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Gov. Martin O'Malley unveiled a 10-point plan to strengthen small businesses in a presentation at the Maryland Chamber of Commerce's Business Policy Conference in Cambridge on Thursday.

The plan includes the creation of the Commission for Small Business, building off the progress of the Small Business Task Force, which O'Malley (D) established in July, according to his prepared remarks.

Other elements include bringing more businesses into the state's Health Insurance Partnership; creating a solitary and uniform loan application for any small business applying for state financing; waiving state administrative loan fees including those for the Maryland Small Business Development Financing Authority; extending the Small Business Reserve program for six more years; and asking the state's new Federal Facilities Task Force to help open up federal procurement and contracting opportunities.

MetaMedia, association

awarded federal grant

MetaMedia Training International of Germantown, along with the Operative Plasterers' and Cement Masons' International Association of the U.S. and Canada, has won a Department of Labor grant to create a "Green Five Curriculum" that demonstrates the application, tasks and processes used to apply environmentally friendly products in the plasterer and cement masonry fields.

GenVec signs $22M

deal with NIH

GenVec of Gaithersburg has signed a contract worth $22 million, if all options are exercised, with SAIC-Frederick to develop influenza and HIV vaccines in support of the Vaccine Research Center of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

GenVec will receive $2.6 million in the first year of the four-year contract.

On Thursday, GenVec reported a third-quarter net loss of $3.6 million, compared with a net loss of $6.8 million in the same quarter of 2008. Revenues fell to $2.9 million from $4.2 million.

India Globalizaton

lands railway contract

India Globalization Capital of Bethesda, an infrastructure and materials company operating in India, is selling 200,000 metric tons of rock aggregate to Indian Railways for $1 million.

Indian Railways is the state-owned railway company of India, which owns and operates most of the country's rail transport. It transports more than 18 million passengers and more than 2 million tons of freight each day, according to India Globalization information.

Zyngenia raises $10M

for drug development

Privately held Zyngenia of Rockville has secured $10 million in Series A funding from New Enterprise Associates, a venture capital firm with offices in Chevy Chase and Baltimore.

Zyngenia said it plans to use the money to create novel, multi-specific antibody-like molecules that address two or more biological targets with a single agent. The company will initially focus on various cancers and autoimmune diseases.

BGE lands $200M

from stimulus grants

Baltimore Gas and Electric has won a $200 million federal stimulus grant as part of the Obama administration's $3.4 billion in Smart Grid Investment Grant awards from the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act.

In July, BGE unveiled its plan to install 2 million "smart" meters in residents' homes, with the goal to provide more than $2.6 billion in savings. Smart meters, which indicate electric consumption, can help determine the high and low periods of usage, resulting in more efficient energy use, according to information from BGE, a wholly owned subsidiary of Constellation Energy of Baltimore.

"The true beneficiaries of this grant will be BGE's customers, who over the life of the project can expect to reap savings in excess of $2.6 billion, as well as improved system reliability and significant environmental benefits," said Constellation CEO Mayo A. Shattuck III in a statement. "We believe that our Smart Grid proposal will make a meaningful difference in the daily lives of our customers and the communities we serve."