• microplan

    A microloan program designed to assist women, low income, veteran, and minority entrepreneurs, and other small businesses will be evaluated for its impact in growth outcomes

    The Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Microloan Program makes direct loans to qualified nonprofit, quasi-governmental and tribal mediators that, in turn, lend working capital for job creation, equipment, and material purchases. This program is essential for small businesses who do not qualify for traditional business loans and who have historically been underrepresented in the business community across a number of industries. […]

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  • SBA Logo

    Optimal evaluated four Small Business Administration programs using logic models to determine outcomes

    A logic model provides a visual likeness of the key program pathways linking program components to short-term, intermediate, and long-term outcomes. The purpose of a logic model is to define a program’s theory of change by showing how the program’s underlying assumptions, strategies, resources, activities, and contextual factors are expected to lead to the desired outcomes. Optimal prepared logic models […]

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  • Optimal develops AI-tool to assist government agencies identify qualified under-represented firms

    Government agencies often use incomplete and non-systematic approaches to identify qualified contractors and capable, socially and economically disadvantaged small businesses for government requests. While information about firms is available, it is stored across disparate systems that are not linked together. In order for staff to more efficiently identify small disadvantaged businesses, Optimal Solutions Group, LLC (Optimal), developed a series of […]

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  • Optimal assessed the impact of small business development program

    The Small Business Administration’s (SBA) 8(a) Business Development Program grants participants access to set-aside or sole source contracts, a business opportunity specialist, the right to enter a mentor-protégé program, and other benefits. The goal of the Evaluation of 8(a) Certified Firms is to better understand the market for goods and services demanded by federal agencies and those supplied by 8(a) businesses. The […]

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  • Optimal assessed the impact of SBA’s Emerging Leaders Training and Mentoring Initiative

    This study helped SBA in improving the program enactment of Emerging Leaders (e200) Training and Mentoring Initiative by identifying strategies to improve program participation and stakeholder engagement. It also identified the factors affecting the business revenue and business survival rates of the businesses poised for growth in historically challenged communities. Optimal assisted in developing the overall evaluation frameworks for SBA’s […]

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  • SBA Logo

    Optimal assessed the performance of the SBA small business regional clusters

    The SBA’s Regional Innovation Cluster (RIC) Initiative, launched in September 2010, promotes and supports U.S. regional clusters—geographically concentrated groups of connected businesses, suppliers, service providers, and similar institutions in an industry or field. Clusters act as a networking hub to convene resources for small businesses. This then helps small businesses in navigating funding, procurement, and supply-chain opportunities in their specific […]

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  • round table

    Optimal analyzed small business program designed to provide business development assistance

    Established in 2016, the All Small Mentor-Protégé Program (ASMPP) extends the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) approved mentor-protégé relationships to every small business. The program’s goal is to develop strong protégé firms through mentor-provided business development assistance. Optimal assessed why firms leave the ASMPP either during the application process before they are approved for the program or during the program participation […]

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  • 29439 DEV Color

    Optimal Solutions Group Appraised at CMMI Level 3 – Development

    Optimal Solutions Group, LLC today announced that it has been appraised at level 3 for Development (DEV) of the CMMI Institute’s Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI)®. The appraisal was performed by Abridge Technology. CMMI is a capability improvement framework that provides organizations with the essential elements of effective processes that ultimately improve their performance.

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  • Using Mobile Applications in Opioid Treatment: Opportunities and Challenges

    Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA) awarded Optimal a contract to assess the implementation and effectiveness of mobile application technology to provide recovery support services to patients undergoing treatment for opioid dependence in an Opioid Treatment Program (OTP).

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Recent Press Releases


Archived Press Releases
Ruth Sherman Joins Optimal as Associate

January 1, 2010

Ruth Sherman is an Associate in the Health Policy Research Center at Optimal Solutions Group, LLC (Optimal). At Optimal, Ms. Sherman provides subject matter expertise and technical assistance for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Program Integrity Manual (PIM) project.


Lane Koenig, Ph.D. Named Senior Associate

January 1, 2010

Dr. Lane Koenig is a Senior Research Associate at Optimal Solutions Group, LLC (Optimal). At Optimal, Dr. Koenig provides senior-level oversight to Health Policy Research Center projects and activities. He leads the analysis and testing activities for the Development, Implementation, and Maintenance of Quality Measures for Hospital Outpatient Departments and Ambulatory Surgical Centers project. In addition, he serves as a […]


Optimal Receives Program Support Center IDIQ Task Order Contract from DHHS

February 25, 2009

Optimal Solutions Group, LLC (Optimal) has received designation as a contractor for the Program Support Center (PSC) Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quality (IDIQ) Task Order contract to provide services to the Department of Health and Human Services and other agencies. Services contemplated under this contract are to include policy assessments/analysis, program assessments, evaluation design studies and data collection, performance measurements, technical assistance/expertise, […]


Survey non-response bias, power analysis, and external validity

January 1, 1970

Public policy research is dependent on efficient data collection, which is often thwarted by non-respondents or a low response rate.


Optimal Studies Employment Clusters for Low-Skilled Workers

January 1, 1970

In June 2006, Optimal Solutions Group (Optimal) was awarded a grant from the Ford Foundation to perform analysis leading to the identification of employment clusters for low-skilled workers. The grant requires Optimal researchers to utilize past research in the field to create customized models for a maximum of five metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) with the highest need for intervention. The […]


Occupation-specific Collaboration Among Local Stakeholders Key to Energizing Baltimore’s Economic Growth, New Study Finds

January 1, 1970

Even before the current economic crisis hit the United States, the decline of domestic manufacturing, the rise of globalization, and increased competition for good jobs had created unprecedented challenges for low-skill American workers. These challenges have disproportionately affected older industrial metropolitan areas such as Baltimore, where the unemployment spiked to 5.8% in December – its highest rate this decade.1 In […]


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