June P-TALK News, Upcoming Events and More!

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Featured Event

Space Industry Gears Up for Annual Event

What do NASA, Missile Defense Agency, Boeing, Teledyne Brown Engineering, SAIC, JACOBS all have in common? They are coming to the northwest (virtually) for the annual Northwest Aerospace Defense Conference on June 10!

Attendees at the June 10^th event will get an opportunity to hear from a budget expert on government contracting spending trends in aviation, including space, as well as representatives from Missile Defense Agency, NASA, and several NASA Prime Contractors.

View the full agenda here. Register now for first access to 1:1 Meetings with primes and agency representatives. Use this discount code for reduced pricing: PTAC

HUBZone Program Changes

Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone) Certified firms have a competitive advantage in the federal marketplace. To reach a goal of 3% HUBZone spend, federal agencies can set aside opportunities only for certified firms. The goal is also flowed down to prime contractors. To be certified, the small business must 51% or more owned by US Citizens, be located in a HUBZone and at least 35% of employees need to live in a HUBZone. In an effort to increase the contract spend to firms in Historically Underutilized Business Zones, Congress has made significant changes to the HUBZone program in recent months.

Here’s a review of changes:

The map will soon be frozen until June 30, 2023 – this means the risk of your community losing its HUBZone status shortly after you get certified is less of a concern.
In order to maintain certification, the percent of employees living in a HUBZone may dip to as low as 20% in some cases.
For some areas, firms can now count long-term HUBZone resident employees as permanent HUBZone residents, with proper documentation.
For some areas, Small businesses that purchase a building or enter a long-term lease (of 10 years or more) may maintain HUBZone eligibility for up to 10 years, even if at some point the office location no longer qualifies as a HUBZone.

Learn more about HUBZone here and to find out if you’re eligible and if it’s a good fit for your business goals, contact your PTAC Counselor.

Contact a PTAC Counselor today for assistance with all your government contracting questions. Click on a counselor's name to email them or give them a call at the phone number listed.

Main Center

Thurston EDC

4220 6th Ave.

Lacey, WA 98503

360-464-6041

Program Manager

Counselors

Sub Centers

(425) 248-4223

(509) 321-3646

Columbia River Economic Development Council

(503) 694-9403

(253) 520-6267

Kitsap Economic Development Alliance

(360) 377-9499

Kathy Cocus

(509) 491-3231

NEWS

SAM.gov offered a 180-day automatic extension to registrations, BUT unfortunately, the SBA Profile/Dynamic Small business Search did not follow suit. The DSBS database is often used by agencies and primes to find firms and verify socio-economic status. If you are a small business utilizing the 180-day extension, it is very likely your DSBS is expired! To fix, update your SAM.gov registration.

$15 Minimum Wage Coming to Federal Contracts in 2022 – Beginning January 30, 2022 this executive order mandates $15 minimum wage for all workers on federal contracts and subcontracts. Watch for details in November 2021 and FAR changes 60 days later. It’s unlikely to be applicable to contracts you are currently performing under unless there is an option year award negotiated after January 30, 2022, but as always: read your contract.

Washington State Award Data – Interested to see what the state is buying and from who? Consider sleuthing the data found at data.wa.gov. A few reports might be helpful, including Amazon Spend Data (updated monthly) and Master Contract Sales Data.

City of Seattle Wants Your Feedback – The City is planning to re-compete its Technical Assistance Services Contact that provides support to small, women, and minority-owned firms seeking to do business with the City. What would be most helpful to you? The City wants to know on this quick and easy survey.

Upcoming Events

Contracting Coffee Hour - Silverdale

6/2/2021 8:00 AM - 10:00 AM

Any and all government contracting questions welcome! Answered by combined 60+ years experience from retired contracting officers.

University of Washington Virtual Workshops for Suppliers

6/3/2021 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM

The orientations will provide a learning opportunity to assist in navigating potential business prospects at the University and with other state agencies, as well as educational and other resources to assist businesses.

PTAC & SBDC First Friday Follow-up

6/4/2021 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Friday Follow-up is an open forum, round table for businesses to get answers from your local PTAC counselor and SBDC Advisor.

10 Seconds to Impact - Creating Extraordinary Elevator Pitches

6/8/2021 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Gain critical awareness and tools you can use immediately to improve the quality of your elevator pitch.

City of Seattle Opportunity Search Session

6/9/2021 2:30 PM - 3:30 PM

The Northwest Mountain Minority Supplier Development Council and the City of Seattle would like to extend to small businesses, an invitation to our free, City of Seattle Opportunity Search Session.

Bye-Bye Beta!

6/9/2021 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

In this session, we will walk through the most recent changes to the SAM.gov system

Doing Business with Snohomish County

6/9/2021 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM

Would you like to know how to use Snohomish County's procurement database to its fullest? If the answer is YES, this session on June 9th is for you. There will be two subject matter experts leading this session and will be available to take all of your questions during this session. Bring your questions and be ready to learn as much as you can about Snohomish Counties' procurement practices.

N orthwest Aerospace Defense Conference featuring NASA

6/10/2021 8:00 AM - 2:00 PM

Learn to do business with NASA and gain the market intelligence and analytics you need to navigate the changing landscape of the aerospace defense marketplace. Following the morning presentation, attendees will be able to participate in one-on-one matchmaking meetings with NASA and their prime contractors.

Surplus Government Property for Veteran-Owned Small Businesses Webinar

6/10/2021 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM

Public Law No. 115-416, the Veterans Small Business Enhancement Act of 2018, directs the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) to give certain veteran-owned small businesses (VOSBs) access to federally-owned surplus personal property. Find out what that means for you in this 1.5-hour session covering local resources, surplus property program overview, and veteran verification.

Port of Seattle PortGen: Industry Day

6/11/2021 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM

Featuring the North Main Terminal Redevelopment Project with Alaska Airlines

Winning Proposals: Your Comprehensive Guide to Responding to Federal RFPs (3-Part Series) - Govology

6/15/2021 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM

$225.00 Free for Washington PTAC clients - contact your PTAC counselor

Are you ready to increase your win rate, eliminate challenges and distractions, increase your organization’s efficiency at responding to requests for proposals, and stop the cycle of reinventing the wheel? If so, you are not alone!

Doing Business with DLA: DLA-TKO

6/16/2021 10:30AM-11:30AM

The Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) Office of Small Business Programs offers monthly webinars to educate small businesses and others about DLA's mission and opportunities to participate in our various supply chains.

SE PTAC/SBDC Business Roundtable

6/17/2021 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM

The SE WA PTAC/SBDC Business Roundtable is an open forum discussion where you can learn from PTAC about government contracting and SBDC Business Advisors about growing your business.

Government Contracting 101

6/18/2021 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Please join PTAC in Contracting in the New "Normal" Series - Part 1. Government Contracting 101 will help you discover tools and information that can help you determine who in state and local government buys what you sell, how they buy it, and how you can prepare your firm to succeed in the public marketplace.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Northwestern Division Small Business Outreach Event

6/22/2021 9:30am - 12:00pm

Learn how to do business with U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Northwestern Division. The event will include information on each district's mission and programs, as well as a preliminary forecast of opportunities for the next fiscal year.

Cybersecurity Requirements for Federal Contract

6/23/2021 8:00 AM -10:00 AM

Learn about the newly implemented cybersecurity requirements and determine how your company will comply

Access2Success HHS OSDBU Small Business National Virtual Conference

6/29/2021 6:00 AM - 2:00 PM

Wednesday with the Deputy's (for small business) NUWC and PSNS/IMF

6/30/2021 9:00 AM - 10:30 AM

Wednesday with the Deputy for Small Business is an opportunity for industry partners to meet with the Deputy for Small Business from the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC), Keyport Division, and the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility (PSNS/IMF).

PTAC CALENDAR

PTAC provides technical assistance to help Washington businesses successfully compete in the government marketplace. A program of the Thurston Economic Development Council, in partnership with the following subcenters: