Congressman Ron Klein Hosts Small Business Symposium

I attended Congressman Ron Klein's Small Business Symposium at Florida Atlantic University yesterday (8/21/08). Congressman Klein organized the event to help show small businesses how they can be more successful doing business with the federal government. The speakers:

• Congressman Klein who put everything into perspective and facilitated the session
• Stan Z. Soloway, President of the Professional Services Council
• James T. "Tom" Gallman, Senior Area Manager for Area 2 in the South Florida District and the Florida Small Business Development Center Project Officer for the Small Business Administration
• Elaine Mayfield, Manger of Regulatory Compliance for the Electronic Systems Business Area and the Lockheed Martin Representative

Here are some of the takeaways from the session, in no particular order:

• There are hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts being awarded to companies in Congressman Klein's district
• A lot of that money is targeted to small businesses, minority owned, and veteran owned
• You can either contract directly with the federal government or through a primary contractor such as Lockheed Martin

5 simple steps for getting started:

1. Establish a valid, business bank account
2. Obtain a Federal Tax ID number
3. DUNS Numbers - http://fedgov.dnb.com/webform/displayHomePage.do
4. Register via Central Contractor Registry - www.ccr.gov
5. "Certs and Reps" all contractors must certify compliance with range of environmental, immigration and other laws

I will not be able to put everything that was discussed in this post. You can feel free to contact me or use some of the links and contact information I have provided.

Professional Services Council - www.pscouncil.org

Congressman Ron Klein:
(202) 225-3026 (phone in Washington, DC)
(202) 225-8938 (fax in Washington, DC)
(866) 713-7303 (toll free in Broward & Palm Beach Counties, FL only)
http://www.klein.house.gov

Thank you to Congressman Ron Klein, Stan Soloway, James Gallman, Elaine Mayfield, and Florida Atlantic University for their contributions to this event.