The US Small Business Administration (SBA) is teaming up with the USBOT Office of Small and Disadvantaged Businesses Utilization (OSDBU) and the US Department of Commerce Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) to help small and disadvantaged businesses have access to the resources they need to grow and succeed.
SBA and Transportation Partnerships Aimed at Getting Small Business Federal Contracts, Access to Capital
The partnerships will support the Biden Administration’s whole-of-government efforts to support businesses in the US and deliver the commitment to ensuring small and minority owned businesses have access to opportunities that help drive economic growth. It is aimed at engaging and supporting small and disadvantaged businesses to help strengthen supply chains in the US.
Historic Investments in Transportation Infrastructure
U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, spoke about the aim of the new partnership:
“Through President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, we are making historic investments in our transportation infrastructure—and that represents major opportunity for historically excluded Americans and our nation’s small businesses. These new initiatives with our partners at SBA and MBDA will help more small business owners secure federal contracts to modernize our country’s infrastructure for decades to come.”
SBA Administrator Isabella Guzman, commented: “These historic agreements between the US Small Business Administration and the US Department of Transportation will leverage the SBA’s lending, investment capital and bonding support to help ensure that small businesses receive the funding they need to build America’s critical infrastructure systems.”
Three Memorandums of Understanding
The partnerships are memorialized through three Memorandums of Understanding between the USDOT and SBA and the USDOT and MBDA.
The first between USDOT and SBA is aimed at providing better support to small disadvantaged businesses and disadvantaged business enterprises in the transportation industry. The second provides additional access to capital for small businesses, with a focus on small and disadvantaged businesses and disadvantaged business enterprise firms.
Through coordination of data sharing and reporting tools, the third Memorandum of Understanding between USDOT and MBDA will help the agencies engage with and develop underrepresented minority business enterprises in transportation supply chains across the US and related high growth industries.
Image: sba, transportation
