Company reduces environmental impact, increases business opportunities - YNN

It was a trip to Mars that put Herkimer County company CTM on the map. Now the high precision engineering machine shop says it's protecting planet Earth that can help it reach the next level of success. Sarah Blazonis reports.

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FRANKFORT, N.Y. -- It's been four years since CTM landed on Mars. Or rather, since the scoop the Frankfort company manufactured for the Phoenix Mars Lander began collecting soil from the surface of the red planet. Now the company said it's paving the way for more big projects with its new Environmental Management System.

"Recycling the materials, we've divided that into smaller bins so we know exactly what the material was going. So, yeah, it has had a great impact on us," said John Piseck, a sales engineer with CTM.

The ISO 14001 system monitors the company's effect on the environment and works to reduce it. New equipment, like an evaporator that recycles oil, was purchased as part of the process. CTM's 25 employees also went through months of training.

"It broadens their manufacturing base, it gives them much more competition status with other companies," said John Caneen, a member of the training team with Mohawk Valley Applied Technology Corporation.

Officials say that means it's going to be easier for the company to go after contracts with major manufacturers like Toyota and Boeing.

"To date, they've more or less worked with companies that do have that status, and that'll allow us to go around them and go directly to the manufacturer," said Piseck.

And opening the door to do business with larger companies could mean more opportunities for local workers.

The Workforce Development Institute says it awarded CTM a grant for training because programs like this will play a big part in the future of the state's economy.

"To help develop and maintain manufacturing jobs in New York State, and also to create a more sustainable environment," said WDI Regional Director Mary Jo Ferrare.

CTM will next work with an accredited agency to officially certify it's system.

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Obama extends program that reduces opportunities for small business - Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal

President Obama has extended a 21-year-old defense program that allows large defense contractors to withhold subcontracting information from the public, media and Congress.

The program, known as the Comprehensive Subcontracting Plan Test Program (CSPTP), was established in 1990 in an attempt to reduce administrative burdens associated with small business subcontracting goals. The program’s three-year reauthorization was included in the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012.

The American Small Business League (ASBL) has long maintained that the CSPTP allows large defense contractors to evade the Small Business Act, which requires that 23 percent of all federal contracts (including subcontracts) must be with small businesses.

Participants of the CSPTP, including 12 of the largest federal contractors, are exempt from submitting subcontracting reports used by federal agencies to monitor compliance with small business goals. This allows large contractors to dodge the Federal Acquisition Regulation “liquidated damages” clause, which requires any government contractor that fails to meet its small business-subcontracting goal to pay damages to the federal government in the amount of the deficiency.

The only known evaluation of the program is a 1994 report obtained by the ASBL through the Freedom of Information Act. The 1994 report indicated a decline in subcontract work for small businesses since implementation of the CSPTP.

In 2010, five members of Congress led by New York Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke called for a federal investigation of the program. In a letter written to the General Accountability Office (GAO) the representatives stated, “Federal contracting data calls into question whether participants in the CSPTP are actually meeting their small business subcontracting goals.” Despite these efforts, the GAO has not investigated the CSPTP.

“If President Obama thinks eliminating reporting requirements for large defense contractors and exempting them from penalties is a good idea, then the IRS should adopt the same policy so the public wouldn’t be required to submit income tax returns and there would be no penalty for not paying your taxes,” said ASBL President Lloyd Chapman. “This is another Obama administration anti-small business policy that you won’t read about in the national media.”

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Obama Extends Program that Reduces Opportunities for Small Business, According to the American Small Business League

Stock Futures Fall As Euro Fears Offset U.S. DataReuters

Stock index futures crept lower on Thursday as renewed concerns about the euro zone's financial health pushed down …

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