Pacific Rim News & Notices

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Regional Notices

• LA Courthouse event attracts more than 350 attendees
• Pacific Rim celebrates Women's Equality Day with round table events
• Region 9 joins EPA in Federal Green Challenge

LA Courthouse event attracts more than 350 attendees

The Pacific Rim Region hosted a subcontracting outreach event for the new U.S. Courthouse in Los Angeles at the University of Southern California on September 12, 2012. More than 350 small business representatives attended the event to discover what subcontracting opportunities could become available to them as the project progresses. The purpose of the event was to help the four design-build teams identify qualified small business architect/engineer and construction resources in the local community. This project has an aggressive subcontracting goal of 39 percent overall, with additional goals for each socio-economic class:

• 5% - Small disadvantaged businesses including 8(a)
• 5% - Woman-owned small businesses
• 3% - HUBZone businesses
• 3% - Veteran-owned small businesses
• 3% - Service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses

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Pacific Rim celebrates Women's Equality Day with round table events

The Pacific Rim Region dedicated this month’s outreach efforts to women-owned businesses in honor of Women’s Equality Day, recognized on August 26. Regional Administrator Ruth Cox hosted twenty-three small business owners at a roundtable in Menlo Park on August 21 to engage them in an active dialogue about GSA’s role in the small business community. She was joined by Mayor Kirsten Keith, Small Business Administration Area Director, Jim Gambardella and Pacific Rim Region Special Assistant, Van Tamom. Mayor Keith welcomed attendees and urged them to use all available resources to help grow their business. Ms. Cox provided an overview of the Pacific Rim Region, our vision for the “energy age,” and discussed the importance of sustainability in the federal government and how it helps shape our purchases. Mr. Tamom and Mr. Gambardella provided information on a number of programs, including the new System for Awards Management and the Women-Owned Small Business Federal Contract Program (WOSB). Attendees expressed a significant level of interest in how many Women-Owned Businesses were on GSA Schedules, the eligibility requirements for the WOSB program and SBA's role in government contracting.

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Region 9 joins EPA in committing to 100% recycled copy paper

As part of their integrated strategy under the Federal Green Challenge, Region 9 GSA and EPA Regional Administrators, Ruth Cox and Jared Blumenfeld, rallied 63 agency heads, representing more than 240,000 regional federal employees, to exceed Executive Order 13514's mandatory use of 30 percent recycled copy paper by using only 100 percent recycled, chlorine-free paper. Using 100 percent recycled copy paper provides a number of tangible benefits to our environment. It conserves energy and water as well as reduces air and water pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. According to the EPA, one ton of recycled paper saves 26 trees, 7,000 gallons of water that would otherwise be used to make virgin paper, and 4,100 kilowatt hours of electricity. That's enough to power the average home for six months. As a result of two virtual meetings with federal purchasers held in January and April, the demand for this product has increased so much that prices have fallen to a low of $40.20 per box off the Second Generation FSSI Office Supply BPAs.

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