Webinar about American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

Free Webinar
U.S. Department of the Interior Small Business/Recovery Act Webinar Invitation

Source of information provided by Rochester Procurement Technical Assistance Center

The U.S. Department of the Interior will be hosting ten American Recovery and Reinvestment Act webinars across the country during August for small and disadvantaged businesses interested in seeking contracts with the Department under the Recovery Act funding.

You are invited to attend a webinar which may be of interest to you as a potential business partner. Webinars are specific to each region of the Nation and you need to register to receive additional information.

A conference call number will also be available for the first 40 registrants of each location to allow a question and answer prior during the sessions. (Depending on the number of responses to this first round of webinars, the Department will determine if additional sessions are needed.)

Participants will receive an overview of the contracting process as it pertains to the funding
made available to the Department under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Background: The Department of the Interior has an important role in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and has received $3 billion in Recovery Act funding for its bureaus and programs. Over $490 million has been appropriated to the Department of Transportation for Interior roads.

The Recovery Act funding will be used for projects in parks, refuges, and public lands throughout the Nation; to improve conditions in Indian Country; to strengthen the Department’s scientific infrastructure; and for water projects throughout the western states.

The Department’s geographically dispersed and field-based service delivery network will afford unprecedented opportunities to employ individuals in communities in all fifty states and the territories. Interior will be investing in nearly 3,400 projects.

Approximately one-third of Interior’s Recovery Act funding will be invested in water infrastructure construction projects. Another 30% will be invested in nearly 240 construction projects at Interior sites. 15% will be invested in over 1,500 deferred maintenance and energy retrofit projects. Another 9% will be invested in over 600 road and bridge maintenance projects.

Approximately 63 percent, or $1.89 billion, of Interior’s Recovery Act funding will be obligated via contracts. Nearly $420 million, or 14 percent, of Interior’s funding will be awarded via tribal agreements. Another $395 million, or 13 percent, will be obligated via cooperative agreements primarily in the areas of habitat and trail restoration. About $70 million dollars will be awarded via competitive grants to water and irrigation districts and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).

Webinars are scheduled as follows:
To attend a webinar:
1. Select webinar best suited for the region or state where your company does business from the list below.
2. Register to attend the webinar.
3.Once you’ve registered you’ll receive an email with further instructions on attending the webinar and calling in to the conference number.

Northeast August 26, 2009 4:30-5:30 PM EDTMaine, Massachusetts, Vermont, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire, New YorkRegister Now! at https://usgs.webex.com/

Choose August 26 select Webinar: 4:30 pm DOI Small Business Webinar NorthEast
choose Register

For more information about American Recovery and Reinvestment Act opportunities with the Department, please contact the Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization at 1-877-375-9927 (Toll Free) or via email at DOI_OSDBU@ios.doi.gov.

Social Media 101: Part 5 Why

Why: The last in a five part series


Why do you want to use SM? What are your goals and what do you hope to achieve? If you see it as strictly free advertising and you plan to have only “commercials” people will eventually lose interest, so this is not a wise approach to take. They will be less interested in joining your network or following you if you are posting only sales pitches. However, if you provide useful, accurate information, relevant to the business community, they’ll keep coming back. You will begin to establish yourself as a subject matter expert. This will help you to gain credibility and trust, increasing the chances that a person will want to do business with you.

Additional Tips:
To save time posting a blog:

• Post an article that was written by someone else, just be sure to provide a link to the original article and give credit to the person wrote it. You can then give your commentary on the topic of the article or find a way to relate the information to local trends or challenges.
• Ask colleagues to be “guest bloggers” by writing articles for you to post, again giving them credit and adding their byline and link to their website. Using links is a good way to drive additional traffic to their site so it’s a good trade-off.
• Nick Francesco of http://www.asknick.com/ said, “A blog gets people’s attention and Twitter keeps it.” I think that’s a great analogy, consider using these two outlets together.

Other tidbits:

• Many SM outlets have useful technical features, functions, and gadgets. Don’t let these scare you. Start slowly with the basic functions and gradually build up to incorporating the more high-tech components.
• Be sure to incorporate SM in your overall marketing plan. Don’t make it just an after-thought. As part of your marketing plan, you will be more likely to actually using it and keep it in the forefront of your activities.
• If you plan to maintain your SM outlets yourself, put it on your schedule and be sure that you stick to that schedule. This will help you be more regular and disciplined about keeping things updated.