Fayetteville Technical Community College Of the 14 nongovernmental entities that received a minimum of $1 million in loans or guarantees from stimulus funds, just one appears to fit the conventional definition of a defense contractor. K3 Enterprises Inc., a veteran-owned provider of communications and information technology, was awarded about $1 million in Small Business Administration long-term financing to acquire major fixed assets for expansion or modernization in 2009. Defense-related small enterprises, especially startups, could use a federal boost in trying to line up working capital, Dorney said. He noted about 20 lenders and four of the area's most credit-worthy defense contractors got together last spring at Fayetteville Technical Community College. "Access to capital is a real issue," Dorney said of the new military contractors. Dorney said Gov. Bev Perdue has enlisted the state's.
Jim Arp, a vice president of K3 Enterprises, said he doesn’t know why other defense contractors haven’t gone after or succeeded in getting stimulus funds. But Arp said the Small Business Administration has programs to help startups get off the ground. Along with direct financial assistance to businesses, the state also sent stimulus money to local governments to support entrepreneurial activity in economically depressed areas, noted Cathy Akroyd, a spokeswoman for the North Carolina Office of Economic Recovery & Investment.
Some small businesses received stimulus funds indirectly as subcontractors at Fort Bragg construction sites, said Dorney, whose Fayetteville center has tracked local stimulus projects. The bases got money,” Dorney said. “But it was a very small part of the stimulus money. The Defense Department’s slice of the $787 billion stimulus package amounted to $7.4 billion, according to the Pentagon. “Most of the money did not go to federal agencies to use on federal projects,” Dorney said. “Most of it went to states to use on state projects funded with federal mone
