Government-contract assistance on the rise

Businesses seeking government contracts in Missouri had a banner year in fiscal 2014.

A spokesman and counselor for a 30-year program designed to connect companies with public entities reports contract activity is on the rise.

In fiscal 2014, the Missouri Procurement Technical Assistance Centers helped small businesses in the Show-Me State secure 4,453 contracts worth $349.5 million, up from 3,374 awards collectively valued at $218.9 million in fiscal 2013, according to Missouri PTAC. The number of contracts PTAC-assisted firms secured last year is up nearly 40 percent compared to fiscal 2011.

“We have 10 procurement technical assistance counselors that cover a variety of areas. The program has grown so dramatically since I started 15 years ago that I used to have 64 counties, but I now only have 16,” Missouri PTAC Procurement Counselor Bill Stuby said.

There are 98 PTACs nationwide that work to help small businesses compete successfully in the government marketplace.

In Missouri, the assistance centers are funded by the U.S. Department of Defense through a cooperative agreement with the University of Missouri Extension. There currently are more than 1,000 active clients – those who require more than 30 minutes of assistance per year – managed statewide by the Missouri PTAC.

Locally, the Springfield PTAC office has an active client roster of 136 small businesses.

Among those is Springfield-based Signal Strength LLC, a transportation and logistics firm that launched in August.

Owner and President Susie Turner, a former manager of transit projects for City Utilities, said her business has secured over $220,000 via four contracts with the Missouri Department of Transportation with the help of the local PTAC office, which operates out of the Robert W. Plaster Center for Free Enterprise and Business Development, 405 N. Jefferson Ave.

Turner said while the local PTAC office is an appreciated resource, the contracts don’t sign themselves.

“It gives you additional opportunities. You still have to bid them correctly, and you still have to be competitive,” she said.

Turner currently is working with Allen Waldo, counselor for the Springfield PTAC, on becoming registered as a Disadvantaged Business Enterprise.

The DBE designation could be invaluable in being named a subcontractor for large road and signal projects, she said. Signal Strength provides installation, maintenance and repair of street signals and lighting, as well as escorts for oversized loads.

“What’s happening now, in a lot of government contracts, is there’s a DBE quota. There may be a quota of 10 percent on a contract, meaning 10 percent of the total contract needs to be performed by a company that has DBE status,” Turner said. “And those contracts are typically in the millions. DBEs are generally subcontractors. What it does is allows us to be part of a larger contract that we wouldn’t necessarily bid ourselves.”

Wes Hester is founder and owner of Fairfax, Va.-based FoxHole Technology Inc., which has offices in Springfield, Chambersburg, Penn., Huntsville, Ala. and Washington D.C. The information-technology engineering firm has a client list that includes Dairy Farmers of America, Blue Cross Blue Shield, the Federal Aviation Administration in Oklahoma City, the U.S. Department of Agriculture office in Kansas City and the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Hester, a 24-year U.S. Army veteran, said he’s worked with multiple PTACs over the years, but primarily with the Springfield office, which helped him secure FoxHole’s status as a Service Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business. He said the company he launched in December 2007, when it brought in $800,000 in revenue, now generates $24 million a year. He attributes between $6 million and $12 million annually to the relationships he’s established with PTAC assistance.

“About 95 percent of our work is with the federal government,” Hester said.

Like Turner, he appreciates the work the Missouri PTAC does in Springfield, but the connections it facilitates can only open up doors. Business professionals still have to walk through them.

“In business development, you can’t just rely on an introduction. It takes you working with a client, getting another client, the whole sales cycle to make that customer a client,” Hester said.

Still, he recommends consulting with a PTAC to any entrepreneur seeking government contracts.

“The federal government is a little different than going up to a vendor and saying, ‘Hey, I want to sell my wares.’ There’s certain processes you have to go through,” Hester said. “There are certain certifications and there’s a vetting process.”  

The cost for most services is free, according to Stuby.

“The funds that we get from our cooperative stakeholders cover almost everything. There is no charge for counseling services. We do charge for hosted training events,” he said, pointing to a May 28 training seminar at University of Central Missouri that will cost $60 per attendee. He said up to 300 attendees are expected. “We’ve actually had some businesses walk out of those events in the past with contracts,” he said.

Missouri PTAC also has a bid-matching program free for up to 120 days, but it costs $300 per year after, Stuby said.

“What that does is set up an individual profile for that business that searches governmentwide – city, county, state and federal – for contracts for that small business to bid on,” he said.

Jaymie Mitchell, a business development and proposal operations manager for Branson-based Schultz Surveying & Engineering Inc., but said the bid-matching system has helped net $3 million in contracts with Gravois Mills-based bid partner Veterans Worldwide Sales & Services LLC.

“I’ve been working with (Missouri PTAC) for about four years, and I wish I would have known about it five years ago. I struggled for a year before I got going with PTAC,” Mitchell said. “It’s been incredibly instrumental in helping me negotiate the waters with submission, proposals, you name it.”

Mitchell has bid on and secured projects ranging from water and sewer engineering jobs from around the state to materials testing on levees in New Orleans with PTAC’s assistance.

Stuby said assistance is up compared to recent years, in part, because of government contracts to upgrade the Gateway Arch in St. Louis. Missouri PTAC’s fiscal year mirrors the University of Extension’s fiscal year, which runs from Aug. 1 through July 31, and Stuby projects the number of businesses and value of government contracts to be up around 5 to 10 percent in fiscal 2015.

“Now, how much government contracting is going to happen in the next couple of years? A lot of that may depend on whether we have military exercises or potential international conflicts,” he said, noting forecasted declines in state road maintenance also could put negative pressure on future contract assistance.