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By Rieva Lesonsky, CEO Grow Biz Media “Supporting women entrepreneurs has long been a mission of mine, so I’m always searching for organizations that share my passion. In alphabetical order, here are 26 of my favorite online resources for women entrepreneurs. Some have membership fees, but even without joining, you can get a lot of information from their blogs and newsletters. https://rosecoveredglasses.wordpress.com/2025/12/27/25-essential-sites-for-veteran-women-owned-busin

“SMALLTOFEDS” By Ken Larson “ Values-Based’ marketing does not relate to a client’s perception of your product or service value. Rather, it relates to your understanding of the client’s personal values and using that knowledge to motivate the client to buy. It occurs when you become uniquely aware of what motivates specific personnel internal to a customer company, a buyer or a prospective teaming partner to make favorable decisions regarding your product or services.”...

Vermillion River Valley - Hastings, Minnesota https://www.flickr.com/photos/odysseyof_armaments/55004397921/in/dateposted-public/

TASK AND PURPOSE By Nicholas Slayton “ Auditors had to go through the department’s roughly $4.7 trillion in assets, and another $4.7 trillion in liabilities. The Fiscal Year 2025 Financial Agency Report found 26 material weaknesses and two “significant deficiencies in the department’s controls for financial reporting. The report was released a day after President Donald Trump signed the massive 2026 National Defense Authorization, a record $901 billion in spending for the

“SMALLTOFEDS” By Ken Larson “Service contracting to the federal government is a natural venue for small business. It does not require a product with a niche market or capital intensive manufacturing facilities.” _________________________________________________________________________________ “Service contracting does require skilled management and labor resources capable of performing a scope of work for which the government has identified a need and for which outsourcing to

CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE “BREAKING DEFENSE” By Valerie Insinna “While all eyes were on the efforts to avert a government shutdown at the end of September, a lesser known tool used by the Pentagon to support small companies was left fighting for its own life: the Small Business Innovation Research program.” _______________________________________________________________________________ “Funding for SBIR lapsed, and while it could be restored, lawmakers are at a hard impasse a

DEFENSE OPINION – By Thomas J. Wilson, III and Christopher R. Fee “Those in command and those actually pulling the triggers are well advised that their actions may not be soon forgotten and that the “I was just following orders” defense was rebuffed in Nuremberg and at the My Lai trials of the Vietnam War era. ______________________________________________________________________________ When Adm. Alvin Holsey relinquished his command Dec. 12, it was amid growing criti

Vermillion River Trail - Hastings, Minnesota https://www.flickr.com/photos/odysseyof_armaments/54994770025/in/dateposted-public/

“MILITARY DOT COM” By Blake Stilwel “ Navy Veteran, Author and JMARK CEO Thomas H. Douglas – “You must put a real system in place to maximize the outcomes for everyone involved. When alignment occurs between the customers of a business, the team within the business and the business leaders or owners, awesome things occur . “ _________________________________________________________________________________ “There’s a military axiom that non-commissioned officers are the back

“SMALLTOFEDS” By Ken Larson “A conversation with an astute, anonymous interviewer for those who may be confused at times with regard to some of the nuances between fixed price and cost plus federal government contracting.” ______________________________________________________________________________ “Anonymous: Why are cost-plus-fee government contracts less profitable for defense companies than fixed cost contracts? KEN They are extremely low risk because the contractor is

WASHINGTON TECHNOLOGY By Nick Wakeman “Certain small business sectors such as veteran-owned firms are expected to benefit from the government’s new posture, but others such as 8(a) and other socio-economic categories will suffer because of the rollback of policies and the dismantling of small business offices at many agencies.” _________________________________________________________________________________ “Few segments of the federal market have faced the amount of disrup

“SMALLTOFEDS”By Ken Larson “ The challenges and difficulties for the small business in government contracting are not so much in the areas of barriers as they are in lack of knowledge (which I concede is a form of barrier but one that can be dealt with). Successful Traits in Government Contracting Exclusivity in teaming is one of the most practical ways to go on any given large scale program. Team early and exclusively then give it your all and be a winner. Your reputation i

“WASHINGTON TECHNOLOGY” By Nick Wakeman “Jeff Koses [GSA’s Senior Procurement Executive] says cultural changes will determine the ultimate success of acquisition reform, not just regulatory ones. We need industry at the table to engage in every aspect of the things that are changing.” ________________________________________________________________________________ “Despite a delay during the government shutdown, the General Services Administration is moving full steam ahead

“SMALLTOFEDS” By Ken Larson “A growing small enterprise can enhance competitive rate development and cost management by effective cost center utilization in federal government contracting.” _____________________________________________________________________________ “A growing small enterprise can enhance competitive rate development and cost management by effective cost center utilization in federal government contracting. A cost center is a single, pricing, accounting, and

SIGAR QUARTERLY REPORT – July 2021 “MILITARY TIMES” By Meghann Myers “Sopko is not, he said, optimistic that the national security establishment will internalize those lessons. “Don’t believe what you’re told by the generals or the ambassadors or people in the administration saying we’re never going to do this again,” he said. “That’s exactly what we said after Vietnam: we’re never going to do this again. Lo and behold, we did Iraq. And we did Afghanistan. We will do this aga

Vermillion River Valley - Hastings, Minnesota https://www.flickr.com/photos/odysseyof_armaments/54979385863/in/dateposted-public/

“DEFENSE ONE” By Peter W. Singer “The math of current battlefields remains literally orders of magnitude beyond what our budget plans to spend, our industry plans to build, our acquisitions system is able to contract, and thus what our military will deploy.” ________________________________________________________________________________ “At the lowest point of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln characterized the core factor between victory and defeat as finding a general who u

“THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MANUFACTURERS (NAM)” “ Over the past few decades, world trade in manufactured goods has expanded strongly and in 2020, U.S.-manufactured goods exports totaled nearly $1.2 trillion. However, there is opportunity to continue to grow U.S. manufactured goods exports. “Hear directly from small and medium business exporters and see U.S. Government resources for those looking to expand to new markets “ _________________________________________________

Image: Skyway Acquisition Weights Guidelines “SMALLTOFEDS” – By Ken Larson “ Understanding the weighted guidelines method can assist in achieving a higher profit because a contractor can present a profit position in a contract proposal that logically supports the elements required by FAR Part 215-404-4.”Profit”during negotiation. “ _________________________________________________________________________________ “The accepted template for negotiated procurements with the gove