By Tony Romeo

HARRISBURG, Pa. (CBS) – Governor Tom Corbett has announced a new initiative to carve out a slice of state contracts for small businesses.

Governor Corbett says small businesses mostly had to settle for being subcontractors. Now, he says his administration will set aside certain state contracts for businesses that have 100 or fewer employees and meet certain maximum revenue requirements.

“The Department of General Services has developed a set of criteria to identify contracts that can be exclusively certified for small businesses.”

Appearing at a National Guard armory, Corbett also announced that another initiative to aid minority businesses will be expanded to include small veteran-owned businesses.

“To help us identify these businesses, these small businesses will be asked to register with the Department of General Services. There is a simple, on-line registration process.”

Meanwhile, to find out more about the Small Business Procurement Initiative and the on-line self-certification process go to SmallBusiness.pa.gov.