The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization, which operates under the Small Business Act, expands contracting opportunities for small businesses. By law, every federal agency must establish an OSDBU within its organization to promote the use of small and small-disadvantaged businesses in agency contracting programs.

During fiscal year 2008, the department spent approximately $2.6 billion in contracts, awarding approximately $1.6 billion to small businesses. For this reason, OSDBU believes that at Interior small business is big business.

For fiscal year 2009, OSDBU is again employing a critical tool to reach out to some of these small businesses by conducting the first of several regional workshops. Beginning in the Southeast region, it plans to conduct a Small Business Outreach Workshop at the Sam Nunn Atlanta Federal Center in Atlanta, Ga. OSDBU will kick off the Feb. 10-11 event with an in-house training workshop for Interior’s small-business specialists, contracting officers and program managers from the Southeast region. The first-day workshop will cover the subcontracting program and responsibilities of prime contractors, size-standard requirements and strategic sourcing, fostering objectives for day two.

On the second day, OSDBU will host small businesses at an outreach workshop that will focus on contracting opportunities with Interior. There these businesses will be able to share their perspectives on trends and conditions affecting the economy for the purpose of forming joint and team ventures.

OSDBU plans to hold additional small-business training/outreach workshops in Oregon, Alaska, Colorado, New Mexico and Massachusetts during the remainder of fiscal year 2009.  By focusing on the needs of its customers, OSDBU continues to make the public aware of contracting opportunities with Interior.

For more information about the Department’s Small Business Program, please visit www.doi.gov/osdbu or call (202) 208-3493.