How to be a federal contractor

Federal law reserves a good-sized chunk of government contracting business for companies owned by minorities, women, disadvantaged persons, and veterans. A whole lot of Hawaii business owners qualify on one of those grounds or another. But how do you get started? Bidding for government business is the kind of game where you need to learn the rules, and after that it's not so hard. But where can you learn the rules? The U.S. Small Business Administration's Honolulu district office has been scheduling conferences from time to time that teach this sort of thing. The next one is Thursday at Kapolei Hale. For more information, visit http://www.sba.gov/hi. The SBA and SCORE of Hawaii are also cosponsoring the Hawaii Pacific Lending Conference, March 27-28, at the Honolulu Country Club. Speakers will include Rep. Mazie Hirono, Bank of Hawaii Chief Economist Paul Brewbaker, Kapolei Property Development VP Chuck Hill, and a number of SBA officials and lenders.