Public Meeting on Fair Access to Federal Contracting Opportunities on 6/28/10

Dear Minority Business Owner: On April 26, 2010, President Obama established the Interagency Task Force on Federal Contracting Opportunities for Small Businesses to develop proposals and recommendations to ensure that small businesses, including firms owned by women, minorities, socially and economically disadvantaged individuals, and service-disabled veterans, have fair access to Federal Government contracting. MBDA is one of the federal agencies on the Task Force and welcomes this opportunity to advance the interests of the Nation's more than four million minority-owned firms. In support of the Task Force, the Department of Commerce, along with the Office of Management and Budget and the Small Business Administration, is hosting a public hearing on June 28, 2010 from 1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. in the auditorium of the Department of Commerce located at 1401 Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20230. We welcome your views and recommendations as we seek to identify: challenges faced by small businesses in pursuing federal contracts, best practices for overcoming these challenges, and outreach strategies to match small businesses with contracting and subcontracting opportunities. Particular topics to be explored are those around teaming and mentor-protege programs, set-asides and bundling, small business training, outreach, data collection, and federal workforce training. The Task Force expects to submit its recommendations to the President before the end of August. Interested parties may offer oral comments at the public meeting to be held on June 28. To attend the public hearing, you must pre-register by June 21, 2010 by sending an e-mail to SB_TaskForce_Comments@sba.gov with your name, organization or business, along with contact information and the topics that you are interested in. Please put "Registration" in the subject line of the email message. Stakeholders may also provide written comments in lieu of, or in addition to participating in the public meeting. To submit written comments, please send them by June 30, 2010 to SB_TaskForce_Comments@sba.gov. Please put "Comment" in the subject line of the email message. MBDA urges you to participate in this important event and thanks you in advance for your steadfast dedication to minority business development. Sincerely, David A. Hinson National Director Minority Business Development Agency