M/WBE Programs Are at Risk In June 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in SFFA v. Harvard/UNC that race-conscious college admissions policies violate the Equal Protection Clause...

Barb’s Recap from the Advisory Council to 9th District Federal ReserveOctober 2024 As many of you know, I was appointed to the Advisory Council of the 9th District Federal...

Advocating in DC For the 2022 AWC budget, we had added a new item - the Minnesota Transportation Alliance’s DC Fly-In. The Alliance has been a member of the AWC since 2008, and...

This is part 3 of the DBE Final Rule Change Blog Series.Part 1: "DBE Procedural Changes for Certification."Part 2: "DBE Supplier Definitions & Counting". DBE Final Rule Blog...

This is part 2 of the DBE Final Rule Change Blog Series. Click here to read part 1: "DBE Procedural Changes for Certification." DBE Final Rule Blog Series:The Department of...

DBE Final Rule Blog Series:The Department of Transportation proposed new rules to the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) program with public listening and comment period in...

Are You Hearing Me Yet? Cyber Cyber Cyber. The climate is ever changing but hackers continue to reap the benefits from businesses operating either under protected without any...

Small Business Retirement Plan Mandate—Are You Aware? In May 2023, the state of Minnesota joined over half of other U.S. states in passing legislation requiring private-sector...

I hated math – hated it. I’m good at it, I just never liked it. Girls weren’t supposed to like math when I was growing up. Fast forward to college and requirements for a degree –...

New Year — Make Time Ringing in the new year means a time of resolutions and goals. There is so much emphasis on change and what you can do better. We are full of positivity and...

Are Contracting Programs at Risk? During a meeting with government entities today, we discussed the risk of contracting programs due to the supreme court decision on affirmative...

What Happened in DC 2023 After the success of last year’s DC Fly-In with the Minnesota Transportation Alliance, the board made this a budget item for me to attend each year....

Overview of the Law for Accommodations for Women in the Workforce Whether you are pregnant, breastfeeding, or, dare I say, raising your children the disruption to working women...

Big Brother is Watching: What you need to know about TikTok & Federal Contracting If you are unfamiliar with the Big Brother reference, it comes from the George Orwell book...

Why Do I Care About MnDOT's Exhibit A Forms? Part of the "Barb’s Blog" intent is to take issues/concerns I work with members on and turn them into educational opportunities. This...

Legislative Changes Improve State Contracting for TGs I am part of the SADBOC committee, and we do more than host the government procurement fairs. We have a monthly meeting...

Back to the Federal Reserve: Community Advisory Council Reunion One of my career highlights to date was my term serving on the Federal Reserve Board’s Community Advisory Council...

Sold Out - How a simple act of philanthropy has exploded. If you haven’t heard the 2023 AWC Scholarship Golf FUNdraiser is Sold Out.  I first want to say THANK YOU for all the...

"Bad Apples are Spoiling the Bunch" We are all familiar with this metaphor. It can be traced all the way back to 1340 English as “A rotten apple quickly infects its neighbor”...

After my term serving on the Community Advisory Council to the Federal Reserve, I became much more intrigued with economics and policy. On the CAC we were asked questions on...

As we enter the New Year I encourage two exercises: Look back to see where your business ended and look forward to plan for the future. Looking back on the year, reflecting if...

In the early ‘90s I was working for a design firm as part of the administrative team. I remember my mentor Barb year after year procrastinate the annual performance review...

After years of considering the Minnesota Transportation Alliance’s DC Fly-In, attending this year was perfectly timed. The conference was centered on the new IIJA funding...

I have worked as a liaison between members and the Central CERT agencies on multiple certification issues. As noted in a previous blog, mentoring our AWC members through...

This week’s blog is more of a “Where’s Waldo” for what has been happening behind the scenes at AWC this summer. A “Where’s Barb” if you will. Often Summer is my slow season –...

In my Federal Reserve council meetings in 2020, I told the Governors that our industry was working but we were going to be hurting in years to come and to please save us some...

Federal Contracting – Are you ignoring this business opportunity?When AWC was started in 1995, a handful of the membership was bidding and performing on federal contracts. This...

Today’s blog is a public Thank You note.  Last Friday was the AWC Scholarship Golf FUNdraiser Event. This is the sole funding source for our scholarships awarded to women...

Today I want to talk the failure of the Minnesota legislature this past session. I believe that the divided government should be referred to going forward as “Government of...

One purpose of the blog is to make sure members know what AWC is working on behind the scenes. Sometimes that information is not ready for distribution in real time. Today I want...

Since my first job as a secretary and data tech back in the 1980's, I have been working on computers.  When your computer freezes up - you call IT. Inevitably the first thing you...

This is part 3 of Barb's certification series. Click here to read part 1: "You Must Use Me, I'm a Certified Business" and here to read part 2: "Which Certifications Do I Need to...

For some this is a lightbulb moment, and others it might be a good refresher. We are 35+ years into the digital age, yet for some online marketing is still a mystery. I was at a...

This is part 2 of Barb's certification series. Click here to read part 1: "You Must Use Me, I'm a Certified Business".Did you know that in Minnesota there are 6 women owned...

I feel like I am the squeakiest wheel in town on this issue and quite frankly it would be too expensive to oil this wheel right now due to fuel escalation! Last year when I...

"You must use me — I'm a certified business!"I have heard this phrase way too often in the past 13 years. I work hard to train Association of Women Contractors (AWC) members...

Cyber Security: Boring – Yep.  Confusing – Yep.  Costly – Yep, Yep. What Cyber Security is not: someone else’s concern. I am coming off a 6-week process of renewing the AWC cyber...

In honor of Women in Construction Week I want to recognize how a handful of women started the AWC. The founding members were trail blazers at a time when women owned business in...

It Starts with Us! The Movement and Challenge.Two years ago, a movement was started but the world took away our focus on the roll out. The roll out is starting with a...

Wow! Over 20,000 views to my share of the Finance & Commerce article, "Subcontractors take a hit," on LinkedIn. Thank you to Brian Johnson and Finance & Commerce for...