In a press release that just came out yesterday, the Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy (for small business) announces a study that they conducted in the Houston area involving 63,000 different businesses. The report evaluates economic impact of both small and large businesses within six to eight employment centers in the Houston metropolitan region. In addition to the central business district (CBD) downtown, the subcenters evaluated were: the Galleria, Carillon (Energy Corridor), Greenspoint, Clear Lake, Baytown, LaPorte, and Pasadena. It qualifies small business as those with fewer than 45 employees.
Their final assessment? “We thus interpret the evidence to strongly suggest that small firms are a crucial element in urban economic development as their success is likely to lead to economic growth not only for the firm itself, but for the entire local economy.”
I find this report to be very encouraging for the Houston Small Business Community as a whole and hope it also further encourages local and city government to promote and incentivize startup businesses in the greater Houston area.
Check here for the full report and then let me know your thoughts in the comments section.
For an all-volunteer site, dedicated to small businesses who wish to succeed in federal government contracting, please see the below site:
http://www.smalltofeds.blogspot.com/
The federal government will contract in excess of $80B to small businesses in the next fiscal year.
There are over 50 agencies or “Departments” in the federal government. Each of these agencies has a statutory obligation to contract from small business for over 20% of everything it buys.
Contracting officers must file reports annually demonstrating they have fulfilled this requirement. Not fulfilling the requirement can put agency annual funding in jeopardy. Small business has a motivated customer in federal government contracting officers and buyers.
Large business, under federal procurement law, must prepare and submit annual “Small Business Contracting Plans” for approval by the local Defense Contract Management Area Office (DCMAO) nearest their headquarters. These plans must include auditable statistics regarding the previous 12 month period in terms of contracting to small businesses and the goals forecast for the next year.
The federal government can legally terminate a contract in a large business for not meeting small business contracting goals. Approved small business plans must accompany large business contract proposals submitted to federal government agencies. Small businesses have motivated customers in large business subcontract managers, administrators and buyers.
There are set-aside opportunities available for small entities,veterans, disabled veterans, women and minorities. All it takes is navigating the system, persistance, asking questions, registering, marketing, teaming and working hard.
Small Business America is good at that.