SBA To Offer Grants And Contracting Jobs To Help Small Businesses

The U.S. Small Business Administration is taking proposals that will fund grants to qualified nationwide organizations so they can offer such items as training, guidance, mentoring, and even procurement assistance to small business. These new initiatives would take the form of a team arrangement whereby the small business would either joint venture or sub-contract from the certified SBA assistance provider.

The Small Business Teaming Pilot program was created by Congress under the auspices of the Jobs Act of 2010. The SBA expects to provide a total of $5 million awards for 2011. This would be divided among 10 to 20 separate grants valued at $250,000 to $500,000 each.

“The Small Business Jobs Act provides critical resources to help small businesses continue to drive economic recovery and create jobs,” said SBA Administrator Karen Mills. “The teaming pilot program will help put contract dollars into the hands of small businesses, create job opportunities through the teaming arrangements, help drive innovation and promote economic growth for our nation’s economy.”

Eligibility requirements are that the business entity applying must be a private non-profit or a for-profit institution, have been operating continuous the last three fiscal years, be experienced with small business issues nationally, and explicitly demonstrate its ability to be of value to small business operations across the country.

More information is available by visiting either www.grants.gov or www.sba.gov/teaming