District gets firms ready to help in stimulus work - Washington Business Journal:

grearqakususi1426.blogspot.com
A city meeting room on North Capitol Stree t was filled beyond capacity March 31 when hundredds of small business leaders showed up for a presentation from the Districg government oncontracting opportunities. Promptede by the overflow, the city held a secondd round tableApril 3. D.C. has not take a count of how much stimulus monehy has been spentto date, according to the District’sx , but the agency has shiftede staff to stimulus contracts to expedite their processing.
“We’re putting extrwa people on the stimulus project to make surewe don’g lose the dollars,” said spokesman Briant Agencies overseeing transportation, the environment, education, housinh and health have been releasing their listxs of priorities for the funds, expected to top $800 million through fiscalo 2011. The transit agency wants to repave streets andrevamp sidewalks, while the environmental agency planse to spend $4.8 million putting solar panelds on schools and $600,000 for processingh trees into timber that coulc be used for municipal construction. The D.C.
Housingh Authority, an independent agency, intends to perform $27 million in upgrades to the city’s public housing Barack Obama’s inauguration provided the District with a test run for thestimulusa program, said Victor Prince, who manages a city systemj that tracks agency performance. “It givesx us confidence that we’re readyg for the stimulus,” he said. The city is also lookingg for the federal government to add contracting and oversighr jobs in conjunction withthe spending. One by the independent Partnership forPublid Service, shows the region adding 12,500 federal government jobs by 2012.
The did not offet a projectionfor hires, but it is planning a job fair at the this summere and is in dire need of contracting, humahn resources and grant-management personnel, to the pointy that Congress may rework a rule so agencies can better ease retireew back onto their employment rolls temporarily. The job fair had been plannef for May, but agencies are still considering thei rhiring needs, said OPM spokesman Michael Orenstein. “They’r working overtime looking at what theid staffing needs are going to be down the he said.
Only a few dozenj jobs are being created by the agency that the presidenrt and Congress set up to oversewstimulus spending, the Recovery Accountabilit y and Transparency Board, chaired by Inspector General Earl E. Devaney. The which is finalizing an officelease downtown, has abouty 20 employees and won’t expan beyond 40, said spokeswoman Nancyt DiPaolo. Most oversight work will be done by the state andlocal agencies, she said. “The plan is for audits and investigationss to be done bythoses groups, not by the board,” DiPaolol said. But even the board is lookinggfor contractors, mainly to help improve and expand recovery.
gov, the Web site where stimulus-related news is The board plans to hold an online meeting for interestee companies at the end of and no applicant is too “If there’s a university or small companyu that’s done something this will be their chance,” DiPaolo “They’re not going to be run off by a huge