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Time for Advocacy
When Government grows, it brings back
in-house tasks that it formerly contracted out- reducing the
opportunities for contractors. Through the end of 2009, only
20,000 Recovery contracts were awarded nationwide, and much of
those were focused on transportation and road repair. Moving
forward, the Feds have identified three areas of job creation
- education, health and energy. We are seeing health care IT
contracts funded that should create jobs. But we are not
seeing an increase in small-business service or construction
contracts. Nor are we seeing funding that requires
collaboration with Community Based Organizations. At this
time, when Government at all levels are planning their budgets
for the next fiscal year, businesses and not-for-profits
should be advocating for these contracts and the jobs that
they will create. |
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Job-Creation
Formulas
The original premise of the
stimulus bill was that it would "save or create" 4
million jobs - nearly 90 percent in the private sector.
That thinking was based on macros that calculated that
for every $92,000 spent, a job would be created. Macros
of this nature have long been used to justify the tax
breaks given to organizations as part of economic
development initiatives such as New York State's Empire
Zones, and are an often-used Government tool.
That doesn't mean
they work.
The lesson of the stimulus bill was
that these macros have little meaning in the real world,
where it is quite possible to spend $20 million or more
and not create a single job. |
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Jobs
Funded
As
a result of this change in perspective, fourth-quarter
ARRA reporting required contractors to submit only the
number of jobs funded with Recovery dollars - not jobs
saved or created. ARRA recipients, including Government
agencies, reported that 600,000 salaries were funded
through Recovery funds in the final months of the year.
How many jobs will that translate
to for the 2009 calendar year? We may never know - the
White House has said it will no longer report cumulative
tallies - just the number of jobs funded per quarter.
Since the passage of the stimulus
bill, 3.5 million jobs have been lost, and the national
unemployment rate hovers around 10 percent. |
If
not Jobs, What?
The Center on Budget and Policy
Priorities has examined stimulus spending and reports
that more than two-thirds of all Recovery dollars were
spent on tax benefits, state relief and entitlement
spending such as extended unemployment insurance and
COBRA benefits.
Much of the jobs saved were
Government jobs, many of them unionized. USA Today has
reported that 14 Federal agencies with a role in
overseeing the ARRA hired about 3,000 workers via
stimulus money.
"That's helped fuel the
continued growth of the Federal Government, which
increased by more than 25,000 employees, or 1.3%, since
December 2008," USA Today reported (Stimulus Funds Boost
Number of Federal Jobs,
9/23/2009).
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About Proposal Pro,
Inc.
Contracts continue to be
exceedingly competitive. Let Proposal Pro give you
an edge: We helped our clients to win more than
$50 million in Government grants and contracts last year
by helping them to focus on what the agency evaluators
need and want to see. Proposal Pro writes to win -
helping businesses and non-profits to secure the
large-scale, multi-year contracts that ensure their
growth and profitability. We offer technical
writing, complete proposal preparation and strategic
consulting that gets results for our clients and have
demonstrated ability to increase their scores in the
competitive RFP
process. |
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Are
You Ready to Win in 2010?
Proposal Pro's Write to
Win™ training materials provide the inside
information that savvy proposers use to win
large-scale contract awards. Our audio CD reveals what
to read an RFP for, what the evaluators want to see, and
what mistakes to avoid. In addition to providing a
step-by-step review of a Government RFP, each disk
includes the worksheets and forms that we use to create
proposals that evaluators respond to - with contract
awards! And remember, the purchase of
training materials is a tax-deductible business
expense.
To purchase, contact us
at 914-633-3352 or visit our website at http://www.wingovtcontracts.com
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For further information or a free
10-minute consultation,
contact:
Judie
Eisenberg
President
Proposal Pro,
Inc.
914-633-3352
info@proposalpro.com
Send
Story Suggestions, Questions or Comments
to
info@proposalpro.com
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