“WASHINGTON TECHNOLOGY” Mark Amtower Partner, Amtower & Associates, and Co-Founder at Government Market Master “Why you need a strategy that clearly differentiates your skillsets when you try to launch your own enterprise” ________________________________________________________________________________ “I get calls regularly from people who, for various reasons, are either looking to consult or to start a company. Most are seeking advice on how to get started. Some of these c

“SMALLTOFEDS” By Ken Larson “Nearing the end of a government fiscal year or under a government shutdown a contractor may find delays in funding reaching all the way to congress. This situation must be managed with the government contracting officer. Some contractors choose to operate on “risk,” continuing to perform on a contract while exceeding the incremental funding in booked cost and obligations. The government is under no obligation to reimburse the contractor for amount

“AMERICA’S SEED FUND SBIR/STTR” “Who Should Attend? Entrepreneurs, startups, and small businesses based in the United States that are building technologies and bringing them to market. Startup accelerators, incubators, university tech transfer offices, and other entrepreneur support organizations.” _________________________________________________________________________________ “What to Expect: Free, virtual programming hosted by SBA each Wednesday in July to support your Am

“BREAKING DEFENSE” By Mark Pomerleau And Sydney J. Freedberg Jr. “Top Pentagon officials said as currently executed, CMMC is too prohibitively burdensome on the Defense Industrial Base. The Pentagon is suspending part of its cybersecurity requirements for industry, specifically related to third party assessments, citing onerous burdens on especially smaller defense firms.” ________________________________________________________________________________ “In support of Secretar

“SMALLTOFEDS” By Ken Larson “As the federal fiscal year draws to a close and the new year opens on 1 October, an astute contractor will have examined the funding status of all government contracts for risk. Limitation of funds and funding exposure must be a vital topic for every government contractor.” ________________________________________________________________________________ “Many federal contracts are funded incrementally, usually based on the government fiscal year t

“MILITARY TIMES” By Daniel Terrill “The branch formalizes space as a permanent war fighting specialty, with personnel focused on protecting U.S. assets and helping prevent adversaries from targeting joint forces from outside Earth’s atmosphere.” ________________________________________________________________________________ “Brig. Gen. Don Brooks, deputy commanding general of U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command, called the announcement “a rallying point” for Army spa

“THE NATIONAL INTEREST” By Julia Gledhill “The distillation of the defense industry as the number of prime military contractors shrank from over fifty to just five, bodes poorly for both the military and taxpayer because it produces waste, not to mention a strong profit incentive for war” _________________________________________________________________________________ “As a matter of practice, military contractors have overcharged the Pentagon for years—at the expense of bot

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“By obtaining a veteran-owned small business certification you can get access to government contracts, gain credibility and customers in the business world, and enable qualification for specific veteran business incentives or grants.” _______________________________________________________________________________ “Basics of VOSB Certification The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is now the federal agency responsible for the veteran certification process. To be certif

"DEFENSE NEWS" By Michael Peck “Schedule delays across Major Defense Acquisition Programs (MDAP) signal overly optimistic time frames,” according to the GAO report, after examining 104 of the Pentagon’s most expensive weapons programs. “The overall average time frame to deliver a capability increased this year to over 12 years.“ ______________________________________________________________________________ “The news was almost predictable. For yet another year, auditors have

“SMALLTOFEDS” By Ken Larson “Conducting a Bid/No Bid Decision, developing a competitive strategy and preparing a winning proposal for a small business federal government contract.” _________________________________________________________________________________ “The solicitation by the government may be a result of your self-marketing efforts or you may have located it at the System for Award Management (SAM), the gateway for all federal government business in excess of $25K

“BREAKING DEFENSE” By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr. Specifics on War Force are still sparse. But it is supposed to be similar to the existing Tech Force program — announced in December and still ramping up — which offers $150,000 to $200,000 per year for an initial two-year term. _______________________________________________________________________________ “Seeking an infusion of fresh tech talent, the Pentagon and the Office of Personnel Management are launching a program they’r

“SMALLTOFEDS” By Ken Larson “Now is the time to think through your marketing strategy and the various venues for contracting with the federal government. This article discusses primary venues and the opportunities they offer your small business.” _________________________________________________________________________________ “You have positioned your existing or start-up company for doing business with the federal government. You have registered your enterprise at the Syste

"Business software is inexorably tied to parallel developments in other areas of technology and the business software market is shifting in tandem with them.” By Ken Larson “As a result of the tremendous capacity built into the communications industry during the dot com boom, organizations like Google, Amazon and others offer Internet pathways with tremendous economies of scale world wide. Corporations like IBM are capitalizing on the developments by moving from a products to

Although by far the most powerful country in the world, the U.S. is suffering from a lack of long term vision. The individual citizen is as much at fault for this condition as the politician or the military industrial complex. From our relationships with each other and with other countries, from corporate board rooms to Wall Street stock run ups, we must use long term strategic vision in lieu of pursuing short term gains. ______________________________________________________

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“SMALLTOFEDS” By Ken Larson “Veterans regularly seek information regarding small business grants. There are many misconceptions about the nature of such instruments, who qualifies for them and what constitutes a small business grant. Other than the special circumstances surrounding the COVID-19 Pandemic, there is generally no such thing as “Free” small business government grant money. In many instances individuals seeking grants should be looking to direct government contract

CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE “Scope Creep” can kill a contract, a customer relationship and a past performance record, all of which are important to a business. Stay in front of “Scope Creep” by communicating positively with the customer to control a baseline, keeping cost, schedule and technical performance integrated and synchronous.” _________________________________________________________________________________ “It is in the long term interests of astute contractors to assis

“FEDERAL NEWS NETWORK” By Mark Rybchuk “Social media provides government agencies with a powerful tool to keep citizens informed and combat crises through channels that will reach the modern constituent. By unlocking solutions for the pain points government communicators face on social, government agencies can build trust within their communities and ensure that accurate digital information is accessible to everyone.” __________________________________________________________

“SMALLTOFEDS” By Ken Larson “Factors to consider in determining if the time is right for you to form a small business federal government contracting company.” ________________________________________________________________________________ 1. EXPERIENCE Small business federal government contracting is not rocket science – to succeed one must take what one does well in the commercial marketplace or what experience leads one to believe one can plan successfully as a commercial