Small Business Administration
Resources for Veteran & Reservist Small Business Owners
If you are a veteran, reservist or National Guardsman and either own a small business or plan to start one, or you, as the owner, or your essential employee has been called up to serve, there are many resources and services form the U.S. Small Business Administration, and you may be eligible.
Start by going to the SBA website www.sba.gov for the following information.
SBA’s OFFICE OF VETERANS BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT (OVBD)
Coordinates outreach to and policy recommendations for SBA assistance to veterans at www.sba.gov/vets. This website provides to the Veterans Business Outreach Centers (VBOCs) and to the Veterans Business Development Officers (VBDOs) – the agency’s field staff who provide direct assistance or referrals to veteran and reservists small business owners and entrepreneurs.
RESERVE AND GUARD SMALL BUSINESS GUIDES
Veteran and Reservist small business owners can receive comprehensive guides and CDs that provide resources available from the SBA to address restarting your business after returning from active duty. www.sba.gov.
PLANNING ASSISTANCE
Through local district offices and SBA’s resource partners, you can receive business planning, counseling and training to help you business prepare for a call to active duty. After you or your employees return, the SBA can help with marketing and other plans to re-establish and grow your business www.sba.gov.
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS
The VBOC (Veteran Business Outreach Centers) SCORE, SBDC (Small Business Development Centers), and WBCs (Women’s Business Centers) can provide one-on-one counseling, training, mentorship, and comprehensive business assessment to veterans. Visit www.sba.gov/vets or www.sba.gov/ed. Hampton Roads SBDC www.virginiasbdc.org.
ONLINE TRAINING
The SBA’s Small Business Training Network (www.sba.gov/training) is a customer-focused online training environment designed to enrich, education, and enable small businesses. It is a virtual campus offering online courses, workshops, information resources, learning tools, and direct access to publications and other forms of technical assistance.
FINANCING OPTIONS
Small businesses may need financing for startups, operating capital, expansions or as a result of the owner or key employees being called away to serve the country or returning veterans many need financing to expand an existing business or start a new one. The SBA’s loan programs can help provide veterans with small business financing that may not be available through conventional channels. www.sba.gov/financing.
MILITARY RESERVIST ECONOMIC INJURY DISASTER LOANS (MREIDL)
For eligible small businesses facing financial needs because an owner or an essential employee was called to active duty, the SBA can offer loans tailored to those needs. Small businesses may apply for the loan after the employee receives his or her orders to report to active duty, or he or she may apply for the loan within 12 months (1 year) after discharge from active service. This is the agency’s only direct loan programs. The loan application can be downloaded from the website at www.sba.gov.
PATRIOT EXPRESS
Veterans, service-disabled veterans, Reserve component members, , TAP eligible active duty members, spouses of the aforementioned, and widowed spouse of a service member or veteran who died in service or of a service-connected disability are eligible for Patriot Express Pilot Loan. This program provides streamlined and expedited loans up to $500,000 with maximum available SBA guarantees. For information and available lenders on this loan program, contact your SBA district office. www.sba.gov/financing.
COMMUNITY EXPRESS
Veterans interested in conventional SBA financing for business startup/expansion are targeted under SBA’s Community Express program. This program provides streamlined and expedited loans up to $250,000 and includes management and technical assistance. For information and lenders on this and the following loan programs, contact your local SBA District Office. www.sba.gov/financing.
SBA 7(a) LOANS
Operates through private-sector lenders that provide loans guaranteed by the SBA – the Agency has no funds for direct lending (other than MREIDL). The maximum loan amount available is $2 million, although the maximum dollar amount the SBA can guarantee is generally $1 million. www.sba.gov/financing.
504 CERTIFIED DEVELOPMENT COMPANY (CDC) PROGRAM
The CDC Program provides growing businesses with long-term, fixed-rate financing for major fixed assets, such as land, building, or major equipment. A CDC is a nonprofit corporation set up to contribute to the economic development of its local community. CDCs work with the SBA and private-sector lenders to provide financing otherwise unavailable to small businesses. www.sba.gov/financing/sbaloan/cdc504.html.
MICROLOAN PROGRAM
Microloans provide small (up to $35,000) short-term loans for working capital or the purchase of inventory, supplies, furniture, fixtures, machinery and/or equipment. These loans are designed for small businesses and not-for-profit child care centers needing small-scale financing and technical assistance for startups or expansions, and is delivered through specially designated intermediary lenders (nonprofit organization with experience in lending and technical assistance) www.sba.gov/financing.
DEBT RELIEF
If your small business currently has an SBA direct or guaranteed loan, you can ask for repayment deferrals, interest-rate reduction and other assistance. www.sba.gov/financing.
FIRMS PARTICIPATING IN GOVERNMENT CONTRACTING
8(a)/Small and Disadvantaged Business (SDB) –If a call to duty requires that the day-to-day management of the company must be transferred to an individual other than the one on whom the original certification was granted, the transfer will not disqualify the firm from program participation . www.sba.gov/8abd.
FIRMS PARTICIPATING IN GOVERNMENT CONTRACTING
Find a PTAC in your area: www.aptac-us.org
SERVICE DISABLED VETERAN OWNED BUSINESS COUNCIL
CENTER FOR VETERANS ENTERPRISE
SMALL BUSINESS INNOVATION RESEARCH (SBIR) SMALL BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER (STTR)
– If a call to duty results in a firm not being able to complete a grant’s objectives within the original timeline, that timeline can be extended. www.sba.gov.
HUBZONE
– – Individuals who are employed by HUBZone firms are called for military service will continue to be counted as employees when calculating the 35 percent HUBZone residency requirement or determining the firm’s principal office, assuming they continue to be employed by the firm. www.sba.gov/hubzone.
PROCUREMENT PREFERENCES FOR SDV BUSINESSES
– The federal government established a government-wide goal for participation by small businesses owned and controlled by service-disabled veterans at not less than 3 percent of the total value of prime contract and subcontract awards for each fiscal year. Contracting officers may award a sole-source or set-aside contract for a small business owned and controlled by a service-disabled veteran under certain conditions. To determine eligibility, contact your local Veterans Business Development Officer in your nearest SBA district at www.sba.gov or contact the SBA’s Office of Veterans Business Development at www.sba.gov/vets or www.sba.gov/localresources/index.html.
WOMEN’S PROCUREMENT PROGRAM
– is designed to increase federal contracting opportunities for women-owned small businesses, and to increase the number of women-owned small businesses that successfully compete in the federal marketplace. www.sba.gov/gc/programs/index.html.
SURETY GUARANTEE PROGRAM
Surety Bond Guarantee can guarantee bid, performance and payment bonds for individual contracts of $5 million or less for small and emerging contractors who cannot obtain surety bonds through regular commercial channels. There is not limit to the number of bonds that can be guaranteed for any one contractor. SBA’s guarantee gives sureties an incentive to provide bonding for eligible contractors and thereby provides greater access to contracting opportunities. www.sba.gov/osg/ourprogram/index.html.
INTERNATIONAL TRADE
The Office of International Trade, as SBA’s office of support for small business international trade development, works with other federal agencies and public- and private-sector groups to encourage small business exports and to assist small businesses seeking to export. Through 16 U.S. Export Assistance Centers, SBA district offices and a variety of service-provider partners, the Office of International Trade directs and coordinates the Agency’s ongoing export initiatives in an effort to encourage small businesses going global. www.sba.gov/internationaltrade/index.html.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Visit our website at www.sba.gov/vets, or call our Office of Veterans Business Development at 202.205.6773.
