“The Tacoma offices of the U.S. Small Business Administration are offering additional services at their downtown Tacoma location. The services, designed to assist new and existing small businesses as well as entrepreneurs interested in starting their own business, begin this week.Bonding in Government Contracting, a seminar hosted by the SBA and the Center for Economic Opportunity’s Procurement Technical Assistance Program, will be offered tomorrow, January 25. The seminar will be from 10:00 a.m. to noon at the Tacoma Business Assistance Center, 1101 Pacific Avenue, in downtown Tacoma.The bonding seminar will feature Bill Schelly, a surety bond guarantee specialist with the SBA. Schelly will discuss the process to obtain bonds, types of bonds required, and SBA assistance. Procurement and insurance representatives will also be available to answer questions.The seminar is free. Call the Center for Economic Opportunity at 253-591-7026 for information.Today also marks the beginning of a partnership between the SBA’s One Stop Capital Shop with Bates Technical College. Bates will team with the SBA to provide computer technology services at the Tacoma Business Assistance Center and One Stop Capital Shop.A Bates computer technology student will be assigned to the SBA office each business day, logging technology difficulties, troubleshooting, updating systems, checking for viruses and fixing problems.The computers at the center are available for use by those interested in starting a business, or expanding an existing company. The computers feature a broad range of business software applications available for use, as well as access to a variety of Internet resources, including the entire spectrum of SBA offerings.Kevin Michael, an SBA commercial marketing representative, will also be available at the Tacoma SBA offices to provide procurement contracting assistance to prime contractors and small businesses. Michael will be available most Fridays for consultation at the Tacoma Business Assistance Center, or on-site business visits.For more information or to set an appointment, call the Tacoma SBA offices at 253-274-1288.”