U.S. SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20416

May 6, 2005

Dear Ms. Morton:

Congratulations! Your firm has been certified as a Participant in the U.S. Small Business Administration's (SBA) 8(a) BD program. Your nine (9) year program term begins on the date of this letter.

Additionally, your firm has been certified as a Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB) in the Federal Government's SDB program. Your term of participation in the SDB program is concurrent with your 8(a) BD certification.

Your firm will become eligible to receive 8(a) contracts after you submit a business plan using SBA Form 1010C and receive SBA's approval of the plan. We are sending a copy of this certification letter to the SBA Eastern Missouri District Office. That office will send you the business plan form.

Even though your firm's approved North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Code is 518210, your firm may be awarded contracts under other NAICS Codes, as long as the firm is qualified to perform. In this regard, please note that contracts awarded under 8(a) BD program authority generally result from the self-marketing efforts of the 8(a) firm. While your firm's acceptance into the 8(a) BD program is not a guarantee of contract support, SBA will make every effort to provide you with assistance in your marketing efforts.

You should consider setting up a merchant account with a credit card company which will give you the ability to accept credit card orders for your goods and services from over 1,000 Federal buying offices. Finally, please contact your local SBA District Office to update your enrollment in PRO-Net, an SBA online procurement listing of small businesses utilized by public and private sector buyers.

We welcome you as an 8(a) program participant and look forward to working with you.

Sincerely,

Al Stubblefield
Associate Administrator
Office of Business Development

January 23, 2004, the Farmington Chamber of Commerce, many Data Dash clients, friends, family and associates came out to celebrate with us and cut the ribbon to our new operating facility. We were delighted to have folks from Colt Fire & Safety, Maritz, Kearney & Associates, Laclede Gas, Keller & Hayes, Insurance Source, Panduit, Commerce Bank, US Bank, Rose Design, Maryville University, A.G. Edwards and the St. Patrick's Parade Committee join us. We celebrated our open house with a catered lunch from Plank Road Inn.

View some of the Open House photos here.

In October of 2003, Data Dash purchased 802 Landrum Drive, Farmington, MO 63640. We hired Sandfuss Contruction to completely remodel and build us a clean room for payment processing. We had Roberts Alarm out to install a new security system, including smoke sensors, motion detectors and door sensors. We installed our own security cameras and monitoring unit. Everything was completed in Data Dash record time and we moved in to our beautiful new facility the weekend of December 14th. We were up and running Monday morning and none of our customers experienced any downtime. All Data Dash employees love the new facility.

Data Dash, Inc. has been awarded a HUBZone Technology Services Contract by the U. S. General Services Administration. The contract has a two year term with three one year option periods and is valued at approximately $2.5 Billion. Data Dash is one of only 34 companies nation-wide to be awarded the contract under the HUBZone program and is the only company located in the Midwest. “This contract will allow us to create more jobs and continue to expand our Farmington facility. We’ll also be looking at other locations in the Midwest for expansion of our technical services.” said Data Dash President Susan Morton.

The HUBZone (Historically Underutilized Business Zone) Contracting Program was enacted into law as part of the Small Business Reauthorization Act of 1997. The program falls under the auspices of the U.S. Small Business Administration. The program encourages economic development in historically underutilized areas of the country. In 2003, the Government’s goal is to place 3% of all procurements with HUBZone firms.

Data Dash Incorporated, headquartered in St. Louis, MO was founded in 1991 by Susan Morton. The company has grown from a 3-person data entry service bureau to 70+ employees, offering data entry and scanning services, document imaging and electronic records managements, and specialized IT staffing services to private industry, federal, state and local government. Dash opened its Farmington office (qualifying for HUBZone status) in 1999.