GSA Focuses on Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business

June 22, 2006

GSA # 10251

Contact: Katharine Uhre (202) 501-1231
katharine.uhre@gsa.gov

Washington, DC – The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) today announced the launch of an online training course, available at fsstraining.gsa.gov, on understanding and applying the regulations for contracting with service-disabled veteran-owned small business (SDVOSB) to help agencies meet their contracting goals. 

This on-line training explains how to apply the Federal Acquisition Regulations and the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) regulations to assist the contracting community in achieving the contracting goals mandated for SDVOSB.  The course will also provide resources to assist the contracting community in helping SDVOSBs understand federal contracting.

Public Laws 106-50 and 108-183, and Executive Order 13360 for SDVOSBs focus on increasing contracting opportunities at federal agencies for qualified businesses.  Federal agencies are mandated to provide at least 3% of the total value of all prime contract awards each fiscal year for SDVOSBs.  The online training will assist members of the federal contracting community on how to increase contracting opportunities for SDVOSBs.
 
“This training delivers on GSA’s mission of being the premier acquisition agency.  As a former small business owner who worked with GSA, I know how important it is to understand the government acquisition process’ rules and regulations,” said GSA Administrator Lurita Doan.  “With this training, GSA is educating the contracting community on this important issue so they can better service SDVOSBs.”

The training course consists of presentations by GSA Deputy Administrator David Bibb, GSA Chief Acquisition Officer Emily Murphy, GSA Acting Senior Procurement Executive Roger Waldron and the SBA’s Procurement Analyst Theresa Lewis, and is hosted by the GSA’s Associate Administrator for the Office of Small Business Utilization, Felipe Mendoza.  Students participating in the training course will be awarded one Continuous Learning Point (CLP) upon successful completion the course. 

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GSA is a centralized, federal procurement, property management, policy development and information provision agency, created by Congress to improve government efficiency and help federal agencies better serve the public. In this role, GSA acquires products and services on behalf of federal agencies; plays a key role in developing and implementing governmentwide policies; provides services and solutions for the office operations of more than one million federal workers; and encourages a citizen-centric relationship with government by providing a single "point of entry" to the information and services citizens need in a timeframe they can appreciate. This allows citizens to receive accurate, timely and consistent answers and information, and helps federal agencies better respond to citizen inquiries.