http://community.peachtree.com/t5/Small-Business-Success/Accessing-the-opportunities-from-the-2009-Recovery-Act/ba-p/8011 <p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" face="Arial">I am fairly computer savvy when it comes to surfing the web but not an expert.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" face="Arial">I started on the </font><a href="http://www.recovery.org/" target="_blank">http://www.recovery.org/</a><font size="2" face="Arial"> website to view the available resources.<span>  </span>The website’s look and feel is very user friendly.<span>  </span>Navigating was fairly easy from the landing page.<span>  </span>There were three areas on this home page that caught my attention The first was the <strong>Opportunities</strong> Tab at the top, the second was located in the bottom right navigation panel entitled <strong>State, Local, Tribal and Territorial Information</strong>, and the third was a button located toward the bottom of the landing page placed in the middle that read <strong>Click here for Small Business Resources</strong>.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span><font size="2" face="Arial"> </font></span></p><strong><font size="2"><font face="Arial">OPPORTUNITIES TAB</font></font></strong><font size="2" face="Arial"> </font><p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" face="Arial">The area of most interest to me was on the </font><a href="http://www.recovery.gov/?q=content/recovery-act-opportunities" target="_blank"><font size="2" face="Arial">OPPORTUNITIES</font></a><font size="2" face="Arial"> tab.<span>  </span>I felt if I were looking for available contracts this is where I would start my search.<span>  </span>Reading through the page I came across the </font><a href="https://www.fbo.gov/index?cck=1&amp;au=&amp;ck=" target="_blank"><font size="2" face="Arial">FedBizOpps.gov</font></a><font size="2" face="Arial"> and clicked through to the website.<span>  </span>This is the website that can be used to post, search, monitor and retrieve contract opportunities.</font></p><font size="2" face="Arial"> </font><p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" face="Arial">I started to register on the site and was asked for a DUNS number- oops! I didn’t have one! There was a message that said </font><a href="http://fedgov.dnb.com/webform" target="_blank"><font size="2" face="Arial">obtaining a DUNS</font></a><font size="2" face="Arial"> number was free and only took ten minutes. I started the DUNS process but didn’t have the required business information, just a few items needed, nothing complicated, (I don’t actually have a licensed company) but was still able to register.<span>  </span>The next page is an agreement page that must be agreed to every time you log into the system, no biggie.</font></p><font size="2" face="Arial"> </font><p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" face="Arial">I went straight to the </font><a href="https://www.fbo.gov/downloads/FBO_Vendor_Guide.pdf" target="_blank"><font size="2" face="Arial">user’s guide link</font></a><font size="2" face="Arial"> (PDF download available) located in the upper right hand corner of the landing page. <span> </span>I wanted to review any other necessary steps I needed to take before submitting a bid on contracts.<span>  </span>I found that in order participate in bidding on government contracts one must be a </font><a href="http://www.ccr.gov/Default.aspx" target="_blank"><font size="2" face="Arial">registered contractor</font></a><font size="2" face="Arial"> – ok, one more registration page.</font></p><font size="2" face="Arial"> </font><p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" face="Arial">Now that we have all of that out of the way, Phew!<span>  </span>We can start searching for contracts, back to the </font><a href="http://www.fedbizopps.gov/" target="_blank"><font size="2" face="Arial">www.FedBizOpps.gov</font></a><font size="2" face="Arial"> site.<span>  </span>The </font><a href="https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&amp;mode=list&amp;tab=list" target="_blank"><font size="2" face="Arial">Find Opportunities</font></a><font size="2" face="Arial"> link takes you to a page that looks, at first glance, pretty daunting if you aren’t used to search engines.<span>  </span>I started with the assumption that I wanted to look for construction jobs.<span>  </span>I went straight to the <strong>Advanced Search</strong> tab so that I could see all of the filters available for searching.<span>  </span>I looked though the classification code list and the NAICS codes and checked the boxes for all the codes that I thought fit into the construction area.<span>  </span>There a number of other filters available to narrow your search.<span>  </span>I clicked the Search button and, there they were, 27 opportunities.<span>  </span>I then refined my results by adding a zip code; turns out none of the opportunities were near me, oh well.<span>  </span>The other really cool thing this site offers is the ability to save searches and to be notified by email either daily or however you schedule the search agent.<span>  </span>You can also watch list contracts that interest you.<span>  </span>Pretty cool stuff.</font></p><p><strong><font size="2"><font face="Arial"> </font></font></strong></p><p><strong><font size="2"><font face="Arial">State, Local, Tribal and Territorial Information</font></font></strong><font size="2" face="Arial"> </font></p><p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" face="Arial">The link on the Recovery.org website that links directly to each </font><a href="http://www.recovery.gov/?q=content/state-local-tribal-and-territorial-resources&amp;mode=table" target="_blank"><font size="2" face="Arial">States</font></a><font size="2" face="Arial"> recovery page takes you to a map where you can then click through to a particular state.<span>  </span>I clicked through to a few states and found that each landing page I viewed had a totally different “look and feel”.<span>  </span>Some of the pages listed the grants and projects available, while others just presented phone numbers for various departments to contact.</font></p><p><strong><font size="2"><font face="Arial"> </font></font></strong></p><p><strong><font size="2"><font face="Arial">Click here for Small Business Resources</font></font></strong><font size="2" face="Arial"> </font></p><p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" face="Arial">This link takes you to the </font><a href="http://sba.gov/index.html" target="_blank"><font size="2" face="Arial">U.S. Small Business Administration website</font></a><font size="2" face="Arial">.<span>  </span>The site has a user friendly landing page and there is a link that prominently displayed </font><a href="http://sba.gov/recovery/index.html" target="_blank"><font size="2" face="Arial">Economic Recovery</font></a><font size="2" face="Arial"> .<span>  </span>I clicked through and landed on the <strong>American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009</strong><span> Page</span>. Lot of great stuff for small business owners, I would visit this site just to see what it has to offer.<span>   </span>But, in the mean time, at the bottom of the page you will find a link that will </font><a href="http://sba.gov/localresources/index.html" target="_blank"><font size="2" face="Arial">Find Your Local SBA District Office</font></a><font size="2" face="Arial">.<span>  </span>Although each states SBA landing page is similar in layout the information presented changes, you might have to poke around a bit to find Recovery information.</font></p><font size="2" face="Arial"> </font><p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" face="Arial">That concludes the tour of the 2009 Recovery Act website expedition; it was definitely a learning experience for me.<span>  </span>I hope that you found the information useful.</font></p><font size="2" face="Arial"> </font> Wed, 01 Jul 2009 13:25:31 GMT debbie_mason 2009-07-01T13:25:31Z http://community.peachtree.com/t5/Small-Business-Success/Accessing-the-opportunities-from-the-2009-Recovery-Act/ba-p/8011 I started this research project to see how easy it would be to find and take advantage of the opportunities of the 2009 Recovery Act. I visited the sites and will share my experience with you. I went to www.Recovery.org and this is what I found… Wed, 01 Jul 2009 13:25:31 GMT http://community.peachtree.com/t5/Small-Business-Success/Accessing-the-opportunities-from-the-2009-Recovery-Act/ba-p/8011 debbie_mason 2009-07-01T13:25:31Z http://community.peachtree.com/t5/Small-Business-Success/Accessing-the-opportunities-from-the-2009-Recovery-Act/bc-p/8867 <p>Great info, Debbie!  Here's an interesting article from the Wall Street Journal about how small businesses are finding creative ways to get contracts for the stimulus projects:  <a target="_blank" href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124993075124220261.html?mod=dist_smartbrief">http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124993075124220261.html?mod=dist_smartbrief</a></p><br><p> </p><p>&quot;Becker recently attended her first SBA-sponsored networking event, which brought together prime contractors with women and minority-owned vendors. &quot;It was kind of like speed dating but with contractors,&quot; she says.</p><p> </p><p>She didn't know anyone there, but set about going from table to table introducing herself and her business. Now she is following up on several leads, including one from Rolls Royce.&quot;</p><p> </p> Tue, 11 Aug 2009 17:56:25 GMT http://community.peachtree.com/t5/Small-Business-Success/Accessing-the-opportunities-from-the-2009-Recovery-Act/bc-p/8867 StacyP 2009-08-11T17:56:25Z http://community.peachtree.com/t5/Small-Business-Success/Accessing-the-opportunities-from-the-2009-Recovery-Act/bc-p/8892 <p>StacyP forwarded this <a href="http://blogs.bnet.com/ceo/?p=2646" target="_self">blog</a> from BNET to me. So far there is only one comment that essentially says they haven't seen a positive change in their business yet. Too soon to tell?</p><p> </p><p>Andrea</p> Wed, 12 Aug 2009 13:51:08 GMT http://community.peachtree.com/t5/Small-Business-Success/Accessing-the-opportunities-from-the-2009-Recovery-Act/bc-p/8892 AndreaM 2009-08-12T13:51:08Z