House Appropriations hears federal grant overview for business assistance, defense supply chain and brownfields cleanup

The House Appropriations Committee on April 23, 2025, received a briefing from the Agency of Commerce and Community Development on federal grants that support small‑business contracting, defense supply‑chain assistance, export promotion and brownfields cleanup.

Committee members heard from Commissioner John Goldstein and Deputy Commissioner Brett Long of the Department of Economic Development, who described several federally funded programs the department administers or manages as fiscal agent.

The review covered Apex (formerly PTAC), a procurement technical assistance program that the presenters said is 65% federally funded and provides seven counselors around the state who help small businesses compete for government contracts. “It’s now called Apex because it’s meant to…an accelerator. And it really is like an accelerator for small businesses because sometimes their government contract is the thing that keeps them in business,” Commissioner John Goldstein said.

Deputy Commissioner Brett Long described a Department of Defense‑funded effort administered through a New England collaboration that supports manufacturers with cybersecurity training and workforce development. “We’re about to kick off a pilot program where we’ll introduce local small businesses to the opportunity to introduce new, what are called Industry 4 technologies—things like robotics, additive manufacturing, Internet of Things, etcetera,” Long said. Long said the current phase is roughly “a little over a million” dollars.

The committee also heard that the department annually distributes Small Business Administration export‑assistance grants to help small firms learn to export and attend trade shows; officials said those grants are sub‑awarded to businesses and to partners such as VMEC (Vermont Manufacturing Extension Center). Specific per‑award dollar figures were not specified in the briefing materials presented to the committee.

On brownfields, the department said it has both loan and grant funding from the Environmental Protection Agency and recently applied for an additional award. The presenters said they submitted an application for $4,000,000 in the most recent EPA round and expect to hear results in May. Brett Long said Vermont has a strong record of utilizing EPA brownfields funds for cleanups and loan programs that serve private developers, nonprofits and municipalities.

Officials described Northern Border Regional Commission (NBRC) capacity funds that the state receives annually. The department said the capacity money—listed on the spreadsheet as $632,000—funds one position at the Department of Economic Development and a position at the Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation to administer regional grant work and to support RPC/RDC priority lists used in project selection.

Committee members asked about timing and whether any awards have been paused. Department officials said most programs are continuing “as scheduled” and that they had not been notified of program‑wide pauses. They noted, however, that most federal grants use reimbursement models and the state must draw down funds after incurring eligible expenditures.

The briefing did not include formal committee actions or votes. Committee members said they will continue to monitor award notices and reimbursement timing as federal agencies complete reviews.

Ending: Department staff offered to provide the committee with additional budget detail and to notify the committee of any changes in award status or reimbursement timing.