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Occasionally Jorgenson Material Handling receives questions about how we secure federal government procurements and so we just thought we’d share our secret with you. This information could very well transform your company so take notes and share with others who could use a boost. Meet our friends at the Utah Procurement Technical Assistance Center:
“Our mission really is quite simple. We are a federal program and we are here primarily to help small businesses in Utah procure government contracts,” said Utah Procurement Technical Assistance Center Deputy Director Chuck Spence. “So if a small business wants to pursue military, local, state or federal government contracts, and they don’t know what to do or how to go about it, the PTAC is a great resource and place to turn for those answers and our services are free.”
Would you look a gift horse in the mouth? Of course not!
The word ‘free’ should be reason enough for anyone in business to continue reading—after all; what do you have to lose? Especially when Spence’s agency’s sole goal is to help you and your company make money. Here is the rundown of how PTAC works to help you secure a federal procurement…
“There are 98 PTACS throughout across the United States. And we don’t want this to be a secret but we don’t have a ton of marketing dollars so we do our best to brand PTAC to get the word out that we are a resource that business can turn to,” shares Spence.
Those PTACS help with procurements.
“In the federal government arena, each agency has procurement goals and those disadvantaged businesses are part of those goals that these agencies try to reach,” Spence explains. “So for example if you’re a woman-owned company, these agencies have procurement goals of procuring contracts with say 3 percent to a woman-owned company, 5 percent to 8A firms, 3 percent to veteran-owned, etc.”
These government procurement goals also reach into the small business community as well.
“And of course if you’re just a small business, you’re not out of the loop at all because they have a 23 percent goal of trying to procure awards to small businesses across the country,” states Spence. “And we want Utah businesses to get a piece of that procurement pie.”
And that is the mission of the Utah Procurement Technical Assistance Center; to help educate and advise Utah businesses as they seek to earn these government contracts and navigate through the confusing process, paperwork and red tape the federal government is sometimes known for.
“You hit the nail on the head. That is exactly why congress back in 1985 established PTACs because they wanted to push more of those procurement dollars to small businesses and if you are a small business you wear a lot of hats.” Said Spence. “And getting into federal procurement can be complicated, overwhelming and burdensome and that is why PTAC exists is to take that business by the hand and help them navigate the government bureaucracy and red tape and there is plenty of, for good reason.”
So just how is Utah PTAC doing when it comes to helping companies be awarded these federal contracts?
“Right now we are over 500 million dollars in contracts for the state fiscal year and we still have up to June 30th to go. So we are on a record breaking pace to probably surpass our goals of helping get our Utah businesses contracts with the government,” Spence shares.
That helps small businesses like Jorgenson Material Handling, as well as other Utahans in general by keeping Utah unemployment numbers as low as possible.
It’s a win-win situation. The more procurements Spence and Utah’s PTAC secure, the better it is for everyone here in Utah when it comes to productivity, employment and the economy. Beginning is quite simple. Just contact them and they would love to explain how it works, and what they can do for you—just like they did, and still do, for small businesses like Jorgenson Material Handling.
“Eventually we would like to have such a reputation and a brand awareness that when any business thinks government contracting, they also think of PTAC. We would like to go hand-in-hand with that, because that is what we do,” Spence concludes. “We do one thing and we do it well and that’s government contracting. And we cover all phases of that so we want the business to be aware that there is assistance that is provided and that is PTAC.”