Small Biz Advantage grant--applications due Nov. 5

DEP: Advantage Grant Program Opens to Small Businesses Looking to Increase Profitability by Reducing Energy Costs and Pollution --Grants up to $7,500 Available to Increase Energy Efficiency

HARRISBURG -- Small-business owners in Pennsylvania seeking to improve energy efficiency to save money and prevent pollution can apply for a Small Business Advantage Grant through the Department of Environmental Protection. Businesses can apply for 50-percent matching grants of up to $7,500 to adopt or acquire energy efficient or pollution-prevention equipment or processes.

Applicants must be a for-profit corporation, LLC, partnership, sole proprietorship or other legal entity with 100 or fewer full-time employees. The grant-supported project must be located within a Pennsylvania facility owned by the applicant and save the business at least 10 percent annually in energy or pollution-related expenses.

Applicants may be manufacturers, retailers, service providers, mining operators or agricultural businesses. Examples of eligible projects include HVAC and boiler upgrades, high-efficiency lighting, solvent recovery systems, waste recycling systems and auxiliary power units deployed as anti-idling technology for trucks.

Nov. 5 is the application deadline. Faxes and electronic submissions will not be accepted. Eligible applications will be approved on a first-come, first-served basis until funds are exhausted.

Since Governor Edward G. Rendell launched the program in 2004, the Small Business Advantage Grant Program has awarded more than $5.8 million to 1,041 businesses across the state. The application package, including guidance, instructions and application form, is available at www.depweb.state.pa.us, keyword: Small Business Advantage, or by calling 717-783-8411.

Applications must be mailed or hand-delivered to the Department of Environmental Protection, Office of Energy and Technology Deployment, Rachel Carson State Office Building, 400 Market St., P.O. Box 8772, Harrisburg, PA 17105-8772. ATTN: Small Business Advantage.

For questions or concerns regarding project eligibility, contact the Office of Energy and Technology Deployment, Small Business Ombudsman’s Office at 717-783-8411 or at epadvantagegrant@state.pa.us before submitting an application.

IBM helps small businesses

[From Philanthropy News Digest] The IBM International Foundation has announced a grant of more than $10 million to establish a free, public Web site designed to help small businesses sell goods and services to global companies.

The funding is part of a commitment by IBM, AT&T, Bank of America, Citigroup, Pfizer, and UPS to standardize and simplify the application process required of small and midsize U.S. suppliers to compete for the nearly $150 billion in contracts collectively awarded by the companies each year. To be created and maintained by IBM, the Supplier Connection Web site will provide users with a single, streamlined electronic application form. Small vendors need only complete the application form once to become potential suppliers to the participating companies, enabling vendors to more easily connect with opportunities to sell their goods and services in the almost two hundred countries where the participating corporations operate. The site is expected to launch in the first quarter of 2011 and eventually draw a number of additional participating businesses.

According to a recent study by the Center for an Urban Future, small businesses often experience a dramatic increase in revenues and significantly increase their workforce after becoming a supplier to a large corporation. But the application process for small businesses hoping to supply large companies can require significant investments of time, money, and expertise.

"Everyone says that small business is the engine for economic growth. We believe opening up new markets for goods and services — in the billions of dollars spent by large companies — can be the fuel that will allow those small businesses to grow," said Stanley S. Litow, vice president of corporate citizenship and corporate affairs at IBM and president of the IBM International Foundation. "I liken the mechanism we're unveiling to a universal college application, which simplified the way in which students could spend less time filling out redundant forms and focus more on academic excellence. That's what we're trying to do here — let small businesses do what they do best, grow their businesses, and not get bogged down in red tape."

“Six Large Corporations Aim to Boost Economy With New Supplier Program.” IBM Press Release 9/14/10.

Government resources in communities for small biz

Historically women and minority business owners have been underrepresented in the business world, but there are many resources that try to help change that. For the month of August, Business.gov asked its Community members “What government resources have you found in your community or on the web that help women or minorit...

State and local government contracting

Getting Started in State and Local Government Contracting – A Small Business 101
By Caron_Beesley - September 2, 2010
State and local government contract opportunities are abundant and, since most states “set-aside” a certain amount of contracts to small business each year, the opportunities can often be a good fit for small business. Here are seven tips for getting started in the state and local government marketplace. Read more...

Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program

The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program stimulates technological innovation in the private sector by strengthening the role of small business concerns in meeting Federal research and development needs, increasing the commercial application of federally supported research results, and fostering and encouraging participation by socially and economically disadvantaged and women-owned small businesses.

The SBIR program solicits proposals from the small business sector consistent with NSF's mission. The program is governed by Public Law 106-554. A main purpose of the legislation is to stimulate technological innovation and increase private sector commercialization. The NSF SBIR program is therefore in a unique position to meet both the goals of NSF and the purpose of the SBIR legislation by transforming scientific discovery into both social and economic benefit, and by emphasizing private sector commercialization. Accordingly, NSF has formulated a broad solicitation topics for SBIR that conform to the high-technology investment sector's interests.

The four broad topics are:

• Biotechnology and Chemical Technologies (BC)
• Education Applications (EA)
• Information and Communication Technologies (IC)
• Nanotechnology, Advanced Materials, and Manufacturing (NM)

Dahlkemper Introduces New Plan to Help Small Business Increase Exports, Expand into New Markets

[From Rep. Dahlkemper's website] Friday, 23 July 2010
Washington—Congresswoman Kathy Dahlkemper (PA-3) has introduced new legislation to help small businesses expand through exports. The Small Business Export Enhancement Act of 2010 will help small businesses gain access to new markets and increase their exports by strengthening and improving Export Assistance Centers.

Export Assistance Centers, operated jointly by the U.S. Small Business Administration, the U.S. Department of Commerce, the U.S. Export-Import Bank, provide small- and medium- sized businesses with direct, personalized support with exporting. Rep. Dahlkemper’s bill will ensure that the Centers are fully staffed with export finance specialists and expand the number of specialists available to small businesses within two years. The legislation also directs the SBA to analyze the gaps in coverage by the export finance specialists to ensure that all areas are being served by the Export Assistance Centers.

“Exporting has allowed our business to grow by a significant margin,” said Michael L. Noble, President of HERO BX in Erie. “Helping small- and medium- sized businesses break into exporting accelerates growth and gives businesses access to an entirely new consumer and client base. Rep. Dahlkemper’s plan will surely help businesses in Western Pennsylvania.” Hero BX was recently awarded the U.S. Commercial Service’s Export Achievement Award.

Currently, less than one percent of our nation’s nearly 29 million small businesses export their goods and services; yet, that one percent accounts for about 31.3% of our nations export volume, totaling more than $311 billion in FY2009. According to a study by Comptia, the Computing Technology Industry Association, 86% of small businesses that are exporting reported their export sales are growing faster than their domestic sales.

In FY 2009, the SBA provided over 1,500 loans totaling over $600 million to exporters. On average, over the last five fiscal years, every dollar invested in SBA Export Assistance programs has resulted in $382 in export sales.

Services offered through Export Assistance Centers include three SBA trade and export loan programs targeted towards small business:

* International Trade Loan Program (ITL): The ITL program offers term loans to small businesses that plan to start or continue exporting, as well as to small businesses that have been adversely affected by competition from imports.
* Export Working Capital Program: SBA’s Export Working Capital Program (EWCP) loans are targeted to small businesses that are able to generate export sales and need additional working capital to support their sales.
* Export Express Loan Program: SBA Export Express helps small businesses develop or expand their export markets. The program provides exporters and lenders a streamlined method to obtain SBA-backed financing for loans and lines of credit up to $250,000.

DOE Announces $30 Million in New Small Business Funding to Help Commercialize Clean Energy Technologies

Washington, DC- U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced today that $30 million in funding from the Recovery Act and FY 2010 budget appropriations will be made available to qualified small businesses to support the commercialization of promising new technologies. Today's funding announcement builds on the Department's existing efforts under the Small Business Innovation Research program (SBIR) and the Small Business Technology Transfer program (STTR) to develop near-term clean energy technologies and support American small businesses that will play an important role in building the clean energy economy of the future. This is the first time DOE has offered Phase III awards under these small business programs.

Small companies previously awarded Phase II grants through DOE's Small Business Innovation Research program (SBIR) or the Small Business Technology Transfer program (STTR) are eligible. Projects that include developed technologies with a strong potential for commercialization and impact on U.S. manufacturing and job creation are encouraged to apply. Successful applicants may receive up to $3 million over 3 years to research, develop and deploy new technologies.

Applications are currently being accepted for the following technology areas of interest:

Biomass Technologies; Buildings Technologies; Fuel Cell Technologies; Geothermal Technologies - High Temperature Tools and Sensors; Industrial Technologies; Solar Technologies - Lowering the Cost of Photovoltaics through Innovative Augmentation;
Vehicle Technologies; Wind Technologies; Fossil Energy; Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability; and Nuclear Energy.

The deadline for submission of applications is August 4, 2010, at 8:00 p.m. EST.
For more information about the DOE FY 2010 Phase III Xlerator Program please visit the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.