Bridge the Culture Gap Between Commercial & Federal Markets

The language of federal contracting is frequently obscure and nearly impossible to interpret.
•   Federal buying rules and contract compliance requirements are burdensome and littered with red tape.
•   Government contracting officers need to demonstrate that bidding is competitive; how to avoid being nit-picked to death during negotiations is a mystery to most companies.
•   The mindset of buyers for the federal government is quite different from that of people making buying decisions in the commercial sector.
•   Proposal writing decisions--when to bid, how to price, what elements are required to ensure your effort is considered “responsive” and compliant—make it a different world than commercial proposal writing.
•   Once you have a contract with the federal government, figuring out the reporting requirements, how to stay in contract compliance, and which contract clauses are important and which you can more or less ignore is difficult to discern without guidance.

Fedmarket's 2-day federal sales and contracting survival camp teaches the fundamentals of how to succeed in the federal marketplace.

Designed for executives and sales managers, this full-immersion course covers all of the critical elements of federal sales and contracting. The goal of the 2-day event is to provide you with core knowledge about the federal market: the pluses and minuses of market entry, sales are made, and what works and what doesn't. Topics presented in one hour segments include:

•   Federal sales strategies and how they differ from the commercial market.
•   Opportunity identification and sales planning
•   The new trend toward multi-vendor contacts
•   Small business preference programs: Who qualifies, and how to qualify
•   GSA schedule contracts--the small business route to federal sales
•   Contract risks and how to avoid them
•   Cost accounting requirements
•   Proposal writing: It’s a unique game and how to play it
•   Proposal pricing, contract types and how to price them
•   Security clearances, who may get them and how
•   Bid protests: When and when not to protest

Small Business Development Corporation U.S. SBDC

Have you seriously considered starting a small business? Maybe you have thought of becoming the workforce rather than working in the workforce, yet don't have all the answers necessary to run a fully profitable, protected and informed company.

The United States Small Business Development Corporation is designed to become your eyes, ears and source for products, tools and information regarding business development. The US SBDC began in 2002 as a for profit company later to take a non-profit roll in communities throughout North America.

The US SBDC is the only firm in America to offer over 130 core business services and manages to offer the products for simple donations. Your firm will require a great deal of experience and oversight in order to properly market yourself in a safe way.

Honestly, your business could utilize the Small Business Development Center yet you will simply be given a great deal of information without resolve, implementation nor valuation or research. The U.S. Small Business Development Corporation delivers all the above plus reduces or eliminates that cost involved.

It is not an option of if you need the USSBDC, it is a fiscal duty to any American owned and operated business currently generating less than $30MM in revenue. Without contacting this firm you may never know your true potential...

California ETEC Receives Presidential "E" Award for Export Service

California ETEC was awarded the Presidential “E” Award for Export Service by U.S.  Department of Commerce Secretary Gary Locke at the Department’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. on May 16th, 2011.  The “E” Awards are the highest recognition any U.S. entity may receive for making a significant contribution to the expansion of U.S. exports.

The recruitment of international students to California and U.S. campuses has been our exclusive focus the past 5 years, and we are honored to receive the “ E” Award, said Mark Matsumoto, President and CEO.   Since 2006,  California ETEC has provided a platform for US education and training providers to recruit international students and delivery education programs throughout Asia.  California ETEC provides an array of free and cost-effective services for education providers to expand their international student recruitment or develop new international linkages. 

The export of education services generates more than $19 billion dollars in exports for the U.S.  and contributes nearly $ 3 billion dollars to local economy in California.   Moreover, revenues from international student tuition and overseas program delivery are increasingly counted upon to make up for shortfalls in public and private education funding in the United States. 

“Exports are a key driver of America’s economic recovery,” said Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke.  “President Obama’s National Export Initiative(NEI), which aims to double U.S. exports by 2015 in support of several million American jobs, is a robust, forward-looking trade agenda with an emphasis on domestic job growth.  California ETEC is being honored for making significant contributions toward fulfilling that agenda. “

A business client of the Department’s U.S. Commercial Service,  California ETEC has benefitted from business matchmaking services to greatly expand its export sales.   California ETEC demonstrated a substantial increase in the volume of exports over a four-year period,  a major criteria for the award.

Contact-  California ETEC
                  Mark Matsumoto
                  mark@studycalifornia.org
                  www.studycalifornia.org

NY's New Tax Latest to "Punish" Smokers -- It's What the Public Wants

New York's proposed new additional tobacco tax of $1.60/pack, pushing the total price of a pack of cigarettes to over $10, is designed both to raise an additional $440 million in revenue and, according to some, to "punish" smokers, but it's simply the latest is a growing number of measures aimed at smokers many regard as punitive, and is in line with growing public sentiment to force smokers to pay a higher share of the costs of smoking, says Action on Smoking and Health (ASH).

New York's new total tax of $4.35 per pack would be in line with other states which also have high taxes, including Rhode Island ($3.46), Connecticut ($3.00), New York state ($2.75), New Jersey ($2.70), Hawaii ($2.60), Wisconsin ($2.52), Massachusetts ($2.51), Vermont ($2.24), Washington ($2.025), Alaska ($2.00), Arizona ($2.00), Connecticut ($2.00), District of Columbia ($2.00) Maine ($2.00), Maryland ($2.00), Michigan ($2.00), Alaska ($2.00), Arizona ($2.00), District of Columbia ($2.00), Maine ($2.00), Maryland ($2.00), and Michigan ($2.00). [as of January 2010]

This growing trend to require smokers to pay in taxes at least a portion of the huge costs they impose on the economy -- almost $200 billion a year -- is also reflected in a recent national poll which finds that voters favor a $1/pack increase in state cigarette taxes by an overwhelming 67%-31% margin -- more than 2 to 1 -- with 53% saying they "strongly" support such a tax increase. The increase is favored by Democrats (70%), Republicans (58% percent), and Independents (64%).

It's also consistent with a recent study showing that almost half of all large U.S. companies penalize employees' unhealthy behavior (especially smoking at 64%) or plan to do so shortly. More than a dozen states already require their employees who smoke to pay more for health insurance, and one state charges smokers more under Medicaid.  A growing number of companies are following the lead of the W.H.O. and refusing to hire smokers; judges have issued orders in the large majority of states banning smoking in homes to protect children, and more and more states are prohibiting smoking in foster homes and in cars when kids are present.

Charging smokers more is also what the public wants, says public interest law professor John Banzhaf of ASH.

When MSNBC reported in August, 2009, on a plan by ASH to incorporate personal responsibility into the new health reform law by charging smokers more for health insurance, it noted that 57% of Americans favor higher health insurance premiums for smokers, as contrasted with only 36% favoring a similar surcharge on the obese. www.pr-inside.com/most-want-health-insurance-smoker-surcharge-r1 ..

Interestingly, the new health reform law does in fact permit charging smokers up to 50% more for their health insurance, but similar surcharges for other health factors such as obesity can be instituted only if they are part of a federally qualified "wellness" program, and then only up to a lower percentage.

At about the same time, the WorkTrends report noted that a majority of workers supported charging employees who smoke more for their health insurance (50% vs 47%), whereas they opposed similar charges for those who drink too much alcohol (43% vs. 54%), and strongly oppose such charges for workers who are very overweight (26% vs. 69%). www.heldrich.rutgers.edu/uploadedFiles/Publications/Heldrich_Cen ..

Interestingly, the same report said that workers also strongly oppose the use of financial incentives to promote healthier behaviors. "The notion that participation in a wellness program should be rewarded with extra pay or extra time off, however, is troubling to workers. . . . Two thirds of workers (66%) feel that employers should not provide extra pay to participants, and 6 in 10 (59%) say the same about extra time off."

A more recent survey by CNNMoney.com showed even more support for charging smokers higher rates for health insurance. Asked "should insurers penalize people for unhealthy behavior?," 31% said "yes, it promotes good health," and an additional 22% responded "only for very unhealthy things like smoking." In short, 53% would support such a surcharge, whereas only 31% favor using incentives instead. money.cnn.com/POLLSERVER/results/51174.html

A much higher percentage of employees would probably support charging smokers more for health insurance if they realized that each smoking employee can cost a company more than $10,000 a year in higher health care costs, disability payments, time lost from work, etc. -- money which otherwise could be used to provide better health insurance coverage for all employees, higher salaries, or for other purposes. ash.org/$12000.

PROFESSOR JOHN F. BANZHAF III
Professor of Public Interest Law at GWU,
FAMRI Dr. William Cahan Distinguished Professor,
FELLOW, World Technology Network, and
Executive Director and Chief Counsel
Action on Smoking and Health (ASH)
America’s First Antismoking Organization
2013 H Street, NW
Washington, DC 20006, USA
(202) 659-4310 // (703) 527-8418
http://ash.org/

Leadership lessons from the UK general election 2010

The 2010 general election plunged the UK government into turmoil as it faced a hung Parliament and negotiations took place about forming a coalition. Read our Post-Election Survey Report to see what your peers thought about the recent series of events – and consider how it might apply to the leadership of your own company. If the balance of power were to shift within your organisation, through a merger or acquisition for example, is this how the workforce might be feeling? Our survey points to the importance of firm leadership and explores the debate around power-sharing.

By Helen Winsor

The UK’s 2010 general election was among the most gripping experienced by the country in years: as the results to the election were counted, it became clear that the UK was contending with its first hung Parliament since 1974. The Labour Party lost its stronghold, but although David Cameron’s Conservatives came through with the highest proportion of seats in Parliament, they didn’t win enough seats to secure an outright majority.

So would the Conservatives move boldly forwards as a minority government – or might they – or the Labour Party – agree to negotiate a Liberal Democrat-aided coalition? In the fraught aftermath to the election, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg held discussions with Cameron, before moving on for talks with the then Prime Minister Gordon Brown. On the fourth day of charged negotiations, Brown offered to resign as part of a Liberal-Labour pact, and on day five a Conservative-Liberal Democrat alliance was forged, propelling Cameron into the position of Prime Minister with Clegg as his deputy.

So what would this mean for the UK? In the days following the election as events unfolded, IQPC’s Post-Election Survey 2010 gauged opinion across the UK. We asked respondents how they thought a minority government would impact the UK economy until the event of a second election later in the year, and also whether they thought a coalition government set-up could work.

Of those surveyed by IQPC, 80.3% voted in this year’s election. Of the 19.7% who did not vote, approximately half were ineligible but about half did not vote on grounds of dissatisfaction with all parties, disinterest, not being registered or not receiving their polling card.

A hung Parliament?
The majority of respondents, a sizeable 57.7%, believed a hung Parliament to be a bad predicament for the UK, while 26.8% considered it to be a good thing. There was also uncertainty among 15.5% of those surveyed, who said they did not know whether a hung Parliament would be positive or negative for the UK.

A clear leader?
There was strong opinion (81.7% of respondents) that a clear leader must be decided on in order to see the UK through the global economic crisis which struck in late-2007. At the time of the election, the country had begun to show signs of recovery from the recession which took hold in the final quarter of 2008, but the survey identifies public fear that this progress could be hindered – or worse – reversed without a clear leader in Parliament.

Formation of a coalition?
Opinion on the formation of a coalition government was less clear-cut. Almost half of respondents (46.5%) said they would support a coalition government, 31% said they would not support a coalition, while 22.5% were uncertain as to where they stood on this outcome. In terms of coalition preferences, the most favoured combination was for a Labour/Liberal Democrat partnership (about 30%), with 10% expressing a preference for a Conservative/Liberal Democrat partnership.

Back to the polls?
In the eventuality of Parliament being unable to agree on a coalition, the next step of the process would have been to send the UK back to the polls. Of those surveyed, a significant 81.7% said they would repeat their vote if this were to happen, while interestingly, 7% indicated they would cast a different, tactical vote. The remainder said they would not vote due to ineligibility or continued disinterest.

Reforming the voting system
Finally, we asked whether the UK voting system needs to change. The UK’s ‘first-past-the-post’ system relies on single-member constituencies, which many people believe can lead to disproportionate results. Approximately two-thirds of the UK’s seats are deemed ‘safe’ because one party has a huge majority within its constituency and automatically wins, so votes for other parties are unlikely to make a difference.

Different voting systems are used elsewhere in the world, however, such as the single transferable vote or alternative voting, which combine voter choice, proportionality, and a constituency link in different amounts. The survey results suggest considerable demand for electoral reform – with a substantial 62% of respondents advocating the need for change and only 28.2% expressing satisfaction with the system as it stands.

Overall, the survey findings indicate a largely pessimistic stance towards the hung Parliament predicament. Furthermore, there was not overwhelming confidence in the effectiveness of a coalition, with only about half of respondents in favour of a government with no outright leader. All of this points towards substantial disaffection with the UK voting system and demand for reform to prevent this type of situation from recurring at future general elections.

As part of their pact, the Conservatives have offered the Liberal Democrats a referendum on changing the electoral system to the alternative vote - so time will tell whether the electorate votes for change when it returns to the polling booths later this year.

Leadership lessons
Mergers, acquisitions and business transformation initiatives frequently shake up the power balance within companies and organisations. So what can business leaders learn from the events of the UK general election? The key message of our Post-Election Survey 2010 is the importance, in the event of any power shift, of retaining strong direction from the top, together with confidence across the wider organisation.

Find out more about leadership best practice at our forthcoming Lean Leaders events:
- Lean Leaders Meeting 2010 at CCT, Canary Wharf in London, from July 5th - 6th.
 Download the Brochure: www.leaders-in-lean.com
- H-PIN Annual General Meeting 2010 in Chicago IL, from September 29th - October 1st.
 Download the Brochure: www.h-pin.net

St Helens Chamber helps 500th female entrepreneur

St Helens Chamber is celebrating its latest milestone, after helping 500 women start businesses in the Borough.

The landmark was reached by Jan Williams, who has opened the Northwest Laser and Aesthetics Clinic on North John Street, St Helens with support from the Chamber.

The business, which uses lasers to remove unwanted hair as well as carrying out other cosmetic treatments, approached St Helens Chamber for support to start the business in St Helens, following the success of her clinic in Frodsham in Cheshire.

Jan has been allocated the support of a dedicated business mentor to support her through the first years of trading, and was awarded a start up grant of £5,000 to assist with initial costs.

Jan has already recruited one member of staff is looking to take on a receptionist in the near future.

Jan commented: "My mentor, Bob O’Connor has been brilliant. Having him and the Chamber behind me has made opening the business a lot simpler. I would certainly recommend getting in touch with St Helens Chamber for support and also the opportunities they provide for networking."

The Entrepreneur Kick Start programme, which is funded by the local Enterprise Growth Initiative, supported by St.Helens Council, provides start-up advice, free accountancy support for the first 12 months, ongoing business mentoring for the first three years, as well as grants from £200 to £5000.

Ann Holcroft, Business Start Manager at St Helens Chamber, added: "We are delighted to have reached this latest landmark. We work with many women from a range of backgrounds in the Borough who are looking to start a business and it is really rewarding to share in their successes."

"We offer a flexible service and any ladies who contact us have the option to meet with a female business adviser. We can also arrange meetings at a convenient location and time to suit you."

If you have an idea for a business and would like support to get your idea off the ground, call St Helens Chamber on 01744 742000 or visit http://www.sthelenschamber.com

Graffiti a Public Nuisance that Deteriorates

It's spring time, the snow is gone, and the cities in this state are in store for a much needed spring cleaning. But you would think I was talking about all of the trash littering the city street. Not so. There is the eye sore of graffiti littering our city buildings and bridges that wasn't hidden by the snow. But it was too cold to do much about it. But that didn't seem to slow down the self proclaimed street artist from spreading their unsightly  trash on our buildings, garage doors, windows and overpasses.

Now is the time for graffiti removal businesses like M&M Mobil Wash to hit the streets with a vengeance. Gang signs are everywhere, and the residents are fighting back because they are not only concerned about the writing on the walls, but also the property values of the surrounding area. Because graffiti artist don't tamper with the main streets of the thriving city. They are active on the outskirts of the town. Which is where the suburbs begin to spread out. Graffiti is spreading to the alleyways then on to the garages and back of homes, leaving an unsightly mess, and property values are plummeting.

Residents are in high gear to have this graffiti trash removed and are forming community watches to see that this sort of violation to their property is stopped. Now it's a matter of removing the graffiti from the building of the outskirts of the city where the industrial and manufacturing businesses thrive. The industrial area is an easy mark for graffiti vandals due to the lack of traffic in those areas. Now the city crews will be in high gear to clean up the painted mess with chemicals and pressure washers. Removing gang signs, crude pictures, and some very well done artwork.

Residents are encouraged to call law enforcement as soon as they spot the vandals at work. Passerby's and potential residents of the community perceive by the condition of the area via the graffiti, that law enforcement that is supposed to protect the community from such vandalism of private property, is not actively patrolling and protecting the residents of the community. The notion that encourages a feeling of disrespect that the vandals have for the law speaks poorly of the community and will eventually lead to urban decay. In turn the property values will plummet and our city will soon be turned over to an overwhelming abundance of crime and in a deteriorating community. Immediate action needs to be taken to insure that the visual pollution of graffiti is removed and halted.

Source: http://www.prlog.org/10608620-graffiti-public-nuisance-that-deteriorates.html

New companies to bid for 3G spectrum

 Predictably, the 3G auctions have attracted only existing 2G players -- Aircel, Bharti, Etisalat, Idea, Reliance Telecom, S Tel, Tata Teleservices, Vodafone and Videocon Telecom -- with not a single new entrant, global or Indian, in the list.

TOI was the first to predict, way back on August 12, 2008, that new players would probably stay away from the 3G auctions after the auctions were first announced. Even after the guidelines were revised for the 2010 auctions, the barriers for new entrants remained unchanged. The absence of global bidders is likely to ensure that the bidding will be conservative, and probably lower than the ambitious Rs 40,000 crore revenue target first announced by telecom minister A Raja.

The BWA list has four new players -- Augere, Tikona Wireless, Infotel Broadband Services and Qualcomm -- while Spice is making a comeback into the telecom space. Infotel belongs to Anant Nahatta, the son of HFCL owner Mahendra Nahatta.
http://us.travelchacha.com/india-holidays/

It could not be confirmed if these are all pan-India applications or if players will eventually bid only for select circles. DoT is meeting at 11.30am on Saturday, March 20 to screen the applications. "We will check to see if the applicants meet the licence criteria. For example, no company can hold more than 10% in another applicant company," a senior DoT official told TOI.

The simultaneous, ascending auction designed by auctioneer N M Rothschild enables bidders to bid from their own computer screen with the value of the highest bid and number of bidders in each round for each circle visible to each player, the DoT official added.

However, he declined to reveal what the revenue expectations from these auctions were. "We expect it to be a good auction on the back of robust demand," he said. However, the government recently said it expects to earn at least Rs 30,000 crore from the auction proceeds.
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The reserve price for pan-India 3G spectrum is Rs 3,500 crore and the bids could go anywhere in the range of Rs 6,000 to Rs 8,000 crore for each pan-India slot. For BWA auctions, the reserve price is Rs 1,750 crore with bids expected in the range of Rs 2,000 to Rs 3,000 crore per pan-India slot.

However, data revenue growth in the near term is not expected to be robust enough to justify extravagant bidding, as India is primarily a voice market with over 97% of the market still vanilla voice with rock bottom ARPUs (average revenue per user) of less than Rs 200.

"Unrealistically high 3G bids were witnessed in the UK, France and Germany in early 2000 because large tranches of spectrum were on offer and data growth was expected to take off. However, data has been slow to grow globally. The US is the largest data market today and this growth has only been fuelled lately after the launch of the Apple iPhone," said a telecom expert.

The 3G auctions are scheduled to begin on April 9. The government is auctioning three 2x5 MHz slots in the 2.1 GHz band in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu (including Chennai) and Kerala (all A Category circles), Haryana, UP East, UP West, Rajasthan, MP (all B Category circles), Orissa, Assam and North East (all C Category circles). Four slots are on offer in Punjab (Category A), West Bengal (Category B), and Himachal and Bihar (Category C).

BWA auctions for two pan-India slots of 20 MHz each will begin after the close of the 3G auctions. BWA is used for high-speed data and video applications. 3G is also a technology that is preferred for data - essentially for triple play or voice, data and video which is far superior to the 2G networks used in India.

Source: http://www.prlog.org/10585068-new-companies-to-bid-for-3g-spectrum.html