Blog March 2012

Grants.gov is a free online source to FIND and APPLY for federal grants. Grants.gov does NOT provide personal financial assistance. Grants.gov is a central storehouse for information on over 1,000 grant programs and provides access to approximately $500 billion in annual awards.

Purpose: Grants Opportunities

Who should register in GRANTS.gov?

• Organization: An individual responsible for submitting a grant on behalf a company, state, local, or tribal government, academia or research institution, not-for-profit or any other institution

• Individual: A individual can register to apply for “individual eligible” grants

What is required to register?

• Complete a standard business profile that include, DUNS, CAGE, and MPIN numbers

• Submit an Authorized Organization Representative (AORs) application

• Have an E-Business point of contact (POC)

• Detailed application can be found on grants.gov

Who can access Grants.gov?

With business tax-filing deadlines fast approaching, the Internal Revenue Service today encouraged small employers that provide health insurance coverage to their employees to check out the small business health care tax credit and then claim it if they qualify.

The recently-revamped Small Business Health Care Tax Credit page on IRS.gov is packed with information and resources designed to help small employers see if they qualify for the credit and then figure it correctly. These include a step-by-step guide for determining eligibility, examples of typical tax savings under various scenarios, answers to frequently-asked questions, a YouTube video and a webinar.

Web site maps out value proposition offered to firms located in the United States

SelectUSA is the Department of Commerce’s first-ever federal initiative to help attract, retain and expand business investment in the United States. It was created to showcase the United States as the world’s premier business location and to provide easy access to federal-level programs and services related to business investment. SelectUSA is designed to complement the activities of our states—the primary drivers of economic development in the United States.

In conjunction with the launch of BusinessUSA, the Department of Commerce is challenging app developers to find innovative ways to utilize Commerce and other publicly available data and information to create an application that supports businesses.  Developers may choose the platform that best suits them. Applicants may design for the web, personal computer, mobile handheld device, or any platform broadly accessible to the open Internet. A list of developer-friendly data sets can be found on the Business Data and Tools page of Data.gov.

Obama administration launches online platform in response to requests from businesses for easy access to assistance at every stage of development

BusinessUSA is more than a web site; it’s a gateway for small businesses and exporters of all sizes to find information about available federal programs without having to waste time and resources navigating the federal bureaucracy.

BusinessUSA combines information and services from 10 different government agencies, including MBDA, through one consolidated website and coordinate telephone support through a single 1-800 number.