Small Businesses Bond With the Government

 Recruiters may expect to see some job growth in small businesses that can find ways to work with the government’s vision of transportation.  Whereas previously small or disadvantaged businesses had a hard time securing large government contracts, soon these companies may have a better shot at growing their business by securing these contracts.

Most government contracts require a business to produce a bond to protect the government financially in the event the business is not able to complete a project under the terms of a contract.  If a business is unable to offer a bond, it’s hard to get chosen for a federal project.  Currently, the U.S. Department of Transportation is expanding its efforts to assure that small businesses earn a bigger share of profits from federal endeavors.

The Department will expand its efforts that began last year in Chicago, Dallas and Atlanta.  The program expansion consists of an educational workshop component and a bond readiness component. The educational workshops include a 10-week course designed to help small businesses improve their operations in order to become bonded or to increase their bonding capacity. The bond readiness component consists of one-on-one meetings with Surety and Fidelity representatives to assemble materials necessary to complete the bond application process.

“When more small and disadvantaged businesses are bond-ready, more will be able to compete for large government contracts,” said Secretary LaHood. “Helping small businesses helps the U.S. economy grow.”

Recruiters can follow if this effort to help small businesses has success, as the program expands to Baltimore, MD; Raleigh, NC; Miami/Orlando, FL; Denver, CO; New Orleans, LA; Los Angeles, CA; Chicago, IL; New York, NY; Seattle, Washington; Columbia, SC and Minneapolis, MN.