Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 2, Number 1, 1 Ianuali 1985 — Small Businesses Need Procurement Dollars [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Small Businesses Need Procurement Dollars

By Wendy Roylo Hee Planning and Development Officer A conference set up to help minority-owned small businesses identify federal contract opportunities set aside especially for minority groups, whieh now includes native Hawaiians, was held recently at the Sheraton Waikiki Hotel. Co-sponsoring the Asian Pacific Small Business Conference were U. S. Sen. Spark M. Matsunaga, Minority Enterprise Service Associates and the Small Business Administration (SBA). Discussions involved ways in whieh small businesses ean get more contracts from the federal government. Panels of experts and leaders of the military, federal procurement offices and the private sector led the discussions. They noted that the opportunities for minorityowned small businesses grow as the federal procurement dollars continue to increase in Hawaii. The Department of Defense alone had a total procurement

dollar volume of over $650 million in Hawaii. Representatives of the different branches of the military reported that almost $200 million worth of contracts have been let to minority business enterprises. They continue to set aside substantial amounts of procurement dollars for small businesses owned by minorities. Procurement officers warned that while federal dollars are available for small businesses, it would be foolish to believe that contracts would automatically fiow to minority business enterprises without any work on the part of the business owner. Top federal procurement personnel from Washington, D. C. reminded business owners that the best way to win federal contracts was to market aggressively and to keep in touch with loeal procurement officers that handle contracts in their respective businesses. Small businesses were assisted in this regard when the conference devoted the entire afternoon to a trade fair during whieh business owners met individually with procurement officers. Speakers also stressed that there has to be political pressure applied to SBA via our congressional delegation to maximize the percentage of federal procurement dollars set aside for small business. For example, contractors who receivecontracts over$l million must show what percentage goes to minority subcontractors. That percentage ean be increased if minority small businesses as a group make it known that there are qualified small businesses in the community that ean handle as mueh of the work as possible to justify increasing the percentage set aside for them. The major federal programs that assist minority small businesses in pursuing federal contracts are the SBA 8 (a) and the Office of Minority Business Development. The SB A 8 (a) Program authorizes the agency to negotiate contracts with minority-owned small businesses. The purposes are to encourage business ownership by members of minority groups; promote competitive viability by providing contract, financial, technical and management assistance; and to clarify and expand the program for federal procurement from minorityowned businesses. The OMBD provides professional managementand technical assistance; develops and maintains inventories of minority-owned firms, market opportunities and capital resources available to loeal minority business enterprises; brokers firms to pursue opportunities identified; promotes private and public sector support; advocates for loeal minority business community; and makes available specialized consulting services. These programs were established for a purpose and Hawaiians should participate in them fully. Therefore, if you have had any trouble in the process of trying to secure a federal contract under any one of these programs, please eall us at the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, 548-8960, so that we may be able to collect data on problems in the current system that need to be corrected.

The Kai Malino with a maile lei across its bow.

The Kai Holo is admired by students and staff.