As the Executive Vice President and General Manager of Deltek’s GovCon business unit, Mazich will oversee sales for Deltek’s Costpoint, GCS Premier, Deltek First and Enterprise Project Management product suites, and he will also be responsible for managing Deltek’s consulting services business in support of application sales. Mr. Mazich will report directly to Kevin Parker, Deltek’s President and CEO.

Tom Mazich has over 30 years of experience in the software and services industries and is a recognized leader building and managing high performing teams that sell and implement IT solutions and services into the public sector and commercial markets. Most recently, Mazich was President at Mabec, an IT services business that he co-founded in 2008. During his tenure at Mabec, he played a key role building the company, winning key contracts, and running its day-to-day operations.

Prior to Mabec, Tom held positions at SAS Institute including Vice President and General Manager, Government Operations and President of SAS Federal. Mazich also held management positions at other notable software and technology companies, including Symantec Corporation, Comdisco Continuity Services, and Inference Corporation.

Perhaps the seriousness of their mission of ‘Advancing the Global Good’ gives each member of the InScope team a sense of purpose. Or perhaps it’s because my brother-in-law, Gary Struzik, is their Chief Financial Officer. (Sorry, had to give him a plug!)

Advancing the Global Good

Survivor: Federal Contracting Island

Many ‘advocates’ seem focused on how to outwit, outlast and outplay other small businesses instead of standing up to policies and processes that threaten small business concerns across the board. Never thought it would come to this, but I have finally come to the realization of why the small business community continues to struggle as it relates to government contracting. Generally, it is not the companies.

The majority of the business leaders I’ve had the pleasure of knowing and working with since 2004 are motivated, decent citizens, if not patriots, and simply want to succeed. Not success in the sense of achieving a gazillion dollars, jets, fancy cars and such, it’s more simple than that. They want to do a good job for their customers and help ensure the parts of government they touch are left no worse than when they arrived and preferably in much better condition than they found it. In the end, they want to provide for their families.

I don’t think it’s entirely the attitude at government agencies since a lot of the folks we speak to in Civilian, Defense, Intelligence and Homeland/Law Enforcement agencies have willingly engaged viable small companies. Not because they were small, but because they believed they could do the job well, on time and within budget. Not all mid-tier and large contractors are kin to the Devil. Over the years a number of them have reached out to us and our members and associates to do business with them for the right reasons.

So what’s the problem? In my opinion a big part of it is the advocates and their crews. Please! I want someone to prove me wrong. What I see from my vantage point beyond the fray of the fast talkers are advocates leveraging a crab mentality in how trying to gain an edge for their constituency. Essentially the mindset is, if their group can’t get out of the proverbial pot, neither can anyone else’s.

Think about it. It’s happening right now with the each of the socioeconomic groups fighting one another on the streets and in the shadows. They are achieving progress at the same tempo as Congress. We can all see how that’s working for us. These advocates seem to have lost sight of the fact they represent small businesses and that their tactics effectively hurt their own constituencies.

Et tu Brute? That’s one way to create job security. Instead of chipping away at one another and diminishing the ability of small businesses to succeed, aim your arrows at challenges and obstacles that benefit all small businesses, the Government and ultimately our Nation. Lawsuits are not always the answer. In the meantime, the external factions set on the exploitation or minimalization of the small business community as it relates to federal contracting, continue to eat our lunch on a daily basis.

Here’s an update: they are going back for seconds and dessert. To paraphrase a line from The Last Boy Scout, “I’ll say it again for the people in the cheap seats!” the small business community needs to get its head out of the sand, cast off the pomp and circumstance and start having meaningful discussions related to productive collaborations and action that results in successes. There are enough small, mid-sized and large organizations operating honorably, with integrity, and with their customers best interest top of mind, who are willing to sit at the table and participate in changing the landscape. All those in favor…

- The Chief Visionary

The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person doing it.

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Guy Timberlake is the Chief Visionary and Chief Executive Officer of The American Small Business Coalition LLC, an organization providing a unique and innovative membership program for companies doing business with government agencies and government contractors.

Each year, since 1963, SBA’s Small Business Week Awards have recognized outstanding individuals from America’s small business community for their achievements and contributions to our nation’s economy. In 2010, this celebration will honor the estimated 27 million small businesses in America, and is an opportunity to showcase and recognize some of the best and brightest of these with the SBA’s annual Small Business Week Awards.

Small Business Week 2010 Award Categories include:

• Small Business Person of the Year
• Small Business Exporter of the Year
• SBA Young Entrepreneur of the Year
• Jeffrey Butland Family-Owned Business of the Year
• Financial Services Champion of the Year
• Home-Based Business Champion of the Year
• Minority Small Business Champion of the Year
• Veteran Small Business Champion of the Year
• Women in Business Champion of the Year
• Entrepreneurial Success Award
• Phoenix Awards (for disaster recovery)

State winners of the Small Business Person of the Year awards attend the national Small Business Week celebration in Washington, D.C., in May to compete for the title of National Small Business Person of the Year. Award winners in other categories go on to compete at the regional and national level, with national Champions, who are small business advocates, invited to attend the national event.

For nomination guidelines and a list of all awards, go to:
http://www.sba.gov/idc/groups/public/documents/ia_des_moines/sbwnominationguidelines2011.pdf or go to the “2011 SBW Nomination Guidelines PDF” link under “Spotlight” at: http://www.sba.gov/localresources/

More information about these and other SBA programs is available on the SBA Web site at www.sba.gov. Contact information for your local SBA field office can be found at http://www.sba.gov/localresources/index.html.

2009 Winner Waymon Armstrong pictured below:

Do you have a handbook or anything similar to help steer you clear of trouble? You should before your team dives further into social media without boundaries.

Here’s what FCW had to say about the handbook: Navy releases social media handbook

The Navy has published a guidebook to encourage sailors and commanders to use social networks for routine and crisis communications and to offer guidance on ethical issues such as “friending” and “following” between officers and subordinates.

Acknowledging that social media websites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube offer opportunities for Navy commands to interact directly with sailors, their families and the public, the 17-page “Navy Command Social Media Handbook” released Oct. 15 offers a series of tips, rules and ethics considerations.

“With fewer Americans having served themselves in the military, it is important for our service members to share their stories of service with the American people,” the handbook said. “Not surprisingly, this makes every blogging, tweeting or Facebooking sailor an ambassador for your command and the Navy.”

Read the full article by Edward T. DeLisle & Craig Schroeder on the Federal Construction Contracting Blog

The Federal Register: Women-Owned Small Business Federal Contract Program

Washington, DC – In just three years’ time, the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Patriot Express Pilot Loan Initiative has supported nearly $500 million in Patriot Express loans to small businesses owned and operated by veterans, reservists and their spouses.

Patriot Express Loans, which can be used to start or expand a small business, increased over the past two years due in part to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which raised loan guarantees to 90 percent, and temporarily eliminated fees for borrowers on all SBA loans. To date more than 6,000 loans have been made.

Patriot Express was launched June 28, 2007, to expand upon the nearly $1 billion in loans SBA guarantees annually for veteran-owned businesses. SBA also offers counseling assistance and procurement support each year to more than 200,000 veterans, service-disabled veterans, reservists and members of the National Guard.

“America’s veterans have the leadership skills and experience to become successful entrepreneurs and small business owners,” SBA Administrator Karen Mills said. “As we celebrate Independence Day, we renew our commitment to more than 26 million veterans and service members across the country, including the thousands returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. The Patriot Express initiative, in conjunction with other SBA programs, puts more capital and more tools in the hands of veterans as they grow their businesses and create the jobs America needs.”

Patriot Express is a streamlined loan product based on the agency’s highly successful SBA Express Program, but with an enhanced guaranty and interest rate. Patriot Express loans are offered by SBA’s network of participating lenders nationwide and features one of SBA’s fastest turnaround times for loan approvals. Patriot Express loans are available for up to $500,000.

The Patriot Express loan can be used for most business purposes, including start-up, expansion, equipment purchases, working capital, inventory or business-occupied real-estate purchases. Local SBA district offices can provide lists of Patriot Express lenders in their areas. Details on the initiative can be found at www.sba.gov/patriotexpress.

Patriot Express is available to military community members including veterans, service-disabled veterans, active-duty service members participating in the military’s Transition Assistance Program, Reservists and National Guard members, current spouses of any of the above, and the widowed spouse of a service member or veteran who died during service, or of a service-connected disability. The average loan amount is almost $82,000. Nearly 15 percent of those loans have gone to military spouses. After a loan application is approved by a commercial lender, it is submitted to SBA for approval. Most applications are approved by SBA within 24 hours.

Additionally, SBA has entered an agreement with six major universities to expand and deliver entrepreneurship training for service-disabled veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in a program called Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities (EBV). For more information go to www.whitman.syr.edu/ebv.

SBA also offers business counseling through veterans’ business development officers in district offices in every state and territory to provide access to SBA’s range of programs and services. SBA recently expanded the Veterans Business Outreach Centers to 16 locations. They can be located at http://www.sba.gov/aboutsba/sbaprograms/ovbd/OVBD_VBOP.html.

In addition to district offices, SBA’s resource partners SCORE, Counselors to America’s Small Business, an expanded Small Business Development Center program for veterans, and Women’s Business Centers, provide local and online assistance with: writing a business plan, financing options to start or grow your business, managing the business, expanding the business and selling goods and services to the government. The agency, along with other federal agencies, recently entered a joint agreement to help Native American/Alaska Native Veteran-owned businesses with an entrepreneurship education program at The Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.

For those who are already small business owners and who expect call-up, the SBA and its resource partners can help with preparing their businesses before deployment, managing their businesses, selling goods and services to the government, obtaining other SBA financing and financial assistance, and obtaining loans for economic injury – Military Reserve Economic Injury Disaster Loans (MREIDL). Loans of up to $2 million are available for small businesses sustaining economic injury because an owner or essential employee has been called to active duty as a military reservist.

The SBA and its Office of Veterans Business Development (OVBD) provides comprehensive assistance, outreach and support to veterans. Each year SBA helps more than 200,000 veterans, service-disabled veterans and reservists. To learn more about additional opportunities for veterans available through the SBA, please visit the website at www.sba.gov/vets.

• State University of New Jersey – Newark, New Jersey
• Old Dominion University – Norfolk, Virginia
• University of Pennsylvania – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Fayetteville State University – Fayetteville, North Carolina
• New Mexico Department of Veterans’ Services – Santa Fe, New Mexico
• Southwest Louisiana Business Development Center – Jennings, Louisiana
• Chippewa Cree Tribe – Box Elder, Montana
• University of Guam – Mangilao, Guam

_______________________________________________________________________________

SBA Press Release:

WASHINGTON – Eight new Veterans Business Outreach Centers (VBOCs) funded by the U.S. Small Business Administration will join seven existing SBA centers to provide entrepreneurial development services to eligible military veterans and reservists who own or start small businesses. SBA is providing a total of $2.5 million in grants to the centers, continuing funding to the existing centers, and new funding for the new centers.

“Our service men and women have made invaluable contributions and sacrifices for our country and supporting them as they pursue their life’s dreams to start or grow their own business is one of our highest priorities,” SBA Administrator Karen Mills said. “Through these centers, we stand ready with a myriad of support, from entrepreneurial education and training to linking them with opportunities to compete for federal contracts and access much-needed capital – critical tools that will help them take their business to the next level, drive economic growth and create jobs.”

Services provided by the VBOCs include outreach, assessment, long and short- term business training, counseling, directed referring, electronic or on-line assistance and other technical assistance services to veterans, service disabled veterans, and U.S. Military Reserve Component business owners and entrepreneurs.

Veterans Business Outreach Center locations include:

REGION I (Massachusetts, Maine, Vermont, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New
Hampshire)
• Northeast Veterans Business Resource Center – Existing Lawrence, Massachusetts

REGION II (New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands) • State University of New York SUNY at Farmingdale – Existing Albany, New York • Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey – New Newark, New Jersey

REGION III (Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Delaware, District
of Columbia)
• Old Dominion University – New
Norfolk, Virginia
• University of Pennsylvania – New
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

REGION IV (Florida, Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, Mississippi, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina) • University of West Florida, Pensacola – Existing Pensacola, Florida • Fayetteville State University – New Fayetteville, North Carolina

REGION V (Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio, Indiana) • VetBiz Central – Existing Flint, Michigan

REGION VI (Texas, New Mexico, Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma) • University of Texas – Pan American – Existing Edinburg, Texas • New Mexico Department of Veterans’ Services – New Santa Fe, New Mexico • Southwest Louisiana Business Development Center – New Jennings, Louisiana

REGION VII (Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska) • Veterans Advocacy Foundation – Existing Saint Louis, Missouri

REGION VIII (Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado) • Chippewa Cree Tribe – New Box Elder, Montana

REGION IX (California, Arizona, Guam, Hawaii, Nevada) • Vietnam Veterans of California – Existing Sacramento, California • University of Guam – New Mangilao, Guam

In addition to these grants to the Veteran Business Outreach Centers, SBA recently awarded grants to 10 local SBA Small Business Development Centers
(SBDCs) to increase entrepreneurial assistance to veterans. See the SBA press release on those grants at:
(http://www.sba.gov/idc/groups/public/documents/sba_homepage/news_releas
e_10-10.pdf.)

For more information about SBA’s Veterans Business Outreach Centers (VBOCs), visit www.sba.gov/VETS . For information about all of the SBA’s programs and services, visit www.sba.gov. Follow SBA news on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/smallbusinessad

“This revision to the Scorecard will provide greater clarity and transparency on how well each agency is doing in meeting its small business prime contracting goals,” said SBA Administrator Karen Mills. “Federal contracts provide critical opportunities for small businesses to grow and create jobs. This revision builds on our ongoing efforts to strengthen the integrity of the overall process for small business contracting, while also expanding opportunities for small businesses to compete for and win federal contracts.”

The revisions will appear when SBA issues its report later this year for federal contracting in fiscal year 2009. Over the past year, SBA has worked collaboratively with contracting and small business officials to develop the new system. The new system better reflects the unique needs of individual agencies while maintaining a focus on achieving the statutory small business contracting goals.

The overall small business prime contracting goals have been established by Congress to ensure that small businesses get their fair share of federal contracts. The government-wide goal for prime contracts to small businesses is 23 percent of total qualified contract dollars, with additional goals of 5 percent for small disadvantaged businesses, 5 percent for women-owned businesses, 3 percent for HUBZone small businesses, and 3 percent for service- disabled veteran-owned small businesses.

SBA negotiates individual goals for each agency, while ensuring that when combined they meet the overall statutory goals for the federal government. SBA’s small business procurement goal, for example, is 67.05 percent. While Scorecards will measure subcontracting activity, that information is not factored into the determination of whether the federal government meets the statutory small business prime contracting goals.

The new scorecard holistically assesses an agency’s entire small business procurement performance. An agency’s overall grade will be comprised of three quantitative measures: prime contracts (80 percent), subcontracts (10 percent) and its progress plan for meeting goals (10 percent).

The letter grades for prime contracting and subcontracting will show an A+ for agencies that meet or exceed 120 percent of their goals, an A for those between 100 percent and 119 percent, a B for 90 to 99 percent, a C for 80 to 89 percent, a D for 70 to 79 percent and an F for less than 70 percent.

In last year’s Scorecard rating performance for the FY 2008 contracting year, small businesses won 21.5 percent of contract dollars, or about $93.3 billion out of a small business-eligible base of about $434 billion. More than half of all agencies met their individual goals. The small business eligible base for FY 2009 was about $437 billion.

An example of the new Scorecard format can be accessed at http://www.sba.gov/idc/groups/public/documents/sba_homepage/score_card_mock_up.pdf