State Certification & Business Seminar

Doing Business with the Commonwealth and Certification Made Simple

Presented by the Pennsylvania Department of General Services. Co-sponsored by E-Magnify and the Small Business Development Center at Saint Vincent College.
 
Date: April 19, 2012
Location: Saint Vincent College, Latrobe, PA
Registration: 8:30 a.m.
Doing Business with the Commonwealth: 9:00 a.m. - Noon
Lunch: On your own (available for purchase on campus)
Certification Made Simple: 1:00 - 3:00 p.m.  
Cost: Free
CPE Other Credits available

Grow your small business with state contracting and learn about state certification of minority-owned and women-owned businesses. This workshop is recommended to any business owner interested in doing business with the government, but minority and women business owners are especially urged to attend.

Doing Business with the Commonwealth (9:00 a.m. - noon) will cover the following topics: 

• how to find and bid on state contracting opportunities;
• how the state purchases goods and services;
• using state contracting to "grow" a small business and what resources are available;
• state programs to help small businesses make use of contract and subcontracting opportunities; and 
• a short segment on obtaining state certification as a minority- or woman-owned business. 

Certification Made Simple (1:00 - 3:00 p.m.) is a hands-on, interactive, step-by-step walk-through of the certification application. Those who attend this segment of the program will be able to go back to their offices, gather the required attachments, and submit a comprehensive application.

For more information and to register, call Saint Vincent College SBDC/CGC at (724)537-45872.

April 2: WOSB Federal Contractor Forum

Attention Women-Owned Small Business Federal Contractors! The Federal government wants to meet with you.

What: WOSB Training and Opportunity Forum
Date: April 2, 2012 Time: 8:30am – 4:00pm
Location: US Department of State, George C Marshall Conference Center, 2201 C Street, NW (21st Street Entrance) Washington, DC 20520

Join the Department of State’s Offices of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU), Women Impacting Public Policy (WIPP) and American Express OPEN’s Give Me 5 Program on April 2, 2012 in Washington, DC, for the WOSB Training and Opportunity Forum.

This forum will bring together government and women-owned businesses for a unique one-day program. At the meeting, women-owned small business owners will receive training on the program from the SBA and have the opportunity to listen to and meet federal agencies that will detail their acquisition strategies for potential women business owner opportunities and forecasts. The meeting will include the following:

• A WOSB program update and training from the SBA
• An opportunity to hear from and meet the OSDBU Directors and procurement representatives from the following agencies (invited): 
• State Department
• USAID
• Air Force
• Department of Homeland Security
• Department of the Interior
• General Services Administration
• An Opportunity to meet other WOSB and EDWOSB Businesses working in your field

Agencies will announce forecasted contract opportunities making this an event you do not want to miss. Space is limited, and limited to women owned small businesses, so register early!

More information and registration are available here.

SBA's Federal Contract Program for Women

The SBA holds monthly web chats to answer questions from the small business public and provide responses from experts on a variety of dynamic small business issues.

During the latest web chat, Michele Chang, senior advisor in the Office of Government Contracting and Business Development at the SBA, answered questions about the “SBA’s Federal Contract Program for Women - Part 2." Read a transcript of that web chat here. (For Part 1 and other archived web chat transcripts, visit the SBA's Online Business Chat room.)

The SBA's Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) Federal Contract program authorizes contracting officers to set aside certain federal contracts for eligible women-owned small businesses or economically disadvantaged women-owned small businesses. Learn more here.