Small
Business Stimulus?
About $80 billion in Recovery
Act awards are expected to be made to more than 20,000 prime
contractors and 60,000 first-tier subcontractors. According to
the Federal Register, about 20% of those prime contractors and
about 25% of the subcontractors receiving Recovery Act monies
will be small businesses. Despite the fact that about 70% of
job creation comes from small
business, critics report that his stimulus package uses 0.1%
of its funds for small businesses. If you want to help
your business, don't believe the hype - and be
aggressive. |
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| There's been a lot of talk about transparency,
reporting and accounting relative to the stimulus money
- so much that some potential bidders are concerned
about their ability to address these requirements. Let's
take a look, then, at how the administration is handling
the platforms for transparency and what that might mean
for potential contractors. |
www.Federal Reporting.Gov
Contractors receiving
stimulus awards are being told that they will have to
follow strict reporting guidelines and will be required
to report quarterly via an online tool being developed
at www.federalreporting.gov. That website is not
currently active. |
www.Recovery.Gov
USA
Today is reporting that the administration's
transparency vehicle, the www.recovery.gov
website, won't be able to report on stimulus grant and
contract awards before next spring, and may not have the
capacity to store that much data even then. And if the
money was a pass-through, perhaps no reporting will be
required: White House guidelines only mandate the
reporting of the first two recipients of Federal
stimulus money. If the money passed to a State and then
a City before being awarded to a private contractor, for
example, only the State and City would be identified on
the site. |
Tracking
Outcomes
Remember now, that we're talking
just about contract awards and haven't
even addressed contract outcomes. The
stimulus money is about jobs, and contractors who
receive this money must report on the number of jobs
created and the number of jobs retained - that is, jobs
that might have been lost if not for the stimulus money
- starting July 10. However, it is not yet clear how to
quantify a new or retained job for reporting
purposes. |
Protect
Yourself
We can say unequivocally: (a)
Government cannot move as quickly as its rhetoric; (b)
there are political reasons to be transparent-ish that
may well show up in reporting; and (c) contractors need
to prepare themselves regardless of what Government may
or may not do. Lack of clarity can work for you, or
against you - and you should prepare for
both.
Toward this end, any organization
receiving stimulus  money should at the very least (a)
keep stimulus funds separate from other monies to
facilitate monitoring and auditing; (b) develop in-house
tracking and reporting based on the reporting
requirements in the RFP and guidance from your
Contracting Officer; and (c) keep all your electronic
and hard-copy files relative to stimulus money
segregated in case of
audit. |
About Proposal
Pro, Inc.
How your write your response will
factor in how you must report your outcomes - and
how successful you will ultimately be considered.
Knowing how to turn a phrase helps. And Proposal Pro,
Inc. has been turning a phrase since 1995, helping
clients to win more than $400 million in contract
awards. 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 including more
than $48 million in Government grants and contracts
in 2008. |
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Contact
Us
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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