Business Assistance Research
T.H.R.I.V.E. Emerging Leaders Reimagined
Executive-level series designed to accelerate the growth of high-potential small businesses in America’s underserved cities.
Access the T.H.R.I.V.E. program registration.
See below for relevant business assistance research reports, press releases, and publications.
FY 2022 NIST MEP Economic Impact
The MEP National Network TM provides access to a range of resources meeting the critical and often unique needs of America’s manufacturers. This overview shows the MEP Program’s economic impact. Read the report.
Sample Business Assistance Reports, Press Releases, and Publications
Study Finds 8(a) Program Benefits Businesses By Obtaining Prime Federal Contracts
August 25, 2021
The federal government established the 8(a) program to improve the capacity of small businesses owned by the socially and economically disadvantaged members of society by creating a level playing field for providing goods and services to the federal government and increasing the supply base of qualified businesses owned by such members of society. The Small Business Administration partnered with Optimal [Read More…]
Study Finds Underrepresentation of Women-Owned Small Businesses Depends on how Disparity Ratios are Measured
August 25, 2021
Women face a wider variety and a greater severity of challenges in starting and growing their business ventures than men. Difficulties obtaining government contracts represents one of the largest hurdles faced by women-owned firms. Congress approved the Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) Federal Contracting Program to provide greater opportunities for small businesses to win federal contracts. The Small Business Administration partnered [Read More…]
Optimal Will Provide Data Tool to Better Understand Changes in the U.S. Manufacturing Sector
Date: August 18, 2021
The National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) offers tools, solutions, and resources to address manufacturer’s diverse challenges and opportunities. Optimal Solutions Group LLC (Optimal) will provide access to a manufacturing data analysis and modeling tool or service . This tool/service will put dynamic and relevant manufacturing data in the hands of the MEP Centers, which help [Read More…]
April 18, 2021
Each year, the Small Business Administration (SBA) produces its Small Business Procurement Scorecard, which aims to assess the performance of federal agencies towards achieving their small business contracting goals, provide valid and reliable data on federal contracting with an emphasis on transparency, as well as analyze and report agency level and government-wide progress towards the goals. For fiscal year 2017, [Read More…]
Preferential Contract Awards Add Value and Jobs to Underutilized Areas
Date: August 17, 2021
The Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone) program, part of the Small Business Administration (SBA), helps small businesses in low-income metropolitan or rural areas with high poverty and unemployment rates gain preferential access to federal procurement opportunities. Businesses obtain HUBZone certification in part by employing staff who live in a HUBZone and maintaining a “principal office” in one of these specially [Read More…]
A New Study Analyzes a Switch to Online Delivery of Boots-to-Business Course
August 15, 2021
The Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Boots to Business (B2B) program is offered free of charge and helps transition service members from military to civilian life through entrepreneurship education and training. During the COVID-19 pandemic, an in-person course rapidly transitioned to an instructor-led virtual course. A new study by Optimal Solutions Group LLC (Optimal) examines the implementation of the virtual delivery [Read More…]
Optimal to Provide Evaluation Support for NIST’s Manufacturing Extension Partnership Business-to-Business Network Pilots
September 29, 2015
Optimal Solutions Group, LLC (Optimal) was recently awarded a contract by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to support the evaluation of the Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) Business-to-Business Network Pilot Project, which consists of ten total sites. [Read More…]
Evaluation Report for the U.S. SBA’s Regional Cluster Initiative
July 22, 2014
This year marks the fourth year of the Small Business Administration (SBA)’s Regional Cluster Initiative pilot program. [Read more…]
Year 3 Evaluation Report for the U.S. SBA’s Regional Cluster Initiative
July 22, 2014
This year marks the fourth year of the Small Business Administration (SBA)’s Regional Cluster Initiative pilot program. [Read more…]
The Evaluation of the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Regional Initiative – Year Two Reports
June 27, 2013
Optimal Solutions Group, LLC (Optimal) was contracted to work with the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) on its Regional Cluster Initiative in October of 2010. The SBA’s Cluster Initiative provides funding to the organizing entities of ten clusters in order to increase opportunities for small business participation within the clusters, promote innovation in the industries on which the ten clusters [Read More…]
The Evaluation of the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Regional Cluster Initiative – Year One Report
January 1, 2012
In September 2010, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) launched the Regional Cluster Initiative, a pilot program to promote and support ten clusters — geographically concentrated groups of interconnected businesses, suppliers, academic institutions, service providers, and associated organizations — across a wide variety of industries and regions throughout the United States. The SBA’s Cluster Initiative provides funding to the organizing [Read More…]