Contact: U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Press Office, 202-712-4320; Public Information, 202-712-4810
WASHINGTON, June 27 /Standard Newswire/ -- The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) held a Small Business and Procurement Fair today in Washington, D.C.
"Our key objective is to signal to the small business community that USAID is an open shop and that they are an integral part of USAID's mission," said James Kunder, Acting Deputy Administrator for the agency. "We fully recognize that USAID has not performed well in the past working with small business." However, Mr. Kunder went further to note that USAID's most recent scorecard rating from the U.S. Small Business Administration was a 'green,' which was received because of the Agency's increasing use of small businesses and accomplishing its 2008 small business goals.
The conference was attended by over 150 small business representatives seeking to do business with USAID and provide them with an opportunity to meet with technical and contracting officers to discuss upcoming contracting opportunities. This was the first conference of its kind to be held in five years.
This event was hosted by USAID's Office of Small and Disadvantaged Utilization/Minority Resource Center, which oversees small and disadvantaged, women-owned, HUB-Zone small, veteran-owned and service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses. It is the responsibility of the office to assist these small business owners to successfully participate in USAID sustainable development assistance programs and activities.
For more information about USAID, please visit: www.usaid.gov.