The past year has been tough on small businesses working to stay afloat through the COVID-19 pandemic. This has been especially true for Black American owned small businesses. A recent survey of small businesses by Goldman Sachs reports that, more than any other demographic, the Black American business community has been slow to recover, with 30% of respondents stating a pre-COVID business recovery of 25% or less. As we enter Black History Month, it’s important to consider opportunities to strengthen this community.

The following article was originally published by Defense Visual Information Distribution Service on July 22, 2020. It was written by Ferdinand Detres Jr.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Omaha District has continued to lead the way in using its various contracting programs to accomplish its mission in a continuously changing environment.

Across the federal government, each agency has a specific policy for when GWACs (Government-Wide Acquisition Contracts) and mandatory strategic sourcing vehicles should be used. One of the challenges is whether a policy requires IT buys to be competed through NASA SEWP (Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement) or, for example, if DHS needs to compete through FirstSource II—none of the existing GWACs or strategic sourcing vehicles are available on the same platform. That is, until now.