracting process. It is one of more than 24 online tutorials offered by the SBA, and is available 24/7.

For more information, please visit SBA's website: http://www.sba.gov/.

SOURCES: U.S. Small Business Administration, The White House
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