Cracking the CODE:
FALL 2004
Volume 1 • Issue 4
FALL 2004
Volume 1 • Issue 4
Creating Manufacturing Jobs
When Claudette Finger and George Clark were down-sized from
their executive positions with Corning Cable Systems, it wasn’t so
much the end of one career as it was the creation of twenty new jobs.
They immediately set about the task of creating a new manufacturing and distribution company for telecommunication products called
CODE, LLC–located in Hickory. CODE stands for Coaxial Optical
Devices and Equipment.
As a minority and women-owned business enterprise, CODE initiated a strong relationship with the SBTDC by using general business counseling services for early business guidance. It wasn’t long
before CODE began working closely with a PTAC counselor to
secure business in the government contracting arena. They also
relied on advice from manufacturing and technology counselor
Steve Bumgarner to develop manufacturing and warehouse layouts for their 10,000-square-foot facility. Steve gave them some
ideas about the best way to catalog and store inventories for shipment, as well as ways to keep inventories at acceptable levels for
good customer service while not tying up too much of their precious
financial resources. “Government agencies are looking to purchase
quality, cost-competitive products and services that are delivered on
time,” remarked the local PTAC counselor, “you have to be able to
deliver if you are going to win government contracts.”
CODE, LLC occupied the facility on February 1, 2004 and presently
employs 20 people in manufacturing and distribution. To further
strengthen their entrepreneurial skills, both Claudette and George
completed the SBTDC’s NxLeveL 12 week entrepreneurship
training course during the spring. “We’re very aware that when we
make a commitment to hire a person, we need to have a plan going
forward so he or she will have some job stability,” said Clark, Vice
President of Operations, “Taking advantage of the great resources
that are available to us through the SBTDC helps us reach that
objective.” For more information on how the SBTDC manufacturing
& technology specialists can help you, visit us online at
<www.sbtdc.org/technology/mfg.asp>. ❚
If you have questions, please contact us!
Find your local PTAC office <www.sbtdc.org/offices>
send email to <ptac@sbtdc.org>
or call us at 800/258-0862 to learn more.
Inside this issue:
More on Important Certifications ................................................................... 2
Procurement Activities Around the State ....................................................... 2
How North Carolina SB Supports Our Troops .............................................. 3
GSA: A Billion Dollar Market ......................................................................... 4
PTAC State Director's Corner ......................................................................... 4
Important Certifications
The Minority Business Enterprise (MBE)
Program offered by the State Construction
Office encourages the participation of minority,
woman and disabled-owned businesses in all
construction and repair projects exceeding
$100,000. Senate Bill 914 requires a verifiable 10% goal for minority participation
for every state construction project. This
includes a local government that receives state appropriations for a
construction project. Participants in the MBE program are qualified
through the HUB certification process. Additional information can
be obtained by contracting the State Construction Office at 919/7337962.
The Department of Transportation (DOT) manages the
Minority/Women Business Enterprise Program (a state
program) and the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE)
Program (a federal program). Both provide opportunities to certified vendors via participation goals, although neither program is a
set-aside program. The federal program has set a 12% fiscal year
2004 goal for DBE participation while the state program has a 10%
goal for minorities and a 5% goal for women-owned businesses.
Complete information about the programs and the certification
application can be obtained online:
<http://www.ncdot.org/administration/civilrights/certreqinfo>
or by contacting the DOT Civil Rights Office at 919/733-2300.
The Department of Transportation (DOT) also administers the
Small Business Enterprise (SBE) Program. This program opens
state contracting opportunities for existing small businesses and
encourages the establishment of new small businesses. The program assists small business in getting manageable construction
contracts with DOT and prepares small business for future attainment of even larger contracts. While the program is designed for
projects costing $300,000 or less, many of the contracts are in the
$10,000 to $100,000 range. To qualify for the SBE program, a
business must have a gross income of $900,000 or less and must
complete a self-certification form, which must be on file with the
local division/district engineer or be submitted with the bid package.
This program provides small business the opportunity to serve as
prime contractors in DOT construction contracts; an opportunity
not often afforded to small businesses due to the large size of many
DOT projects. The self-certification form can be obtained by contacting the DOT civil rights office at 919/733-2300.
❚
Selling to the Government is published by the
Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC),
a special market development service of the University of North Carolina's
Small Business and Technology Development Center (SBTDC).
The SBTDC is partially funded by the US Small Business Administration, and
the PTAC program is partially funded by the Defense Logistics Agency..
Design & production services provided by <www.sdkirkland.com>
If you have ideas for future stories, or have questions,
please contact us at <ptac@sbtdc.org> or by calling 919/715-7272
or TOLL FREE 800/258-0862.
We look forward to hearing from you!
Fall 2004
Procurement
Activities
November 4–SBIR/STTR Univ.
Workshops
visit http://www.sbtdc.org/events/
sbir/workshops2004
for more information
October 26–Selling to the
Government; Washington,
contact Lentz Stowe
from 1 to 3 PM at
252/940-6306.
October 30–Doing Business with
Local Agencies; UNCW–Warwick
Center, contact Arleta Maynard
at 910/962-3158.
November 4–SBIR/STTR
University Workshop; Greensboro,
For more information visit
<www.sbtdc.org/events/sbir/
workshops2004>
November 5–Overview of
Government Contracting; Cary,
contact Ken Dillo from noon to
1:15 PM at 919/467-1016.
November 16–Doing Business
with the Federal Government &
the state of North Carolina;
Hudson, contact Donna Bean
from 9 AM to noon at
828/726-2383.
November 17–How to do
Business with the Government;
Cary, contact Ken Dillo
from 6:30 PM to 9:30 PM
at 919/851-5193.
November 18–Central
Contractor Registration; Cary,
contact Ken Dillo from
9 AM to 11 AM at
919/851-5193.
December 1–Fourth Annual SBIR
Biotechnology R&D Funding
Conference; Research Triangle Park,
For more information visit
<www.sbtdc.org/events/sbir/
conference>
December 2–Contracting
Basics 101; Lexington,
contact Suzanne Wallace
from 1 to 4 PM
at 336/249-8186.
Visit <www.SBTDC.org> for a
complete listing of events.
2
How North Carolina Supports Our Troops
How do you repair, rebuild, and
maintain the hundreds of
vehicles returning from Iraq
and Afghanistan in less than 9
months and have them ready
to return for the next rotation?
It's the heroic task given to ITT
Services, the contractor on Fort
Bragg operating under the
Director of Logistics. In April
2004, head of the Army Logistics operation on Fort Bragg
approached PTAC and asked
us to get with ITT and see
what assistance the PTAC
could offer to ensure that the
contractor can find the parts
and services needed to accomplish this daunting task. The
condition of the vehicles was
described as coming back in
pieces and ITT faced a huge
lack of repair parts in the
wholesale system. This lack of
parts caused the contractor to
rely on commercial items to
make the repairs and get the
vehicles back into service. The
problem covers all army vehicles, from the Humvee to the
Hemet very large trucks. The
PTAC counselor met quickly
with ITT project manager
Andy Benoit. They reviewed
the listing of contractors ITT
had been using, looked at the
problem areas of supply and
services, then identified the
types of materials in short
supply. The PTAC counselor
in turn, looked to 3 active
clients who could provide parts
and supplies. He set up a joint
capabilities briefing in June for
ITT and the Army with each
contractor; providing a 30 to
45 minute briefing on capabilities to help ITT. As a result of
the meeting, Cylinder Head
Rebuild in Laurinburg has
already begun the overhaul of
Caterpillar diesel engine heads.
They have also started a process to get the ITT mechanics
certified by various professional organizations. Cisco
Fall 2004
Industrial Fasteners from
Moore County has opened an
office in Fayetteville to provide
government sales and is expanding with a new warehouse
in Fayetteville. They are
selling products now. The final
firm was US Logistics, the
specialist on a group of military trucks, and they will assist
in difficult repair items. Based
on the success of the first
briefing, ITT requested that
the effort continue. The next
briefing took place in late
August. AB Connectors from
Smithfield introduced us to
their ability to produce electrical connectors and wiring
harnesses based on very short
time requirements. They also
developed a product that
converts 24 volt military vehicle electrical power to 12 volt
and 110 volt output. This
product will also power mobile
maintenance tools required by
the Army worldwide. The
second contractor is a small
machine shop and sheet metal
fabrication shop in Olivia.
They've developed a new
bumper system and spare tire
carrier for the Humvee which
they will introduce as a vehicle
add-on.
Based on successes to date, we
all agree that each quarter,
PTAC will sponsor 2 to 4
contractors in capability briefings to provide critical parts
and services. An example of the
type of items needed is a firm
to repair circuit boards from
communications equipment.
In the process of starting this
program, we discovered that
almost all Army desert boots
are made in North Carolina.
The manufacturer has been
added to the list to provide
special sizes on a short lead
time for Fort Bragg. This
ensures that those service
members needing special size
boots know where to order the
equipment prior to going
overseas. We also found that
Army dress shirts are produced
in our state, as well as most
tents, camouflage netting and
many other items which are
critical for military operations
around the world. Let’s give a
big salute to these companies
and thank them for taking care
of our young men and women
around the world. ❚
3
GSA: A Billion Dollar Market
One of the most popular programs with PTAC clients is the
General Services Administration (GSA) Multiple
Awards Schedule (MAS). In
this program, you enter into a
contract with the GSA offering
your commercial products or
services which can then be
ordered by Federal civilian
agencies, government corporations, the military, the federal
courts, and the US Congress.
The contracts are for an indefinite quantity and for indefinite
delivery since there is no
guarantee that agencies will
buy from your schedule contract.
Since it began over 50 years
ago, the GSA Multiple
Awards Program has grown
to where, today, it offers over 4
million products and services
and has millions of vendors
under contract. The annual
dollar value of business conducted under this program is
in the billions. In fact, the
dollar value of GSA Schedule
orders is increasing by a billion
dollars annually.
Examples of GSA awards
include office supplies, paints,
construction, training services,
and computer-related supplies
and equipment. If it’s a commercial item and if it’s used by
the federal government, then it
is probably on the GSA Schedule. Pharmaceutical, medical,
and surgical products are
handled by the Department of
Veteran Affairs, under delegated authority of the GSA.
Schedule contracts are
awarded to responsible
companies that offer commercial services or products, at
varying prices, provided that
the prices are determined fair
and reasonable. GSA’s negotiation objective is commonly
known as most favored customer pricing in that the
government wants to get the
best price (discount) that you
offer your best commercial
customer. Once GSA awards
the contracts, federal buyers
order directly from the schedule contractor who offers the
best value. Ordering, shipping,
billing and payment relationships are between the ordering
activity and contractors.
While it doesn’t guarantee any
orders for a firm holding one of
these schedule contracts, the
fact that the lengthy and costly
contracting procedures are
already taken care of, is an
attractive feature for agencies
seeking to purchase a commercial item or service. This program provides firms with a
powerful marketing tool in
selling to federal agencies. A
major attraction for the vendor
is that the firm’s catalog and
pricing are available electronically to federal buyers around
the world through the GSA
Advantage! Online Shopping and Ordering System.
A federal buyer need only issue
an order, electronically or
otherwise. The contractor pays
GSA, each quarter, a percentage fee of the sales for that
quarter under the schedule
contract held with the GSA.
If you would like further information on this program, contact your nearest North Carolina PTAC counselor. ❚
PTAC State Director's Corner
As required by the Department
of Defense (DOD) Defense
Logistics Agency, I just completed the mid-year report. The
results are very rewarding to
the NC PTAC, for hard work
done. Each of you received the
Awards Survey by email, a first
for the PTAC. The response
rate was very low, but those
that reported results had
record contracts. The final
total was $434,974,142. This
number includes all federal,
state and local contracts, both
prime and subcontracts. These
awards are approximately $13
million above last year which
was a record setting year for
Fall 2004
you and PTAC. I want to
especially thank those that
responded to the survey;
you are the backbone of
the report. Using a formula established by DLA,
these awards equate to
9,666 jobs created or
retained. Couple this
with the results from last
year, where the jobs
number was 17,033 and
you can see what an
economic engine government contracting is for
our state.
late January 2005. Please take
the time to complete and
return it back for inclusion in the next report.
Please note the schedule
of training in the newsletter. These sessions
are designed to bring you
the latest information in
contracting and are
updated regularly for
each event. We will be
offering a new program
Tom Elam
on Preparing a Bid/
PTAC State
Proposal. I encourage
Director
you to watch for this and
I will be sending the next
attend when it comes to your
Awards Survey via email in
area.
❚
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