The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) views military Veterans as a valuable resource, one that needs to be cultivated and utilized. Proving that the department isn’t just offering lip service, the DOT’s Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU) has been teaming with the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and other partners to administer the Boots to Business: Reboot program to Veterans and Veteran entrepreneurs.

Through the summer of 2014, Boots to Business: Reboot has presented instructional events with discussions on topics such as developing a business plan, molding business concepts, and overall business fundamentals. Veterans were also connected to a network of resources through the OSDBU and its Small Business Transportation Resource Centers.

The OSDBU’s centers work closely with the transportation contracting community to assist transportation-related businesses in their respective regions. The resource centers also serve to provide business counseling to Veteran-owned businesses.

Veteran entrepreneurs participating in the Boots To Business: Reboot were also connected with resources conducive to locating access start-up capital and additional technical assistance. These resources include: Veteran Business Outreach Center, Women’s Business Centers, Small Business Development Centers, and SCORE Counselors.

The DOT sees Veterans as natural entrepreneurs who can make a real impact on the transportation industry. Veterans are disciplined and mission-oriented. Veterans are also decisive and are used to being held accountable.

Unemployment among Post-9/11 Veterans has been consistently higher than the national average. With an increasing number of locally and federally sponsored business ownership programs available to current and former Military personnel, it only makes sense for Veterans to pursue entrepreneurship.

The Veteran and Military Business Owners Association (VAMBOA) is a non-profit business trade association that promotes and assists Veteran Business Owners, Service Disabled Veteran Owned Businesses (SDVOB) and Military Business Owners. Small businesses are the backbone of our economy and responsible for job generation. That is why VAMBOA provides its members with Business Coaching, Contracting Opportunities, a Blog that provides information, Networking contacts and other resources. Membership is FREE to Veterans. Join Now!

VAMBOA: Training for Veteran Entrepreneurs: By Debbie Gregory

On August 14, 2014 the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) celebrated the 50^th anniversary of SCORE.

SCORE, a coalition of experienced and successful businessmen, was officially launched in 1964 as the Service Corps of Retired Executives by then SBA administrator Eugene Foley. From the start, the group was dedicated to the education of entrepreneurs and the formation, growth and success of small business nationwide. SCORE mentors have achieved this goal by providing resources and expertise to maximize the success of existing and emerging small businesses.

Today, SCORE consists of more than 11,000 mentors, serving every state in the country. These men and women share invaluable small business wisdom with today’s small business owners. They help with writing business plans, preparing for obtaining business loans and help small business owners manage their revenue, handle their cash flow and market themselves to build their customer base and hopefully go from small businesses to big businesses.

In its half century existence, the coalition became a non-profit organization and dropped the acronym, but SCORE volunteers are still carrying out the original mission of passing their knowledge on to future generations of American entrepreneurs and innovators. Over the five decades, the volunteers have given back because they’ve accumulated a lifetime’s worth of expertise and have chosen to share what they’ve learned with the people of their communities. Their dedication has helped an estimated 10.5 million entrepreneurs get their businesses off the ground.

See how the mentors at SCORE can help you and your small business at www.score.org

The Veteran and Military Business Owners Association (VAMBOA) is a non-profit business trade association that promotes and assists Veteran Business Owners, Service Disabled Veteran Owned Businesses (SDVOB) and Military Business Owners. Small businesses are the backbone of our economy and responsible for job generation. That is why VAMBOA provides its members with Business Coaching, Contracting Opportunities, a Blog that provides information, Networking contacts and other resources. Membership is FREE to Veterans. Join Now!

VAMBOA: 50 Years of SCORE: By Debbie Gregory

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) announced on Friday, August 1, this 2014 that the U.S. government achieved its small business federal contracting goal. The federal government awarded more than 23% of its federal contracts to small businesses, totaling more than $83 billion. This was the first time in eight years that the federal government has reached its contracting goal.

The announcement was made at a press conference that was held at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Goddard Space Flight Center by SBA Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet. She was joined by NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and Senator Ben Cardin.

“When we hit our small business procurement target, it’s a win.  Small businesses get the revenue they need to grow and create jobs, and the federal government gets the chance to work with some of the most responsive, innovative and nimble companies in the U.S. while the economy grows,” Contreras-Sweet said.  “Thanks to the president’s leadership and a team effort among all federal agencies, we were able to meet this goal.”

While contract expenditures have gone down in all categories as a result of overall reduced federal spending, small businesses managed to secure a greater percentage of the contracts. This is due inpart to the SBA working with other federal agencies to help small businesses win federal contracts.

The SBA also facilitated the requirement for larger companies with substantial federal contracts to sub-contract with Veteran-owned small businesses.

Along with the announcement, the SBA released the FY 2013 Small Business Procurement Scorecard. These annual scorecard provides an assessment of each federal agency’s yearly small business contracting achievement against its goal, with 20 agencies receiving an A or A+.  Overall, the federal government received an “A” on the government-wide Scorecard.

The Veteran and Military Business Owners Association (VAMBOA) is a non-profit business trade association that promotes and assists Veteran Business Owners, Service Disabled Veteran Owned Businesses (SDVOB) and Military Business Owners. Small businesses are the backbone of our economy and responsible for job generation. That is why VAMBOA provides its members with Business Coaching, Contracting Opportunities, a Blog that provides information, Networking contacts and other resources. Membership is FREE to Veterans. Join Now!

VAMBOA: Government Achieves Small Business Contracting Goal

ScaleUP America is a Small Business Administration (SBA) initiative that supports community efforts in assisting high-potential entrepreneurs and small businesses succeed. The U.S. Small Business Administration wants your input to decide which communities to deliver ScaleUp America programs to. The initiative’s objective is to provide the necessary support to assist these small businesses expand, thus strengthening the community’s economic stability.

The SBA is seeking proposals to identify which communities would best be served through the implementation of ScaleUp America. The SBA will be conducting a webinar about the solicitation process in order to promote interest and provide additional information to all interested parties. The webinar will be held Tuesday, July 1, 2014 at 3:00 pm ET.

Anyone interested in submitting a proposal should plan to join the webinar 10 minutes prior to the scheduled start by clicking HERE.  If you would like to submit a question to be answered in the webinar, please email it to tonihoskinson@sba.gov.  Emails should be sent no later than 3:00pm ET on June 30, 2014. All other questions and solicitations cab be emailed to tonihoskinson@sba.gov no later than 5:00 pm ET on July 2, 2014.

For information on solicitation for the ScaleUP America initiative, please follow the link to Intensive Entrepreneurship Curriculum and Service Delivery provided by www.fedbizops.com