0001 1 THE AMERICAN INDIAN/ ALASKA NATIVE 2 PUBLIC HEARING, COUNSELING SESSION 3 & BUSINESS FAIR 4 NATIONAL CENTER FOR AMERICAN INDIAN 5 ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT 6 7 TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS 8 January 7, 2004 9 10 The above entitled conference was held 11 at the Northern Hotel, Billings, Montana, on 12 January 7 and 8, 2004. 13 14 15 APPEARANCES: 16 Jeanette L. Brown, Director U. S. Environmental Protection Agency 17 Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization 18 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N. W. Washington, D. C. 20460 19 Kimberly Patrick 20 Attorney Advisor U. S. Environmental Protection Agency 21 Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization 22 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N. W. Washington, D. C. 20460 23 24 25 0002 1 P R O C E E D I N G S 2 9: 05 a. m. 3 MS. JEPSON: Well, we're going to get 4 started now. I want to welcome everybody. I'm 5 glad you made it. It's pretty chilly outside, 6 but this is Montana. 7 My name is Mary Conway Jepson. I'm 8 with the National Center for American Indian 9 Enterprise Development, and we've been assisting 10 Jeanette Brown and Kimberly and the EPA in 11 putting on these conferences and the hearings 12 over the last two months. We've been all over 13 the United States on Indian reservations and 14 many other places. 15 I want to welcome you today, and I hope 16 to make this a really great marketing experience 17 for you; that you learn a lot from Jeanette, and 18 also that you are able to speak with some of the 19 other people that are going to be here today 20 that we planned, today and tomorrow. 21 First of all, I'd like to go over a 22 little bit some housekeeping things. Everybody 23 should have a packet, and in that packet is the 24 Agenda, of course, and also some surveys. 25 And we really do appreciate your 0003 1 comments. If you could, at the end of the day 2 make sure that you complete this and either 3 leave it on the table or make sure that someone 4 from our staff is able to get them. 5 Also, I don't know if you realize it, 6 but the Great Northern is a very historical 7 hotel. They have set up some luncheon specials, 8 and we've put a copy of the menu in here, and if 9 you'd like to circle them and hand them in, that 10 would help them a lot. I encourage you to take 11 advantage of the restaurant so you won't have to 12 go outside and freeze. 13 They also have a really great gift shop 14 here, and you might take a few minutes to look 15 at some of the local Montana merchandise that 16 they've got. 17 Now, I'd like to first of all introduce 18 our premier speaker, who is Jeanette Brown. 19 Jeanette Brown has been very supportive of 20 Native Americans and small businesses all over 21 the United States, and she is the head of the 22 Small Business Office for the EPA in Washington, 23 D. C. So she's a really nice person to know in a 24 lot of different ways. 25 So I encourage you, they do have a 0004 1 table also over here, and if you're interested 2 in doing some business with them, that might be 3 a real good thing for you to do. 4 Also, we're going to have some other 5 tables over here, and I encourage you to take 6 the time to look and to speak with the person so 7 that you can figure out how to do some business 8 with that particular agency. 9 So far, some people are coming in a 10 little bit later on today, but some of the ones 11 I've seen so far have been the GSA, the General 12 Services Administration, they're here. They 13 take care of all the buildings that the Federal 14 Government uses. 15 There's a lot of construction things, a 16 lot of things that go into that. They will be 17 speaking tomorrow. But the representatives are 18 here today, so take your time and have some 19 one on one meetings with them. 20 Also, SBA is going to be here. Some 21 people were asking me about grants and loans and 22 some of those other things. You should take 23 some time to spend with Robert Much. He's going 24 to be the representative, and he's actually very 25 helpful, especially with Native American 0005 1 businesses, the 8( a) Program. He's 2 knowledgeable about all of the SBA programs. 3 Also, the Department of Transportation 4 will be here. They've been helpful. There's a 5 lot of Department of Transportation work. On 6 the federal side, the Department of 7 Transportation have goals to meet, so they're 8 interested in meeting you also. 9 Another one would be the USDA Rural 10 Development, Bob Parsley is here. He knows a 11 lot about block grants and some of the other 12 programs in the Rural Development and on the 13 reservations. He would be also very helpful. 14 He's in the back. I see him back there now. 15 So with that, and if you have any 16 questions, please feel free to ask. We want to 17 make this as congenial as possible. And you'll 18 find Jeanette to be a very nice person and easy 19 to talk to. 20 We encourage you to communicate with 21 not only the government people, but also other 22 people who may be in this audience who may have 23 work or have some ideas about what's going on 24 out in the contracting arenas. 25 So with that, I want to say a few 0006 1 things about Jeanette. Jeanette Brown is a 2 member of the Senior Executive Service with an 3 exceptional government career spanning over 23 4 years. She has served as the Director of the 5 Small Business Administration 8( a) Program and 6 as the Director of its Office of Contracts and 7 Grants Management. 8 Mrs. Brown joined EPA in 1993 and has 9 served as the Deputy Director of the Office of 10 Acquisition Management. She currently serves as 11 the Director of the Office of Small and 12 Disadvantaged Business Utilization, where she 13 serves as an advocate for the small and socially 14 and economically disadvantaged business 15 communities, ensuring that these communities are 16 provided an equitable opportunity to receive a 17 fair share of contracts and sub agreements. 18 So, I would strongly encourage you to 19 listen to what she has today about some of the 20 changes in her programs, and also doing business 21 with her. 22 So with that, I'd like to present 23 Jeanette Brown. 24 MS. BROWN: Good morning. It's getting 25 a little bit warmer in here. That's a good 0007 1 thing. 2 Again, I'd like to greet you and 3 welcome you to this outreach session, this 4 conference to bring opportunities from the 5 federal sector to you here in this part of the 6 country. It is indeed an honor for me to be 7 here. 8 We were here last year, and the 9 response was so tremendous. This is the first 10 time that we had done this. We made a promise 11 then that we would be back. When we did that, I 12 guess it was about 50o when we came in November, 13 so I didn't experience the cold. It was right 14 before you had a major snow, and by the time we 15 got here, it was all gone. But we are indeed 16 glad to be here with you, even in the cold. 17 I'm hoping that the information that we 18 have to share with you will warm your hearts and 19 also inspire you to look into ways to do 20 business not only with EPA, but the Federal 21 Government. 22 Before I get into a little bit about 23 who we are and what it is that we're planning to 24 do, we have an important message that has come 25 from Washington, D. C. about this event and to 0008 1 greet you. So this is coming from Max Baucus, 2 who is your senator here from Montana, and it 3 says this. It's dated January the 7th, 2004. 4 " Dear Friends: Greetings 5 from Washington. I am 6 sorry that I could not be 7 with you for your 8 conference today, but 9 Senate business keeps me in 10 Washington. I want to 11 thank you all for coming to 12 Billings for this event. 13 " I applaud the 14 Environmental Protection 15 Agency and the National 16 Center for American Indian 17 Enterprise Development for 18 sponsoring this American 19 business/ Alaskan Native 20 small business development 21 event. 22 " Procurement of federal 23 grants and contracts are 24 crucial to the development 25 of Native American small 0009 1 business both on and off 2 the reservations. Tribes 3 suffer from economic 4 disparities in far greater 5 numbers than any other 6 group in the nation. 7 That's why the work you are 8 doing in this conference is 9 so very important. 10 " Over the next two days, 11 you will be covering a lot 12 of issues that are critical 13 to the economic development 14 of our Native American and 15 minority owned small 16 businesses throughout the 17 west. 18 " I encourage you to reach 19 out and work together to 20 learn and understand how to 21 best maximize your 22 opportunities as small 23 businesses or small 24 business owners. In doing 25 so, my part in Washington, 0010 1 my top priority is working 2 together to boost your 3 state's economy and to 4 create more good paying 5 jobs in Montana. 6 " I invite you to stop by 7 my office if you are ever 8 in Washington, D. C." 9 You need to take him up on that. 10 " Hope you have a good 11 event. Work hard, and I 12 hope to see you soon. 13 " With best personal 14 regards, I am sincerely", and it's 15 signed Max Baucus. 16 We do have representatives from his 17 office here. They're going to be here 18 throughout the day. So take advantage of the 19 representatives that will be here throughout the 20 next two days to talk to them about who you are, 21 what it is that you're doing, and what it is 22 that you need out here in this part of the 23 country in terms of doing business. 24 Now that we've done that and have taken 25 care of the formal, what you'll find out from me 0011 1 is I'm very informal. I like to get to know you 2 and find out who you are and what goods and 3 services you bring. 4 One of the things that we do when I go 5 around the country, I try to find out just that, 6 who you are. So you're going to have shortly a 7 two second Hall of Fame. You get to tell me in 8 two seconds what it is you do and who you are, 9 and I want to know what kind of business you 10 have, if it's small, 8( a), woman owned, because 11 those are hit words for us in the Federal 12 Government, and we'll talk about that a lot more 13 as we go throughout the process. 14 I work better this way, not behind a 15 desk, so I can get to know you. I'm going to 16 put the mike down. Everybody gets a chance to 17 share, participate, and what you see and 18 hopefully get over the next two days, it 19 hopefully will be an opportunity to exchange 20 information. 21 Take advantage of us. We're all the 22 way from Washington. I don't come that often. 23 We're here. We have representatives, as was 24 noted earlier, from other federal agencies you 25 need to take advantage of. The only question 0012 1 that's a dumb question is the question that you 2 didn't ask. You know that one that you were 3 thinking maybe I shouldn't? You should, okay? 4 We're here to find out what your needs 5 are; to find out more about what it is that you 6 do, the goods and services that you bring, and 7 hopefully we've brought in other experts who can 8 help you channel that so that you can come up 9 with opportunities. 10 What I always tell businesses is money 11 is green. You just need to know where to go to 12 find it. So we come today and tomorrow to tell 13 you where those pockets of money are and how you 14 can gain access to them. 15 So right now, everybody don't jump up 16 all at one time, but if you could go to the mike 17 and tell me who you are, the type of business 18 that you have and then we will come back after 19 we do that. Everybody gets a chance to speak. 20 Don't give me a long dissertation, just 21 two seconds. What kind of business, small, 22 woman owned, 8( a), what do you do, where are you 23 located, and then we can network some more after 24 we get that done. But I'd like to know who you 25 are. So would you please help me in finding out 0013 1 more about you. 2 ( Introduction of audience 3 participants.) 4 MS. BROWN: Thank you, that was 5 wonderful. 6 You may be wondering, why did she do 7 that? Well, you never know who is in the 8 audience. You never know who you're sitting 9 next to, and a lot of times I do that as an ice 10 breaker. Sometimes it's difficult for some 11 people to say " hi, my name is and this is what I 12 do", but you have a chance to scan the room to 13 find out who is here. 14 We have now identified a lot of experts 15 in the field from various government agencies, 16 as well as you all as private business owners. 17 Now the next thing we need to do is to connect 18 even more to find out how we can possibly work 19 together. 20 This has been wonderful for me. I 21 always like to see exactly who is in the 22 audience, and it gives me a feel for who I'm 23 talking to. 24 The last time we came, we did not have 25 as many people certified as 8( a) or who knew 0014 1 what a HUBZone was, and so I'm seeing that we're 2 making a lot of progress out in this part of the 3 country. At least you all are finding out about 4 the programs and taking advantage of them. And 5 with the people here from GSA and the Bureau and 6 Energy and other places, it's good for you to 7 find out what it is that we do. 8 Before I do that, let me introduce the 9 other person, my colleague that I'm traveling 10 with. As was mentioned earlier, we have been on 11 the road now since October doing something like 12 this all across the country. We've been to 13 Temecula, California; we've been to Syracuse, 14 New York; we've been down to Puerto Rico; we've 15 been to Albuquerque, you name it. 16 We've tried to do extensive outreach to 17 people outside of the Beltway in Washington, 18 D. C., to find about what it is that we're doing 19 at EPA, for one, and to talk about our proposed 20 rules. 21 Tomorrow afternoon or tomorrow morning 22 we will talk to you in more detail about doing 23 business with EPA under our grants program. 24 Most people don't realize or understand how that 25 works, and so we bring more information. 0015 1 But I don't travel alone. Kimberly 2 Patrick is my staff attorney, and she has helped 3 me, and she is the point of contact for the 4 tribes on our program, so you need to find out 5 who she is and get in contact with her, and 6 particularly with travel issues, et cetera. 7 She's going to talk and be with me the 8 next two days to talk to you in more detail 9 about our proposed rule, and I will be talking 10 to you about doing business directly with EPA in 11 the area of contracts. 12 With that, Kimberly, is there anything 13 you want to say? 14 MS. PATRICK: The first thing, because 15 I'm the contact person with the tribes dealing 16 with our new rule in the grant programs that we 17 have and how our program works under the EPA 18 grant, don't be put off because I'm an attorney. 19 I usually don't even tell people what I do. I'm 20 not the typical attorney, so you don't have to, 21 you know, be at arms or whatever. 22 I actually enjoy the part of my job 23 when I am able to give information and actually 24 help. That's the part of being an attorney that 25 I like, so please make sure you contact me once 0016 1 we're done. We have a table in the next room 2 with information and everything. My number is 3 on the back of the card so make sure you look 4 back there and please stay in contact. 5 MS. BROWN: Thank you. 6 Now I want to talk to you a little bit 7 about doing business with EPA. There are 8 primarily only two ways to do business with EPA, 9 directly or indirectly. Directly is through 10 contracts. Our contracts budget is $ 1.2 billion 11 annually. Our grant budget is $ 4.2 billion. 12 That should be a light bulb there, 13 because more and more of our dollars have 14 shifted from contracts to grants. And a lot of 15 people don't understand that or know. 16 How many of you all may be grant 17 recipients from EPA? Anybody here? I see one 18 hand. Anybody else? Any of your tribes 19 receiving grant money from EPA? There's ample 20 opportunity there. $ 4.2 billion annually going 21 out in grants, so you need to take advantage of 22 that. 23 We don't have a budget yet, but I can 24 talk to you about doing business with EPA. 25 As was mentioned earlier, all of the 0017 1 agencies are required to have a forecast of 2 procurement opportunities. I can tell you this, 3 not just with EPA but with any other federal 4 agency, if you're not hooked up to the worldwide 5 web, if you don't have a computer, you won't be 6 able to do business with us. 7 I would basically say you can't do 8 business with anybody in the Federal Government 9 if you don't have those connections. Everything 10 we do is on the Internet. Our forecast, I don't 11 even point it out anymore, is on the website and 12 is updated probably every two to three weeks. 13 So as I am on the road, if I want to 14 point it out, what I have would have would be 15 obsolete. So I would direct you to our website 16 at www. epa. gov/ osdbu, the Office of Small and 17 Disadvantaged Business Utilization and from 18 there you get a change to click into our 19 forecast of procurement opportunities. 20 You also go to \ oam, the Office of 21 Acquisition Management, and that is the office 22 that does all the contracts with the agency, and 23 there they will have posted the forecast. They 24 will also give you a direct link to fedbizopps, 25 which is where everything has to be posted. No 0018 1 more commerce business daily. 2 Let me say something about that now, 3 because one of the things that we are 4 experiencing back in the office is my contracts 5 will post sources sought information at 6 fedbizopps telling the small business community, 7 contracting community what it is that we're 8 looking for and requesting, requiring you to 9 respond. 10 A lot of you have marketing 11 information, and a lot of people send that in, 12 and a lot of times my programming contract 13 people are telling me, Jeanette, they didn't 14 meet the test because your marketing information 15 didn't go into specific detail, a level of 16 detail that we're looking for. 17 When you go to fedbizopps, not just for 18 EPA but any other agency, as you are reading 19 that information, and they are asking for 20 information on what your capabilities are, you 21 need to take the time and give us that 22 information, because it's difficult for me as 23 the advocate in the agency to advocate for you 24 when the documentation you send in wasn't 25 substantial enough. 0019 1 I see a lot of hands going like this 2 ( waving). It's hard for me to come back and, 3 say, set this aside for small business when all 4 they can show me is what you send in, and it 5 didn't fit the bill. You didn't respond to what 6 it is that we were asking for. 7 So I need you to pay attention and be 8 alert to what it is that we're asking for as 9 it's being posted and then respond accordingly. 10 It may take you a little bit more time, but at 11 least if your foot is in the door, we can 12 advocate for you a lot stronger rather than 13 going back to my program people saying, I need 14 to go back out again because they see that as a 15 hindrance to the process. They say we've 16 already gone out, and they want response. 17 So, for one, the marketing material 18 that you submit to the agency, that's good, 19 provided it's done  it's professionally done. 20 We're seeing an increase in how that 21 information is coming in. More and more people 22 are becoming more business savvy, and that's a 23 good thing, but we also need to understand 24 that's just to get an initial response from the 25 federal agencies in terms of inquiring more into 0020 1 what it is your capabilities are. That's just a 2 taste of who you are. 3 Again, that's your first, in a lot of 4 instances, presentation into the agency. That's 5 a good thing, but we will need more information, 6 so you need to be mindful of that. 7 I'm hearing that a lot of you are 8 already 8( a) certified, and that process may 9 have taken you a long time to get it. In some 10 instances, we're hearing that it's a lengthy 11 process; others it may not be, but once you get 12 it, you have to market yourself. We need to 13 know who you are. You need to knock on the 14 door. You need to tell us right who you are. 15 There's one of me in every agency in 16 the Federal Government, and our goal is to 17 advocate on your behalf within those agencies to 18 provide opportunities for small disadvantaged, 19 minority, woman owned businesses, service 20 disabled. 21 I heard one service disabled veteran 22 owned business? Just veterans. Any service 23 disabled veteran owned businesses? 24 You, sir? No, okay. 25 Right before Christmas, new legislation 0021 1 was passed where now service disabled veterans 2 pretty much are on equal standing with HUBZones, 3 brand new. So, if you know any service disabled 4 veterans, the key is not veteran, it's got to be 5 service disabled, there are opportunities there. 6 The President just signed off on it. 7 We're waiting for that to be codified in the 8 FAR. That's been a long time in coming. Now we 9 can get to them a lot easier if you enter into 10 sole source like you do with 8( a) with the 11 HUBZone piece, that kind of thing. Before, we 12 couldn't do that, so that's brand new. That 13 just happened right before Christmas. 14 And so if you are familiar with or know 15 of anybody that has that status, you need to 16 hook up with them. 17 The other thing you need to realize is 18 it's up to you to see yourself. What has 19 happened with us in the Federal Government, I 20 get a chance to check off every box that I can. 21 If you're 8( a), I can check it off; if you're 22 woman owned, I can check it off. If you're 23 HUBZone, I check that box too. If you're 24 service disabled, I can check that box too. 25 So the more of those pieces that you 0022 1 bring to us, the better off it is because we 2 have goals that we have to meet. We enter into 3 negotiations with SBA every two years now. We 4 have national goals that we have to meet, every 5 agency. 6 A score card comes out in the 7 summertime, around May or June, that will rate 8 all of the federal agencies in terms of how we 9 stack up in doing business with the private 10 sector and small business. 11 I can assure you that a lot of 12 attention is given to this score card, and many 13 of us, including EPA, are not meeting their 14 goals in the area of HUBZone, service disabled 15 veteran, and we have yet to meet our woman owned 16 business goals. We're inching closer and closer 17 to it. 18 The national goal for woman owned 19 business is 5%. We're at 3.5, 3.9%, the highest 20 we've ever been, but we haven't met the 5% goal. 21 Those are the kinds of buzz words that we need 22 to hear in the agencies. 23 When you're marketing to these federal 24 agencies, make sure you tell them what your 25 status is. It's nothing to hide. I need to 0023 1 know, because that shows me and tells me what I 2 can do in order to contract with you. 3 If you're 8( a), and you're not tribally 4 owned, I can contract with you directly up to 5 three million without competing it. There is no 6 dollar limit for the tribally owned 8( a). A lot 7 of people don't realize that. There's no dollar 8 limit. 9 When I say " I", not me directly; I'm 10 not a Contracting Officer anymore. I don't do 11 that anymore. But my agency and other federal 12 agencies can enter into a contract with you 13 directly, no competition, provided you have the 14 goods and services that we need, and the money 15 is there. Those are the kinds of things you 16 need to be mindful of. 17 Again, go into those forecasts of 18 procurement opportunities. All amounts are on 19 the website, and it will tell you an estimate 20 about how much we think it's going to cost. 21 It gives you a short synopsis of what 22 the requirement is. It will tell you when we 23 anticipate making an award. It will also tell 24 you which way we are anticipating going, whether 25 it's going to be full and open, 8( a), HUBZone, 0024 1 small business set aside. 2 When you see a requirement that says 3 full and open, and you think you can do it, 4 don't let that stop you. The rule of two still 5 applies for small business. If we can get two 6 small businesses that can do that, we can set it 7 aside totally for small business. 8 So sometimes it may say, who is your 9 competitor? It's good for you to know that 10 because that may be the other small business. 11 Then I can set it aside for small business, and 12 that limits who you have to compete with if we 13 set it aside totally for small business rather 14 than full and open, and then everybody, big guys 15 and midsize guys, as well as the small guys, are 16 all going out for that same piece of pie. 17 So when you see the procurement 18 forecast, and it identifies the anticipated 19 method of procurement, which way we're going to 20 go, don't let that stop you. 21 Again, I would say  and I know as 22 small business owners this may be a lot for you, 23 because of lot of you all are small, and you're 24 out doing the business, but you also have to do 25 this piece. 0025 1 You may need to hire people to stay on 2 the web to look for this stuff because once it 3 closes, once the response time closes, it's 4 difficult for us, if not impossible, to get you 5 into the line, so you've got to play close 6 attention to the dates. That means reading this 7 information. And information is going up daily 8 all over the place. 9 If you are small disadvantaged 10 business, and you have to be small disadvantaged 11 business through the Department of Commerce out 12 of MBDA, through that Phoenix database, they 13 will send you  after you've gone in and 14 registered with them, doesn't cost you anything, 15 you've just got to sign up with them, they will 16 send you electronically solicitations that match 17 your capabilities which limits the amount of 18 time that you have to stay on the Internet. 19 They will tell you what's coming up, 20 what matches your current capabilities and then 21 it's up to you to respond. 22 Any questions before I go any further? 23 Nobody? 24 Yes, sir? 25 AUDIENCE: I missed that on Phoenix, 0026 1 what was that? 2 MS. BROWN: The Phoenix datebase? 3 It's from MBDA out of the Department of 4 Commerce. The criteria there is you have to be 5 small minority business. 6 If you're small minority business, you 7 can register online with them, and then based on 8 what you have told them out of your core 9 competencies as the requirements comes through, 10 they have it hooked up such that the 11 solicitations, they'll send you an e mail, 12 whichever way you prefer, and send you 13 information that matches your core capabilities. 14 AUDIENCE: Do you have the address for 15 that website? 16 MS. BROWN: I'll get it for you. I 17 don't have that now. I think it's www. mbda. gov. 18 Everything is pretty much that way, but we'll 19 get that for you before the next two days are 20 out. That's free information. Doesn't cost you 21 anything. 22 How many of you are signed up with 23 PRO Net or CCR? 24 ( Show of hands.) 25 MS. BROWN: That's critical, because 0027 1 all of us have to go to CCR now, and you need to 2 make sure  and not only that, but make sure 3 your information is up to date. 4 If you haven't gone in and updated your 5 information over the last 6 to 18 months, you're 6 doing yourself a disservice. And 18 months is 7 stretching it because if you take on more, and 8 you do more, you need to go in and update that 9 information. 10 What we do in the Federal Government, 11 and EPA in particular, we will do a run for our 12 program people when they come, and that 13 information is what we use to pass along inside 14 the agency of who is out there. So, if your 15 information is not up to date, you're missing 16 out. So you really need to make that 17 information current. 18 AUDIENCE: What is considered small 19 business? For the amount of money you can make 20 each year, what's small? 21 MS. BROWN: We go by the SBA size 22 standards in terms of what determines a business 23 small. They have a net worth value for SDB of 24 $ 750,000. In order to be considered a small 25 business, to get that identification as small, 0028 1 first you have to have a net worth less than 2 $ 750,000. That's a 8( a). 3 AUDIENCE: I think it determines on the 4 NAICS codes. 5 MS. BROWN: Well, right. The size 6 standards are  we look at the size standards 7 to determine whether or not you're small, and 8 that's based on gross revenue or number of 9 employees, and it varies from commodity to 10 commodity. So, depending on what code you have 11 identified determines whether or not you're 12 small. 13 You can be small in some codes. In 14 other codes, you may not be because sometimes 15 you outgrow it. And that's determined solely by 16 SBA, and that's what the rest of us go by. 17 MS. JEPSON: Don't worry too much about 18 the small business. The comparison, the way the 19 SBA set up the business size standards were 20 compared to very large companies like Boeing and 21 things like that. So if you're in a 22 manufacturing company, and you have, say, 500 23 employees, then maybe you might be large. 24 But that's what we're talking about. 25 We're talking about maybe, average gross sales 0029 1 of $ 17 million for like a construction company. 2 I'm sure that Robert Much, who is going 3 to be the SBA representative, will go through 4 some of that for you. But generally don't worry 5 about that. You will be a small business. 6 MS. BROWN: Most businesses. We've 7 seen some of the Alaskan companies far outgrow 8 those capabilities. 9 MS. JEPSON: Yes, but they're quite 10 large. 11 MS. BROWN: SBA can talk more about 12 that. I was thinking about something else, sir, 13 so please disregard my initial response. 14 Again, we go back to the size standard 15 for that commodity, and that's determined by 16 SBA. 17 Any other questions or comments yet? 18 ( No response.) 19 At EPA, we have 10 Regional Offices, 20 and this is in the material stuff we have over 21 at the table so you can get that, and it's also 22 on the website. 23 We have 10 Regional Offices around the 24 country, and I have MBE/ WBE coordinators who are 25 available to work with you, to identify 0030 1 opportunities within the agency on doing 2 business with EPA. 3 In this region, we are in Region 8, and 4 the representative is Maurice Valasquez, and we 5 have his information on a piece of paper here 6 and all the other MBE/ WBE coordinators around 7 the country. You can be in contact with him 8 directly, but it's also good that you send your 9 stuff into headquarters as well. 10 We have a database. One of our staff 11 members just retired January 2nd. Myrna Mooney 12 retired, so she's no longer with us, but she 13 brought to us when she came from BIA a database 14 of all of the tribally owned businesses that she 15 had identified. 16 We've since merged that information 17 with information that we've got from the 18 national setup and other places, so we brought 19 it up to expand our database of small businesses 20 to be inclusive of tribally owned companies as 21 well. 22 If you have not sent information into 23 EPA, you need to do that so that we have that as 24 well. We will go to our database as well as to 25 CCR and also Phoenix database. 0031 1 We are in contact with MBDA and my 2 other counterparts as we're looking for 3 opportunities for small disadvantaged 4 businesses. So, it's important that you find 5 out from each agency where they're going for 6 their information to make sure your information 7 is current, make sure they have that. 8 A lot of times people will come in and 9 need something immediately, so I have capability 10 statements on file in the office, and we can 11 pass that information on very quickly, or we go 12 directly to the database to get additional 13 information. 14 As I said, we have 10 regions around 15 the country and an MBE/ WBE coordinator at each 16 one of those regions to work with you. 17 We have three major buying facilities 18 in EPA. One is out of headquarters in 19 Washington, D. C., which is where I'm located. 20 We also have one in research, Triangle Park, 21 North Carolina, and then we also have another 22 one in Cincinnati, Ohio. Those are primarily 23 the places where we write contracts, mega 24 contracts, the big contracts. 25 I will say, however, each of the 10 0032 1 regions have a procurement shop, and they have a 2 limited procurement authority, and they write 3 contracts as well. 4 How many of you all accept bank cards, 5 purchase cards? Everybody's hand in here should 6 have gone up. Within EPA, we have probably 7 about 18,000 employees, and I would say close to 8 9,000 of them have bank cards where they can go 9 out and buy things on the spot. Just like that 10 is the scenario in EPA, that's the scenario in a 11 lot of the other agencies. 12 I'm not sure anymore how much it costs 13 to buy that little gray box. It used to be 14 about $ 800. But that's worth the investment 15 because people from each one of these agencies 16 can come out and buy things on the spot. That's 17 a business decision, of course, that you have to 18 make. 19 One of the things you need to do, and 20 as you do that, as you look at that, one of the 21 things that we ask as we're going through the 22 process to find out what your capabilities are, 23 is if you have had previous experience with the 24 government, and in your marketing materials, in 25 your capability statements, you know how to show 0033 1 who your clientele are. 2 Well, if you used a bank card with EPA, 3 I'm now your customer. You can now identify me 4 as one of the federal agencies that you're doing 5 business with and put that on your capability 6 statement. We don't say how much have you 7 spent; we say who are your clients, who are you 8 doing business with? So that's another 9 marketing tool that you can use. 10 The federal procurement process for 11 small purchases is anything under $ 100,000. 12 That, for a small business, can be a lot, and it 13 adds up over time. 14 I'm not saying that you have to start 15 small. Some of you have the capability and 16 experience to go after big mega dollar 17 contracts, but some of you may want to start 18 getting one or two purchase orders. 19 Again, all of that's done in EPA 20 electronically. You may not ever see a person 21 or talk to them over the phone. We hold our 22 process electronically. Comments come in; we 23 respond back to you. 24 You submit your proposal  a lot of 25 times now they do video proposals. People don't 0034 1 even come to do face to face anymore. We take a 2 look at those, make a decision, and we do all of 3 that electronically, and then you get paid 4 electronically. 5 So, the process of automation is here 6 to stay, and you need to have that capability in 7 order to do business with the Federal 8 Government. 9 Simplified acquisitions is a good place 10 to start, especially if you're first starting 11 out doing business with the Federal Government. 12 Build on that because one of the other things we 13 look at is past performance. 14 One of the other things that the 15 agencies internally will ask was what was your 16 performance. You need to keep that in mind 17 regardless of the size of your contract, because 18 that will determine, or may be a factor in what 19 other contracts you are able to get as a result 20 of your performance on that first requirement. 21 Many of us feed into a national system that 22 identifies past performance for our contractors. 23 So you know that there are three major 24 buying facilities at EPA, and then you know that 25 within the regions, they have the capability to 0035 1 enter into contracts on a limited dollar value. 2 Each of the regions have their own 3 website. For Region 8 they have a website. You 4 can go into there to find out locally what 5 they're doing. 6 You need to meet Maurice Valasquez as 7 he is the coordinator for Region 8 so that he 8 knows who you are and what opportunities are 9 coming up in his area. 10 AUDIENCE: What region is Idaho in? 11 MS. BROWN: Idaho is in Region 8  12 I'm sorry, Region 10. Region 10. Colorado is 13 Region 8. 14 MS. PATRICK: Region 10 is going to be 15 Alaska, Idaho, Washington State, Oregon. 16 Region 9 is going to be California, 17 Arizona, Nevada and the territories in the South 18 Pacific, Hawaii and Guam and all that area. 19 Region 8 is Denver, Wyoming, North 20 Dakota, South Dakota, and Montana. 21 MS. BROWN: And somebody's here from 22 Kansas City. 23 MS. PATRICK: Oh, okay, Region 7. 24 MS. BROWN: And Region 7 is? 25 MS. PATRICK: Okay, now, you're pushing 0036 1 me. 2 ( General laughter.) 3 MS. PATRICK: Region 7 is Missouri, 4 Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas, and I think that's it. 5 MS. BROWN: Nebraska. 6 MS. PATRICK: And Nebraska. 7 MS. BROWN: We have a sheet over there, 8 and I need to cheat and see the sheet because I 9 can't remember all of them. But we do have 10 coordinators in all of the regions and they are 11 there to assist you. 12 For Region 8, they are also doing the 13 procurements for Region 10. Their contracts are 14 being done out of Region 8. And Seattle, 15 they're no longer doing the contracts, so the 16 contracts are coming down to Region 7. 17 Can I go back to your capability 18 statements for a minute? A lot of times that's 19 your first look into the agency, and that's our 20 first look at you, so you need to make sure that 21 information is current and up to date and 22 professionally done, no typos, those kinds of 23 things. You'd be surprised what we get. 24 Then make sure that it adequately 25 represents you in terms of what you wanted to 0037 1 say. And you may have to do more than one 2 package, depending on who you're marketing to, 3 because what we buy at EPA might not necessarily 4 be what they buy at the Bureau. 5 Energy, a lot of time a lot of what we 6 do may be similar, but you need to do your 7 homework in terms of who you are marketing to. 8 As you're looking to do business with 9 the Federal Government, the key to all of this 10 is doing your homework, know as many of us don't 11 have budgets yet, some will. You need to know 12 where the monies have been appropriated. 13 All of that can be easily gathered 14 through the Internet and other processes. 15 Because a lot of times people come to market us 16 in areas that we don't have any means of buying 17 anything in, and that's a waste of your time and 18 ours. 19 But if you do your homework, you'll 20 know where the monies have been appropriated, 21 where we can spend, and then go through that 22 forecast to take a look at where. 23 A lot of times people come in to me and 24 say, I want a contract, and I look at them and 25 say I can't help you. I don't write contracts. 0038 1 I need you to know what my mission is. 2 I need you to tell me what it is that 3 you have and how you can help me accomplish my 4 mission. That means doing your homework to know 5 that we go around and clean up Superfund sites 6 all over the country, so we do things in soil 7 remediation, testing, those kinds of things. 8 But you need to do your homework to know that. 9 A lot of people are knocking at our 10 doors, and so the people that we're going to be 11 interested in are the ones that have best done 12 that homework and know what it is that we do. 13 When they walk in, they're not saying 14 give me a contract. They're saying this is a 15 service that I provide. This is what I do, and 16 here is how I can help you, EPA, do your job and 17 meet your mission. I've cleaned up sites 18 locally in my state, or I've done this, or I've 19 done that, and this is how I can help you get 20 your job done. 21 Back in the day  and I think my 22 resume said I've been doing this now for 23 23 years. It's now almost 26 years. 24 When I was a Contracting Officer, 25 people would come in and say, I want a contract, 0039 1 and I tried to work with them to do that as best 2 I can, but we need a little more business savvy 3 now, and you need to do your homework. 4 I don't think that I'm just saying this 5 is unique to EPA. I'm seeing some of the other 6 government representatives going, yeah. Make 7 sure you know where we're going to spend our 8 money, and then you come in and tell us how you 9 can help us to get our mission accomplished, 10 because that's sorting out, and I hate to say 11 that, but the men from the boys. 12 While we have other programs that may 13 be in place, a lot of this stuff we do is 14 sophisticated work. So I need somebody coming 15 in the door confident of what it is that they're 16 doing and showing us how you can help me meet 17 our mission. That's what I have to sell to the 18 Contracting Officer, and that's what I have to 19 sell to the program office. 20 And I can tell you, past performance, 21 and I've talked about this before, let one of my 22 small businesses have a problem and we have to 23 terminate, and I will hear that for the next 20 24 years. I don't care if we've awarded major 25 contracts to a lot of other small businesses, 0040 1 and they have done well, what I will constantly 2 hear is the one that screwed up. 3 So, as you're walking in that door, 4 you've got a lot of other businesses walking on 5 your shoulders, and you really need to realize 6 that and help us to help you. 7 One of the things you'll find in EPA, 8 and I know it's not just unique to us, but once 9 you get in, you usually do pretty good because 10 that information is spread and passed along to 11 other people in the agency, I've got a good 12 business over here, and this is what they did 13 for us. 14 Another Program Office wants to know 15 who did you use, and then they build on that, 16 and that's how you start your track record. 17 So there's a lot riding on that initial 18 contract, the performance of that contract and 19 what it is that you do. And again, the key to 20 all of this is doing your homework, being 21 confident in what it is that you can do. 22 The other thing that I would say is, 23 and these are good business decisions that you 24 as business people have to make, but watch how 25 you're growing. Be careful about what it is 0041 1 that you're taking on because all too often we 2 see a lot of businesses just going after the 3 contracts, and they're good, and they get them, 4 but after a while, it's hard to juggle, and 5 sometimes they're robbing Peter to pay Paul. 6 We had this happen two years ago. This 7 contractor was a good 8( a) firm, had an 8 excellent reputation, but they took on too 9 much. And it impacted Navy; it impacted Army; 10 it impacted EPA, and they went under, and then 11 we had to scramble, work with SBA and some other 12 folks to try to get somebody else in. 13 My program people were very reluctant 14 to go with another 8( a) contractor after that 15 because they had put all of their faith in the 16 competence of this firm, and they were growing 17 and doing well, but they just took on a little 18 bit too much. 19 So especially for those that are in the 20 8( a) Program, and you have your competitive 21 business mix, right? You all need to really pay 22 attention to how you're growing. I'm all for 23 growth, but you need to take a look at how you 24 spread that across these contracts, and what 25 you're able to do and not to do. 0042 1 Sometimes I think it's okay to say I 2 can't go after this one this time because I've 3 just got too much on my plate, and that's, to 4 me, good business sense. 5 After you get into EPA, and you see 6 that we have 10 regions around the country, 7 three major buying facilities, and then also 8 within the regions they have contracting 9 opportunities, you will find that our program 10 people play an important part of what we do. 11 And the key to all of this for us is 12 selling you to them. A lot of times they will 13 talk to you directly about what your 14 capabilities are. I would advise you that if 15 you're in the agency, and I would dare to say if 16 you're in any agency, and you're talking to 17 program people, and you're talking to contract 18 specialists, please give your small business 19 office a heads up that you're in, and you're 20 talking to them so that we know what it is 21 that's going on. 22 A lot of times in these agencies, and 23 EPA in particular, a lot of people talk 24 procurement, but they don't really understand 25 it. Some of these businesses, you go down this 0043 1 road, and you think you have a contract, only to 2 find out after all of these discussions and 3 presentations, it didn't happen. 4 A lot of times the Small Business 5 Office, someone over here doesn't have a clue of 6 who's in, who's talking to you. We try to sit 7 in on these sessions to make sure we understand 8 what's being discussed, what's on the table, 9 that we're being consistent in what we're saying 10 to other contractors, et cetera, so that we 11 know, so we can work with you. 12 So we are your advocate, and like I 13 said, there's one of me in every agency. You 14 need to make sure we know who you are. 15 A lot of times firms don't come into me 16 until they are about to lose a contract. It's 17 not too late, but it would have been good to 18 know early on so that we could advocate for you 19 earlier and also to make sure that our 20 colleagues within the agency understand clearly 21 what the process is, what they can and can't do. 22 Under the 8( a) Program, they're not 23 supposed to be evaluating you technically with a 24 score card when you go in and give those 25 presentations, especially for this work under 0044 1 $ 3 million. A lot of times they do that. Oh, 2 we didn't know. 3 Part of that is a disconnect between 4 the FAR and 13 CFR, which are the regulations 5 for SBA under the Federal Code of Regulations. 6 You need to know what they say because there's a 7 big disconnect. 8 I didn't realize that when I was a 9 Contracting Officer until I went to work for 10 SBA, and there's a lot more leeway and a lot 11 more meat in the 13 CFR that's not in the 12 Federal Acquisition Regulations. 13 So, if you don't have that information, 14 you need to go online and read that so you know 15 what your rights are so you know what the 16 Contracting Officer and the Program Office can 17 and can't do. 18 I was in that life as a Contracting 19 Officer before, and I went by the FAR. I didn't 20 know what 13 CFR said. My attorneys used that. 21 I just saw those big books. I didn't use them 22 that much. And so when I went over to the other 23 side to work for SBA, I was like, wow. A lot of 24 people don't have that. 25 But you need to know that, and you need 0045 1 to be armed with that information so that you 2 know what they can and can't do. I think they 3 mean well, but there's a big difference. 4 As the policies are changing the route, 5 you need to stay abreast of what those changes 6 are. You need to be armed with enough 7 information, as much information as possible, so 8 that you will be equipped going into the door to 9 know what you can and can't do. 10 And there's a nice way to say no, I 11 think you might need to go to 13 CFR, it says 12 this. That will be a wake up call for them, and 13 then they'll go and check it. But a lot of them 14 may not know that. And I can tell you when I 15 was a Contracting Officer, I didn't know. 16 Do you all use 13 CFR? 17 ( Audience commenting.) 18 MS. BROWN: See, it hasn't changed that 19 much. 20 And we are beginning to come together. 21 It's my hope, and I've said this to SBA more 22 than once, they need to do a little bit more to 23 bring a merge, a lot more of what's in 13 CFR 24 into the FAR, and that will make all of our 25 lives a lot easier. 0046 1 But until that's done, you really need 2 to be armed and equipped with enough information 3 so that you know where to go and what you can 4 and can't do. 5 AUDIENCE: Where do you find that CFR? 6 MS. BROWN: Where do you find the 13 7 CFR? I think it's online. It's the Code of 8 Federal Regulations. It's around 100, 124, all 9 up in there, it tells you how to terminate. 10 One of the other things, once a 11 requirement is in the 8( a) Program, and SBA is 12 going to probably talk about this a lot more, 13 but once a requirement is in the 8( a) Program, 14 it should be difficult to get that out. You 15 cannot automatically pull that out of the 16 program. 17 So just because a contractor graduates, 18 and I'm talking about EPA now, I'm not talking 19 about any other agency, we like to follow that 20 contractor because they had a good track record 21 so they graduated out of the program. 22 They may now have a GSA schedule, and I 23 might want to follow them as a Program Office 24 off that GSA schedule. On GSA schedule, they 25 may not have been an 8( a) contractor. They may 0047 1 have done that under their competitive business 2 mix, and they wanted to do that on the open 3 market. 4 So, as the Program Office, I want to 5 follow them because I know what their track 6 record is. But if I go use that GSA schedule, 7 I'm just taking them out of the 8( a) Program, 8 SBA would have a fit. You can't do that, but we 9 do. 10 I'm just telling you how it works in 11 EPA. I'm not talking about any other agency. 12 The Program Offices don't always realize that, 13 or they want to follow their success story. 14 My job as the advocate for small 15 business is to ensure that stays in that 16 portfolio so that other emerging businesses, 17 such as many of you, will have that opportunity 18 for that effort. 19 Can we take a short break? It's about 20 break time anyway. Let's break until quarter to 21 11. 22 ( Whereupon, a short recess was taken.) 23 MS. BROWN: Welcome back. 24 How many of you all got three cards? 25 ( Show of hands.) 0048 1 MS. BROWN: Everybody's hands should 2 have gone up. I've got more than three, and I'm 3 going to get some more I'm sure. 4 But whenever you leave the office, make 5 sure you are packed with your cards. I went 6 back up to my room and got some more because you 7 never know when that opportunity is going to 8 come. 9 A couple of things that I didn't talk 10 about, EPA has a mentor protege program. It's a 11 little bit different from DOD. We don't have 12 money associated with ours. We were hoping, as 13 with all of the other non DOD agencies, that 14 some kind of legislation would have been 15 approved so that they would give money towards 16 all of the programs, not just DOD. 17 But what we do is we work and encourage 18 our large businesses to team up with small 19 disadvantaged businesses, woman owned, HUBZones, 20 8( a), you don't know necessarily all the time 21 what their needs are, but you can team up with 22 them, find out who they are. 23 On my website you can get into a list 24 of prime contractors and get a listing of all of 25 our prime contractors and find out what it is 0049 1 that they do. 2 Do your homework. There may be 3 opportunities where you can team, and they may 4 not always give you money, or you may not always 5 get money, but you might get some in kind 6 services, such as marketing strategies, 7 something to help you with your accounting 8 system, your financial systems, those kinds of 9 things, and sometimes it is good to be aligned 10 with a well known large business. 11 From my conversations with some of the 12 people here today, I know that there are some 13 large businesses and some mid sized businesses 14 here that are looking to team up with small, 15 minority, woman owned businesses, 8( a), 16 HUBZones, et cetera, so you need to take 17 advantage of that and take a look at our 18 mentor protege program. 19 The other thing that I didn't mention 20  what was the other thing I needed to 21 mention? 22 Mentor protege. We allow the prime 23 contractor to enter into sole source contracts 24 up to a million dollars with their protegee 25 firm. So, there's some benefits there, and 0050 1 we're looking to revise that. 2 EPA was the first civilian agency to 3 have a mentor protege program. SBA took a look 4 at it, came to talk to us before they put theirs 5 in place. NASA looked at ours and a couple 6 others. 7 Other agencies also had, outside of 8 DOD, mentor protege programs that you need to 9 take a look at and get involved in. 10 Mentor protege was one  what was the 11 other thing? 12 MS. JEPSON: GSA Schedule. 13 MS. BROWN: How many of you all have 14 GSA schedules? 15 ( Show of hands.) 16 MS. BROWN: Whoa. You don't have GSA 17 schedules? 18 AUDIENCE: In the process. 19 MS. BROWN: We have representatives 20 here from GSA. Go to their table, find out. 21 That process can be tedious, but one of the 22 first things my program people will ask you is, 23 do you have a GSA schedule? Because if you do, 24 the contract has already been negotiated. All 25 the terms and conditions have been identified, 0051 1 and we can place an order against that; don't 2 have to compete. 3 Now, one of the things that has kicked 4 in recently that was passed was the Contract 5 Bundling Rule, anything over 2 billion for EPA. 6 Some of the other agencies with larger budgets, 7 have another dollar threshold, but anything over 8 2 billion we need to take a look at to make sure 9 that small businesses are not losing 10 opportunities. 11 If you don't have a GSA schedule, I 12 would encourage all of you to go through the 13 maze. Take the time, it's well worth it, not 14 just for EPA, but all the other federal 15 agencies. They use them extensively. 16 I'm not always one to support GSA 17 Schedules because sometimes I think it hurts 18 small business, but if you're a small business, 19 and you can get on it, it's to your advantage. 20 Now, the thing that you need to be 21 mindful of as these GSA Schedule contacts are 22 negotiated, for 8( a) funds in particular, they 23 will ask you how do you want this to count; is 24 it towards your 8( a) goal, or is it towards your 25 competitive business mix? 0052 1 For the contract specialist, the prime 2 contractor, when you're using these contractors 3 with these GSA Schedules, you need to know how 4 it was initially negotiated with GSA, because it 5 may not necessarily count towards their 8( a) 6 goal. It could count towards their competitive 7 business mix that they have to maintain with 8 SBA. So, that needs to be clear, and a lot of 9 people don't understand that. 10 These GSA Schedules can go on for 15, 11 20 years, a long time. So it's to your 12 advantage to go through the paperwork and get 13 that so that you have that. 14 Right now we have been re engineered, 15 down sized, streamlined, you name it, and we're 16 doing a lot more with less, a whole lot less. 17 So if the GSA Schedule is there and in place, 18 all a Contracting Officer has to do is write an 19 order against it, and that's gone. 20 Yes, sir? 21 AUDIENCE: Did you say that the project 22 officer or somebody in the program at EPA uses 23 your company through a GSA Schedule rather than 24 go through the 8( a) process? 25 MS. BROWN: I'm not saying that's a 0053 1 no no. 2 What I was trying to give you was a 3 scenario where requirement was initially in the 4 8( a) Program, and the contractor graduated from 5 8( a), but they had a GSA schedule. 6 My program people want to follow that 7 firm because of their relationship, and they 8 know what kind of track record they have. I'm 9 saying we need to be cautious there because we 10 don't know how that contract was necessarily 11 negotiated. It may or may not count against his 12 8( a) status. 13 So once a requirement is in the 8( a) 14 Program, our goal is to keep it in the 8( a) 15 Program so that other firms that are coming 16 through with that portfolio are afforded an 17 opportunity for that requirement. If we take it 18 out, then there goes the requirement, and you 19 don't have that opportunity under the 8( a) 20 Program. 21 The other thing, though, is 8( a) firms, 22 you need to realize how you're negotiating with 23 the GSA for these GSA Schedules when you go to 24 the table. Is it going to count towards your 25 competitive business mix, or is it counting 0054 1 towards your 8( a) status? It makes a big 2 difference. 3 And you know what, a lot of people come 4 into the agencies won't come up and tell you, 5 and I have to get on my program people because 6 they're thinking, well, this counts towards my 7 8( a) goal. No, it doesn't. 8 A lot of times when we work these 9 contracts, this is something internal within the 10 Federal Government. We don't get credit for it 11 towards my small business goals; GSA gets all 12 the credit. 13 So one of the things we did most 14 recently under our IT requirement, under IT's 15 EPA, I'm having them manually count and give me 16 credit because it was one of the largest IT. 17 I think it was like $ 16 million over a five year 18 period coming out of EPA. And I said I can't 19 afford for all of those dollars to go, and we 20 don't get any credit for. 21 So we're doing a manual tracking of how 22 much is going to small, minority, woman owned 23 businesses under the subcontract compliance, and 24 we're working to see how we can get some credit 25 for that. 0055 1 That's something that all the Federal 2 Government is looking at and trying to work out. 3 My time is up. I'm going to be here 4 for the next two days. And again, like I said, 5 we were here last year and saw our need to come 6 back, and that was the promise we made, and we 7 wanted to keep so we're here. Take advantage of 8 it. 9 Make sure you leave here with contacts 10 with the Federal Government, with other private 11 sector, small and large businesses and other 12 agencies in terms of what it is that they do and 13 how you can network. Hopefully, by the time 14 this is over tomorrow, you will have made some 15 contacts and hopefully even some deals so that 16 there are contracting opportunities that will 17 come about as a result of these days. 18 So again, I thank you for coming, even 19 in the cold, in spite of. I guess many of you 20 all are used to it. It's cold here. 21 But I thank you for coming. We're here 22 and take advantage of it, okay? Thank you. 23 ( Applause.) 24 ( Whereupon, meeting was concluded at 25 11: 00 a. m.) 0056 1 REPORTER'S CERTIFICATE 2 3 TITLE: National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development 4 MEETING DATE: January 7, 2004 5 LOCATION: Northern Hotel, Billings, Montana 6 7 I hereby certify that the proceedings 8 herein are contained fully and accurately on the 9 tapes recorded by me at the conference before 10 the National Center for American Indian 11 Enterprise Development, and that this is a true 12 and correct transcript of the same. 13 14 DATE: January 26, 2004 15 16 Marilyn S. Niezwaag 17 Big Sky Reporting P. O. Box 20941 18 Billings, Montana 59104 19 20 21 22 23 24 25


[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 229 (Wednesday, November 28, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Page 61152]
[FR Doc No: 2018-25920]

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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Project No. 2727-092]

Notice of Availability of Draft Environmental Assessment: Black
Bear Hydro Partners, LLC

    In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969
and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's (Commission)
regulations, 18 CFR part 380, the Office of Energy Projects has
reviewed the application for the relicensing of the Ellsworth
Hydroelectric Project, located on the Union River, in Hancock County,
Maine, and has prepared a Draft Environmental Assessment (DEA) for the
project.
    The DEA contains staff's analysis of the potential environmental
impacts of the project and concludes that licensing the project, with
appropriate environmental protective measures, would not constitute a
major federal action that would significantly affect the quality of the
human environment.
    A copy of the DEA is available for review at the Commission in the
Public Reference Room or may be viewed on the Commission's website at
http://www.ferc.gov using the eLibrary link. Enter the docket number
excluding the last three digits in the docket number field to access
the document. For assistance, contact FERC Online Support at
[email protected],<PHONE_NUMBER> (toll free), or (202) 502-
8659 (TTY).
    You may also register online at http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/esubscription.asp to be notified via email of new filings and issuances
related to this or other pending projects. For assistance, contact FERC
Online Support.
    Any comments should be filed within 60 days from the date of this
notice.
    The Commission strongly encourages electronic filing. Please file
comments using the Commission's eFiling system at http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/efiling.asp. Commenters can submit brief comments up to
6,000 characters, without prior registration, using the eComment system
at http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/ecomment.asp. You must include your
name and contact information at the end of your comments. For
assistance, please contact FERC Online Support. In lieu of electronic
filing, please send a paper copy to: Secretary, Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20426. The
first page of any filing should include docket number P-2727-092.
    For further information, contact Dr. Nicholas Palso at (202) 502-
8854, or at [email protected].

    Dated: November 21, 2018.
Nathaniel J. Davis, Sr.,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2018-25920 Filed 11-27-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6717-01-P


Notice of Receipt of a Clean Air Act Waiver Application to Increase the
Allowable Ethanol Content of Gasoline to 15 Percent

Date	EPA Attendees	Name of Organization 	Summary of Discussion 	Written
Comments Provided?	Date sent to EPA

3/11/2010

	Karl Simon

  HYPERLINK<EMAIL_ADDRESS><EMAIL_ADDRESS>
Robert Anderson

  HYPERLINK<EMAIL_ADDRESS><EMAIL_ADDRESS>
Paul Machiele (by video)

  HYPERLINK<EMAIL_ADDRESS><EMAIL_ADDRESS>
Antonio Fernandez (by video)

  HYPERLINK<EMAIL_ADDRESS><EMAIL_ADDRESS>
	In Person:

Three individuals from Honda met with EPA including: Robert Bienenfeld,
Ed Cohen, and Ichiro Sakai.  Jeff Jetter was tied in via telephone.
Honda discussed three technical issues they have with mid-level ethanol
blends and motor vehicles (see written comments for details).  Honda
also discussed several recommendations for EPA concerning its future
decision on the E15 waiver request.	Yes.  (NOTE:  Honda’s presentation
included several slides that were marked as “confidential business
information.”  These slides are omitted from the presentation in the
docket).  	3/11/2010


[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 228 (Wednesday, December 1, 2021)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 68166-68168]
[FR Doc No: 2021-26037]

========================================================================
Proposed Rules
                                                Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________

This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains notices to the public of
the proposed issuance of rules and regulations. The purpose of these
notices is to give interested persons an opportunity to participate in
the rule making prior to the adoption of the final rules.

========================================================================

Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 228 / Wednesday, December 1, 2021 /
Proposed Rules

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Aviation Administration

14 CFR Part 39

[Docket No. FAA-2021-1018; Project Identifier MCAI-2021-00902-R]
RIN 2120-AA64

Airworthiness Directives; Airbus Helicopters

AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM).

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The FAA proposes to adopt a new airworthiness directive (AD)
for all Airbus Helicopters Model AS332L2 and EC225LP helicopters. This
proposed AD was prompted by a report of loss of tightening torque on
the nut that attaches the tail gear box (TGB) bevel wheel. This
proposed AD would require repetitive inspections (measurements) of the
angular clearances of the TGB, and, depending on the findings,
replacement of the TGB with a serviceable TGB, as specified in a
European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) AD, which is proposed for
incorporation by reference (IBR). This proposed AD would also provide
terminating action for certain repetitive inspections. The FAA is
proposing this AD to address the unsafe condition on these products.

DATES: The FAA must receive comments on this proposed AD by January 18,
2022.

ADDRESSES: You may send comments, using the procedures found in 14 CFR
11.43 and 11.45, by any of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to https://www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
     Fax:<PHONE_NUMBER>.
     Mail: U.S. Department of Transportation, Docket
Operations, M-30, West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 1200 New
Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590.
     Hand Delivery: Deliver to Mail address above between 9
a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.
    For EASA material that is proposed for IBR in this AD, contact
EASA, Konrad-Adenauer-Ufer 3, 50668 Cologne, Germany; telephone +49 221
8999 000; email [email protected]; internet www.easa.europa.eu. You
may find the EASA material on the EASA website at https://ad.easa.europa.eu. You may view this material at the FAA, Office of the
Regional Counsel, Southwest Region, 10101 Hillwood Pkwy., Room 6N-321,
Fort Worth, TX 76177. For information on the availability of this
material at the FAA, call<PHONE_NUMBER>. This material is also
available at https://www.regulations.gov by searching for and locating
Docket No. FAA-2021-1018.

Examining the AD Docket

    You may examine the AD docket at https://www.regulations.gov by
searching for and locating Docket No. FAA-2021-1018; or in person at
Docket Operations between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday,
except Federal holidays. The AD docket contains this NPRM, the EASA AD,
any comments received, and other information. The street address for
Docket Operations is listed above.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Andrea Jimenez, Aerospace Engineer,
COS Program Management Section, Operational Safety Branch, Compliance &
Airworthiness Division, FAA, 1600 Stewart Ave., Suite 410, Westbury, NY
11590; telephone<PHONE_NUMBER>; email [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Comments Invited

    The FAA invites you to send any written relevant data, views, or
arguments about this proposal. Send your comments to an address listed
under ADDRESSES. Include ``Docket No. FAA-2021-1018; Project Identifier
MCAI-2021-00902-R'' at the beginning of your comments. The most helpful
comments reference a specific portion of the proposal, explain the
reason for any recommended change, and include supporting data. The FAA
will consider all comments received by the closing date and may amend
this proposal because of those comments.
    Except for Confidential Business Information (CBI) as described in
the following paragraph, and other information as described in 14 CFR
11.35, the FAA will post all comments received, without change, to
https://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information you
provide. The agency will also post a report summarizing each
substantive verbal contact received about this NPRM.

Confidential Business Information

    CBI is commercial or financial information that is both customarily
and actually treated as private by its owner. Under the Freedom of
Information Act (FOIA) (5 U.S.C. 552), CBI is exempt from public
disclosure. If your comments responsive to this NPRM contain commercial
or financial information that is customarily treated as private, that
you actually treat as private, and that is relevant or responsive to
this NPRM, it is important that you clearly designate the submitted
comments as CBI. Please mark each page of your submission containing
CBI as ``PROPIN.'' The FAA will treat such marked submissions as
confidential under the FOIA, and they will not be placed in the public
docket of this NPRM. Submissions containing CBI should be sent to
Andrea Jimenez, Aerospace Engineer, COS Program Management Section,
Operational Safety Branch, Compliance & Airworthiness Division, FAA,
1600 Stewart Ave., Suite 410, Westbury, NY 11590; telephone (516) 228-
7330; email [email protected]. Any commentary that the FAA
receives that is not specifically designated as CBI will be placed in
the public docket for this rulemaking.

Background

    The EASA, which is the Technical Agent for the Member States of the
European Union, has issued EASA AD 2021-0184R1, dated October 8, 2021
(EASA AD 2021-0184R1), to correct an unsafe condition for Airbus
Helicopters, formerly Eurocopter, Eurocopter France, Aerospatiale,
Model AS 332 L2 and EC 225 LP helicopters, all serial numbers.
    This proposed AD was prompted by a report of loss of tightening
torque on the nut that attaches the TGB bevel wheel. Additionally, the
subsequent investigation highlighted that loss of the tightening torque
might lead to degradation of the splines between the

tail rotor shaft and the TGB bevel wheel. The investigation is still
on-going to identify the root cause of the tightening torque loss. The
FAA is proposing this AD to address loss of tightening torque on the
nut that attaches the TGB bevel wheel, which, if not corrected, could
lead to structural failure of the TGB drive, resulting in reduced, or
loss of, control of the helicopter. See EASA AD 2021-0184R1 for
additional background information.

Related Service Information Under 1 CFR Part 51

    EASA AD 2021-0184R1 requires repetitive inspections (measurements)
of the angular clearances of the TGB, and, depending on the findings,
additional repetitive inspections (measurements) of the angular
clearances of the TGB at a reduced interval and replacement of the TGB
with a serviceable TGB. EASA AD 2021-0184R1 provides terminating action
for the repetitive inspections at the reduced interval for a helicopter
if, during two consecutive inspections, the value of the measured
angular clearance remains unchanged for that helicopter.
    This material is reasonably available because the interested
parties have access to it through their normal course of business or by
the means identified in the ADDRESSES section.

FAA's Determination

    These helicopters have been approved by EASA and are approved for
operation in the United States. Pursuant to the FAA's bilateral
agreement with the European Union, EASA has notified the FAA about the
unsafe condition described in its AD. The FAA is proposing this AD
after evaluating all known relevant information and determining that
the unsafe condition described previously is likely to exist or develop
on other helicopters of the same type design.

Proposed AD Requirements in This NPRM

    This proposed AD would require accomplishing the actions specified
in EASA AD 2021-0184R1, described previously, as incorporated by
reference, except for any differences identified as exceptions in the
regulatory text of this proposed AD.

Explanation of Required Compliance Information

    In the FAA's ongoing efforts to improve the efficiency of the AD
process, the FAA developed a process to use some civil aviation
authority (CAA) ADs as the primary source of information for compliance
with requirements for corresponding FAA ADs. The FAA has been
coordinating this process with manufacturers and CAAs. As a result, the
FAA proposes to incorporate EASA AD 2021-0184R1 by reference in the FAA
final rule. This proposed AD would, therefore, require compliance with
EASA AD 2021-0184R1 in its entirety through that incorporation, except
for any differences identified as exceptions in the regulatory text of
this proposed AD. Using common terms that are the same as the heading
of a particular section in EASA AD 2021-0184R1 does not mean that
operators need comply only with that section. For example, where the AD
requirement refers to ``all required actions and compliance times,''
compliance with this AD requirement is not limited to the section
titled ``Required Action(s) and Compliance Time(s)'' in EASA AD 2021-
0184R1. Service information referenced in EASA AD 2021-0184R1 for
compliance will be available at https://www.regulations.gov by
searching for and locating Docket No. FAA-2021-1018 after the FAA final
rule is published.

Interim Action

    The FAA considers this proposed AD would be an interim action. If
final action is later identified, the FAA might consider further
rulemaking then.

Costs of Compliance

    The FAA estimates that this AD, if adopted as proposed, would
affect 38 helicopters of U.S. Registry. The FAA estimates the following
costs to comply with this proposed AD:

                                      Estimated Costs for Required Actions
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                Cost on U.S.
              Action                    Labor cost        Parts cost      Cost per product        operators
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Inspection of TGB Clearance......  2 work-hours x $85               $0  $170 per inspection  $6,460 per
                                    per hour = $170                      cycle.               inspection cycle.
                                    per inspection
                                    cycle.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The FAA estimates the following costs to do any necessary on-
condition action that would be required based on the results of any
required actions. The FAA has no way of determining the number of
helicopters that might need this on-condition action:

                                     Estimated Costs of On-Condition Actions
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                Action                        Labor cost               Parts cost            Cost per product
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Replacement of TGB...................  33 work-hours x $85 per  Up to $410,000.........  Up to $412,805.
                                        hour = $2,805.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Authority for This Rulemaking

    Title 49 of the United States Code specifies the FAA's authority to
issue rules on aviation safety. Subtitle I, section 106, describes the
authority of the FAA Administrator. Subtitle VII: Aviation Programs,
describes in more detail the scope of the Agency's authority.
    The FAA is issuing this rulemaking under the authority described in
Subtitle VII, Part A, Subpart III, Section 44701: General requirements.
Under that section, Congress charges the FAA with promoting safe flight
of civil aircraft in air commerce by prescribing regulations for
practices, methods, and procedures the Administrator finds necessary
for safety in air commerce. This regulation is within the scope of that
authority because it addresses an unsafe condition that is likely to
exist or develop on products identified in this rulemaking action.

Regulatory Findings

    The FAA determined that this proposed AD would not have federalism

implications under Executive Order 13132. This proposed AD would not
have a substantial direct effect on the States, on the relationship
between the national Government and the States, or on the distribution
of power and responsibilities among the various levels of government.
    For the reasons discussed above, I certify this proposed
regulation:
    (1) Is not a ``significant regulatory action'' under Executive
Order 12866,
    (2) Would not affect intrastate aviation in Alaska, and
    (3) Would not have a significant economic impact, positive or
negative, on a substantial number of small entities under the criteria
of the Regulatory Flexibility Act.

List of Subjects in 14 CFR Part 39

    Air transportation, Aircraft, Aviation safety, Incorporation by
reference, Safety.

The Proposed Amendment

    Accordingly, under the authority delegated to me by the
Administrator, the FAA proposes to amend 14 CFR part 39 as follows:

PART 39--AIRWORTHINESS DIRECTIVES

0
1. The authority citation for part 39 continues to read as follows:

    Authority: 49 U.S.C. 106(g), 40113, 44701.

Sec.  39.13  [Amended]

0
2. The FAA amends Sec.  39.13 by adding the following new airworthiness
directive:

Airbus Helicopters: Docket No. FAA-2021-1018; Project Identifier
MCAI-2021-00902-R.

(a) Comments Due Date

    The FAA must receive comments on this airworthiness directive
(AD) by January 18, 2022.

(b) Affected ADs

    None.

(c) Applicability

    This AD applies to all Airbus Helicopters Model AS332L2 and
EC225LP helicopters, certificated in any category.

(d) Subject

    Joint Aircraft Service Component (JASC) Code: 6400, Tail Rotor
System.

(e) Unsafe Condition

    This AD was prompted by a report of loss of tightening torque on
the nut that attaches the tail gear box (TGB) bevel wheel. The FAA
is issuing this AD to address loss of tightening torque on the nut
that attaches the TGB bevel wheel, which, if not corrected, could
lead to structural failure of the TGB drive, resulting in reduced,
or loss of, control of the helicopter.

(f) Compliance

    Comply with this AD within the compliance times specified,
unless already done.

(g) Requirements

    Except as specified in paragraph (h) of this AD: Comply with all
required actions and compliance times specified in, and in
accordance with, European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) AD
2021-0184R1, dated October 8, 2021 (EASA AD 2021-0184R1).

(h) Exceptions to EASA AD 2021-0184R1

    (1) Where EASA AD 2021-0184R1 requires compliance in terms of
flight hours, this AD requires using hours time-in-service.
    (2) Where EASA AD 2021-0184R1 refers to August 19, 2021 (the
effective date of EASA AD 2021-0184, dated August 5, 2021), this AD
requires using the effective date of this AD.
    (3) Where the service information referenced in EASA AD 2021-
0184R1 specifies sending parts to the manufacturer or an approved
repair station to be examined, this AD does not include that
requirement.
    (4) This AD does not mandate compliance with the ``Remarks''
section of EASA AD 2021-0184R1.

(i) No Reporting Requirement

    Although the service information referenced in EASA AD 2021-
0184R1 specifies to submit certain information to the manufacturer,
this AD does not include that requirement.

(j) Special Flight Permit

    Special flight permits may be permitted provided that there are
no passengers on board.

(k) Alternative Methods of Compliance (AMOCs)

    (1) The Manager, International Validation Branch, FAA, has the
authority to approve AMOCs for this AD, if requested using the
procedures found in 14 CFR 39.19. In accordance with 14 CFR 39.19,
send your request to your principal inspector or local Flight
Standards District Office, as appropriate. If sending information
directly to the manager of the International Validation Branch, send
it to the attention of the person identified in paragraph (l)(2) of
this AD. Information may be emailed to: [email protected].
    (2) Before using any approved AMOC, notify your appropriate
principal inspector, or lacking a principal inspector, the manager
of the local flight standards district office/certificate holding
district office.

(l) Related Information

    (1) For EASA AD 2021-0184R1, contact EASA, Konrad-Adenauer-Ufer
3, 50668 Cologne, Germany; telephone +49 221 8999 000; email
[email protected]; internet www.easa.europa.eu. You may view this
material at the FAA, Office of the Regional Counsel, Southwest
Region, 10101 Hillwood Pkwy., Room 6N-321, Fort Worth, TX 76177. For
information on the availability of this material at the FAA, call
(817) 222-5110. This material may be found in the AD docket at
https://www.regulations.gov by searching for and locating Docket No.
FAA-2021-1018.
    (2) For more information about this AD, contact Andrea Jimenez,
Aerospace Engineer, COS Program Management Section, Operational
Safety Branch, Compliance & Airworthiness Division, FAA, 1600
Stewart Ave., Suite 410, Westbury, NY 11590; telephone (516) 228-
7330; email [email protected].

    Issued on November 23, 2021.
Lance T. Gant,
Director, Compliance & Airworthiness Division, Aircraft Certification
Service.
[FR Doc. 2021-26037 Filed 11-30-21; 8:45 am]
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[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 157 (Tuesday, August 16, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Page 50343]
[FR Doc No: 2022-17547]

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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

Federal Emergency Management Agency

[Internal Agency Docket No. FEMA-4652-DR; Docket ID FEMA-2022-0001]

New Mexico; Amendment No. 6 to Notice of a Major Disaster
Declaration

AGENCY: Federal Emergency Management Agency, DHS.

ACTION: Notice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: This notice amends the notice of a major disaster for the
State of New Mexico (FEMA-4652-DR), dated May 4, 2022, and related
determinations.

DATES: This amendment was issued July 27, 2022.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dean Webster, Office of Response and
Recovery, Federal Emergency Management Agency, 500 C Street SW,
Washington, DC 20472,<PHONE_NUMBER>.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Notice is hereby given that the incident for
this disaster has been expanded to include flooding, mudflows, and
debris flows directly related to the wildfires. Only those damages
within the designated areas specifically determined by the Federal
Coordinating Officer to be damaged or adversely affected as a direct
result of the compromised watershed conditions and fire-generated
debris caused by the wildfires will be considered eligible for
assistance on a case-by-case basis.
    The following Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Numbers (CFDA)
are to be used for reporting and drawing funds: 97.030, Community
Disaster Loans; 97.031, Cora Brown Fund; 97.032, Crisis Counseling;
97.033, Disaster Legal Services; 97.034, Disaster Unemployment
Assistance (DUA); 97.046, Fire Management Assistance Grant; 97.048,
Disaster Housing Assistance to Individuals and Households In
Presidential Declared Disaster Areas; 97.049, Presidential Declared
Disaster Assistance--Disaster Housing Operations for Individuals and
Households; 97.050, Presidential Declared Disaster Assistance to
Individuals and Households--Other Needs; 97.036, Disaster Grants--
Public Assistance (Presidentially Declared Disasters); 97.039, Hazard
Mitigation Grant.

Deanne Criswell,
Administrator, Federal Emergency Management Agency.
[FR Doc. 2022-17547 Filed 8-15-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 9111-23-P


[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 34 (Tuesday, February 20, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Page 7178]
[FR Doc No: 2018-03383]

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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. ER18-836-000]

Energia Sierra Juarez U.S. 2, LLC; Supplemental Notice That
Initial Market-Based Rate Filing Includes Request for Blanket Section
204 Authorization

    This is a supplemental notice in the above-referenced proceeding
Energia Sierra Juarez U.S. 2, LLC's application for market-based rate
authority, with an accompanying rate tariff, noting that such
application includes a request for blanket authorization, under 18 CFR
part 34, of future issuances of securities and assumptions of
liability.
    Any person desiring to intervene or to protest should file with the
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street NE, Washington,
DC 20426, in accordance with Rules 211 and 214 of the Commission's
Rules of Practice and Procedure (18 CFR 385.211 and 385.214). Anyone
filing a motion to intervene or protest must serve a copy of that
document on the Applicant.
    Notice is hereby given that the deadline for filing protests with
regard to the applicant's request for blanket authorization, under 18
CFR part 34, of future issuances of securities and assumptions of
liability, is March 5, 2018.
    The Commission encourages electronic submission of protests and
interventions in lieu of paper, using the FERC Online links at http://www.ferc.gov. To facilitate electronic service, persons with internet
access who will eFile a document and/or be listed as a contact for an
intervenor must create and validate an eRegistration account using the
eRegistration link. Select the eFiling link to log on and submit the
intervention or protests.
    Persons unable to file electronically should submit an original and
5 copies of the intervention or protest to the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20426.
    The filings in the above-referenced proceeding are accessible in
the Commission's eLibrary system by clicking on the appropriate link in
the above list. They are also available for electronic review in the
Commission's Public Reference Room in Washington, DC. There is an
eSubscription link on the website that enables subscribers to receive
email notification when a document is added to a subscribed docket(s).
For assistance with any FERC Online service, please email
[email protected], or call<PHONE_NUMBER> (toll free). For
TTY, call<PHONE_NUMBER>.

    Dated: February 13, 2018.
Nathaniel J. Davis, Sr.,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2018-03383 Filed 2-16-18; 8:45 am]
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