NEWARK, NJ – Robert Cottingham, Jr, founder and CEO of Sabre88, a Newark-based consulting and IT company was named the recipient of U.S. Small Business Administration’s 2015 New Jersey Minority Small Business Person of the Year, it was announced today.

The announcement was made at SBA’s Annual Small Business Week Awards Reception hosted by the Statewide Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey at the State Museum in Trenton. In making the announcement, New Jersey District Director, Al. Titone .said that Cottingham, an African-American was selected for the award based on criteria that include the company’s Overall Financial Strength, Growth in Sales and Profits, Growth in Number of Employees, and Participation in Community and Charitable Events.

Six years ago, Cottingham started the business from his home. Today, his company has offices in Newark and provides IT and Telecommunications support to government agencies like the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), the General Services Administration (GSA) and the U.S. Navy among other clients. Sabre88 currently employ 32 fulltime employees and annual revenue in excess of $2 million.

A turning point for Cottingham came in 2011, when Sabre88 became an SBA certified 8(a) company. According to Titone, the 8(a) Program is an essential instrument for helping socially and economically disadvantaged entrepreneurs gain access to federal contracting opportunities.

Participants of the program can receive sole-source contracts, up to a ceiling of $4 million for goods and services and $6.5 million for manufacturing. While we help 8(a) firms build their competitive and institutional know-how, we also encourage them to participate in competitive acquisitions, said Titone. We believe that contracting is one of the most effective ways for small businesses to create jobs in this country and inner cities like Newark.

Minority small business owners play an essential part in contributing to both our national and local economy, said Titone. I am here to tell you that the American dream does exist for those who have innovative businesses and are willing to work hard to achieve success, We’re just so pleased to be celebrating National Small Business Week (May 4-8) and recognizing the achievements and success of Bob Cottingham and Sabre88.

Contact: Harry Menta (973) 645-6064 (SBA)
Cell Phone: (201) 675-6309Internet Address: http://www.sba.gov/news

Between 2000 and 2012, spending on federal contracting grew more quickly than inflation and as a percentage of total federal spending. The fastest-growing category in dollars has been contracts for professional, administrative and management services the top expanding category being medical services.

Unfortunately, according to a March 11 letter released on the CBO website, the agency reports, “Regrettably, CBO is unaware of any comprehensive information about the size of federal government’s contracted workforce.” ²

The CBO’s efforts to deepen the analysis to help lawmakers determine whether contracting is more expensive than hiring federal employees fell short due to incomplete data. The Federal Procurement Data System-Next Generation (FPDS-NG), “is the only comprehensive source of information about federal spending on contracts.” Still, data in FPDS-NG is incomplete and “several reports have called the accuracy of this data into question”. ³

The database, the CBO concluded does not by itself allow analysts to compare the cost of performing a task with contracted employees against the cost of performing the same task with federal employees.

Critics of federal contracting have long expressed skepticism that contracting is more affordable than hiring government workers. On the other hand, advocates strongly disagree and call for fair, balanced policies, and clear, understandable measurements of public-private competition.

Medici, Andy “CBO: No clue on the number of contractors or their pay.”http://www.federaltimes.com/story/government/management/oversight/2015/03/12/cbo-contractors/70201390/

 

² Elmendorf, Douglas W. “Federal Contracts and the Contracted Workforce.” Letter to Congressman Chris Van Hollen. 11 Mar. 2015.

³ Elmendorf, Douglas W. “Federal Contracts and the Contracted Workforce.” Letter to Congressman Chris Van Hollen. 11 Mar. 2015.

The House of Representatives voted last week to renew the Pentagon’s 25-year old Comprehensive Subcontracting Plan Test program for three more years of testing despite claims from Pentagon spokeswoman Maureen Schumann stating that the Pentagon would like to see the program terminated due to a lack of any quantifiable results proving the programs efficacy. The Senate is expected to renew the Test Program by the end of the week as part of the 2015 National Defense Authorization Act (NDCA).

The Comprehensive Subcontracting Plan Test Program was set up in 1990 to “determine if comprehensive subcontracting plans on a corporate, division or plant-wide basis would lead to increased opportunities for small businesses”. Currently the program has failed to publish a report or yield any relevant data, and small business advocates charge that the Test Program’s existence is actually costing smaller companies opportunities by allowing larger firms a loophole exempting them from submitting subcontracting reports used to monitor compliance with small business goals allowing a work to get around the government wide goal of awarding 23 percent of all federal contract dollars to small business. In 2010, the American Small Business League (ASBL) launched a national campaign to potentially block the Test Program’s extension and last September Professor Charles Tiefer, one of the nation’s leading experts in federal contracting law called the program a “sham” due to the egregious lack of transparency and oversight, stating that “The program and its extension will be seriously harmful to vital opportunities for small businesses to get government contracting work.”

Last summer, chairman of the Small Business Committee, Rep. Same Graves, R-Mo, pressed for revision in the NDCA to increase transparency and accountability in the program, however Senators on the Armed Services Committee called for an end to the program entirely. The final bill, which the President is expected to sign will extend the program for another three years but will require thorough reporting in greater detail more frequently.

Action to come Thursday.

By ASHLEY PARKER and JONATHAN WEISMANDEC. 9, 2014
“WASHINGTON” Congressional leaders reached a deal Tuesday on a more than $1 trillion spending package that would fund most of the federal government through the current fiscal year. But because negotiations on the package dragged over policy details, House lawmakers also prepared to move on a short-term spending measure that would avert a government shutdown if Congress cannot pass the larger bill by Thursday, when the current funding expires. Even with nettlesome last-minute issues, leaders in both parties expressed confidence that they would be able to keep the government running. Lawmakers battled behind the scenes over dozens of additional policy provisions ranging from the Environmental Protection Agency’s jurisdiction over some bodies of water to the District of Columbia’s marijuana laws to matters of campaign finance. The big spending package, which congressional leaders had hoped to have ready on Monday, did not come until Tuesday evening. The final legislation would largely keep domestic funding at current levels, while providing more money to fight various crises abroad. The House is expected to vote on the package on Thursday before sending it to the Senate. The short-term measure would provide the Senate cover and avoid a government shutdown if the Senate is unable to also pass the bill that day.

The spending bill would fund nearly all of the federal government through September 2015, except for the Department of Homeland Security, which it would fund only through February, in retaliation for President Obama’s unilateral action to defer the deportation of as many as five million undocumented immigrants. Congressional Republicans plan to take up funding for the agency which has primary responsibility for carrying out the president’s immigration directive early next year, when they will control both chambers of Congress and believe they will have more leverage”-New York Times December 10, 2014

The US Small Business Administration’s women-owned small business program, which begun in 2012 with the intent to funnel federal dollars to small businesses owned by women, has been failing to certify that only eligible business are awarded contracts according to a report issued by the US Government Accounting Office.

In order to take part in the WOSB program, a small business must be 51 percent owned and controlled by a woman which it must prove through financial documentation. The program went into effect in 2012 after the government failed to continue to meet a 15-year goal of awarding at least 5 percent of its prime and subcontract dollars to business owned by women. According to many The WOSB program has had limited effect on federal contracting opportunities available to WOSBs. Set aside contracts under the program represent less than 1 percent of all federal obligations to WOSBs.

“Without ongoing monitoring and oversight of the activities and performance of third-party certifiers, the Small Business Administration cannot reasonably assure that certifiers fulfill the requirements of the agreement,” claims the GAO. “As a result of inadequate monitoring and controls, potentially ineligible businesses may continue to incorrectly certify themselves as WOSBs, increasing the risk that they may receive contracts for which they are not eligible.”

Contracting officers, business owners and industry experts identified challenges and suggested potential modifications to influence proper program uses including: allowing sole-source contracts rather than requiring two businesses to compete, along with expanding the list of 330 industries that WOSBs are eligible for set asides.