Charles Redmond
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.                                                  
November 9, 1993
(Phone:  202/358-1757)

RELEASE:  93-206

NASA SMALL BUSINESS OUTREACH OFFICE TO OPEN IN NASHUA, N.H.

     NASA will headquarter its first-ever Small Business Outreach 
Program at the New Hampshire Technical College in Nashua.

     The NASA Business Outreach Program is a pilot project 
designed to assist New England businesses competing for NASA 
contracts.  The outreach office concept originated with a meeting 
in Nashua between Congressman Dick Swett (D-NH), local New England 
businesses and NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin over a year ago.

     NASA approved the concept this summer and the Center for 
Technology Commercialization (CTC), one of NASA's six Regional 
Technology Transfer Centers, signed a cooperative agreement to 
oversee the new Small Business Outreach program.

     Congressman Swett said "New England, with all its high tech 
and electronic industries, receives about 2 percent of NASA's 
nearly $11 billion in contracts.  I know we can do better.  I see 
NASA as an untapped contracting resource for our defense industry 
and other high tech firms.  Now that we have a regional NASA 
office to help our companies, I am confident that we can bring 
some of those dollars back to New Hampshire and New England."

     NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin said, "together, we can 
help NASA shape the nation's future.  Already NASA is helping to 
retool America.  We are one of the few high-tech agencies that is 
still pumping vital new technology and stimulus into the economy 
as the defense industry winds down.  The New England center will 
help us do this important job in a vital region of the country."

     The new outreach office will act as an advocate for all 
business firms in the Northeast region regarding NASA business 
opportunities with a special focus on the small and disadvantaged 
businesses.  The program also will work with the CTC to help small 
New England businesses license and commercialize products 
developed by NASA and other government laboratories.  The 
three-person office will be operational Nov. 15, with a budget of 
$281,000 for the next 18 months.

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