Funding Opportunity No. GCBD-7j-2019-01, U.S. Small Business Administration/Office of Business Development (BD) OPENING DATE: February 11, 2019 CLOSING DATE: February 28, 2019. The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) issues Funding Opportunity No. GCBD-7j-2019-01, as authorized by the Small Business Act, Section 7j; 15 U.S.C.A. Section 636(j); 13 C.F.R. Sections 701-704, The purpose of this Funding Opportunity is to invite proposals for funding from capable small businesses in Regions I, II, VII, VIII, IX and X interested in providing technical assistance and guidance to eligible small business concerns under the U.S. Small Business Administration's 7j Management and Technical Assistance Program. One of the SBA Administrator's major strategic goals is to strengthen the Agency's entrepreneurial education; counseling and training resources to support the needs of existing businesses by successfully focusing on core program resources and ensuring these resources are aligned with the needs of high-growth small businesses. Consistent with that direction, BD's organizational strategic goal is to coordinate internal and external resources to maximize: 1) the availability of training services and products, and 2) the effectiveness with which training solutions are provided to meet business development needs. This 7(j)M-TAS is specifically tailored to enhance SBA's efforts to advocate for small business concerns in the federal grant marketplace while at the same time seeking to strengthen small businesses, and specifically, 8(a) and other 7(j) eligible firms, and help them expand by increasing opportunities for them to participate in the federal grant arena.