U.S. Sen. Al Franken recently urged the Senate to fully fund a program that allows small businesses in Minnesota to compete for contracts with the U.S. Department of Defense.
The program establishes assistance centers to help small businesses obtain information and training on new contracts with the defense department. This would result in “greater competition for contracts and, ultimately, higher quality goods and services for service members at a lower cost to U.S. taxpayers,” according to information from Franken’s office.
The program is called The Procurement Technical Assistance Program, and is funded by the federal Defense Logistics Agency.
In 2011, Minnesota’s PTAP program assisted in securing 1,845 contracts to 171 Minnesota companies, according to Franken’s staff. The contracts dealt with $503 million.
Franken, D-Minn., wrote in his letter to the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, “Given the challenges our nation’s small businesses continue to face during this economic downturn, and the program’s demonstrated success in providing assistance to small businesses, we respectfully write to request your support (for the PTAP program).”
