SBA Guides Tech Firms To Agencies, Contractors

Jane Kim started her Silicon Valley technology-staffing firm during the Internet boom. But now her San Francisco start-up is
looking for new revenue as the dot-com economy has waned. First stop: the federal government.

By Cynthia L Webb, Washtech
WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A.,
15 May 2002, 6:47 AM CST

Not an easy target for a 20-person firm, especially one rooted
on the opposite coast and with no government clients. Kim
found out about a Small Business Administration
"matchmaking" event through an Internet search and thought
it would be a good starting point for TechLink Systems Inc.

The SBA created the first-time matchmaking event to help
small businesses from across the United States learn how to
connect with government agencies and major contractors and
to find out about upcoming contracts. Some 535 firms
pre-registered for the free event and dozens more showed up
on Friday at the Renaissance Washington D.C. Hotel for
10-minute interviews with procurement officers and officials
from 20 government agencies and 15 prime contractors.

Participants included the Energy Department, General
Services Administration, Defense Logistics Agency, AT&T
Corp., International Business Machines Corp., Unisys Corp.,
Lockheed Martin Corp. and Raytheon Co. The U.S. Chamber
of Commerce sponsored the event.

"I’m trying to get some information," Kim said of her goal for
the event. Dressed in a black suit with a Louis Vuitton briefcase in tow, she sat down Friday morning for her first interview with
the Defense Logistics Agency, which provides technical and logistics services to both military and civilian agencies.

The SBA matched all registrants with particular companies and agencies according to their services and products, said David
Loines, an SBA field director and event organizer.

"We don’t have a lot of experience working with the federal government," Kim explained as she talked to Robert Little, the DLA’s
associate director of small business. TechLink is not on the General Services Administration’s Schedule, which essentially
pre-approves firms to sell their goods to the federal government.

Instead of telling Kim about contract opportunities, Little suggested a few Web links and small business contacts within his
agency. He told Kim that his agency does not typically hire temporary information technology workers, but urged her to get on
the GSA Schedule, a popular purchasing tool.

Little’s counterpart at the interview table, Nadine Sellers, said the exchange with Kim was typical of Friday’s interviews. Sellers is
a small business specialist with the DLA’s Defense Energy Support Center. The interviews often included "basic information to
kind of get them started," Seller said, versus discussing an actual contract opportunity.

Antonio Doss, one of the matchmaking event’s organizers, said the aim of the event was to provide both information on real
business deals with the primes and government and contacts for small firms.

About 1,000 matchmaking interviews took place on Friday – with each firm averaging two sit-down interviews, said Doss, a senior
SBA adviser of government contracting and business development

"These people that are here from the agencies and primes, they … know what they will be buying," pointed out Gail Pardue
McGrath, a senior advisor of government contracting and business development at the SBA. At the very least, the firms might
make it into their Rolodex.

The agency plans to replicate the program in other cities across the nation within the next year, said Darryl Hairston, the SBA’s
associate deputy administrator of government contracting and business development.

Claudia Nunes came to the conference from Boca Raton, Fla., to hawk her new company, Millenium Technologies Inc., which
sells a fax broadcast service. Her company already does work for some local and state agencies, but is looking to tap the federal
marketplace.

Nunes had a matchmaking interview with the GSA and mentioned she was in the process of getting an 8(a) certification for her
firm, a program for small, disadvantaged firms. "Once you submit it, follow up with me," said Howard Innis, a contracting officer
at the GSA’s Small Business Solutions Development Center in Kansas City.

"I gleaned a couple of good suggestions," Nunes said. However, Nunes said she has been in touch with several SBA field
personnel recently as she has worked to expand her four-person business and has been frustrated with the help. "It’s very
passive," she said, adding that the SBA officials she has talked to don’t point her to the location of a contract, but instead give
general advice. "The learning curve is really long. I don’t know who to go to."

Loretta Hickman, founder of Washington-based technology management consulting firm BmiConsulting Inc., said she was able
to find out about a potential opportunity with Nestle U.S.A. Inc. stemming from a merger of two internal divisions. "I think it was
quite good," said Hickman, who plans to follow up with Nestle and at least use the business cards she collected for future
marketing efforts.

Rita Ali, marketing director for Peoria, Ill.-based information technology software and services firm Advanced Information
Services Inc., sat down for her matchmaking meeting with Boeing Co., armed with business cards and a fancy book highlighting
her firm’s work. Unlike Kim’s firm, AIS is both certified as an 8(a) minority-owned business through the SBA and is on the GSA
Schedule.

Nicholas Sena, a director of Boeing’s supplier diversity program, seemed to like the qualifications. But he reminded her of
Boeing’s sweet spot: rocket systems and jet-fighter programs. "That is what we are looking for," Sena said. After Ali’s pitch, he
provided her with a list of contact names and numbers.

Afterward, Ali said she felt the matchmaking was helpful. "It’s really about the relationships."

For the prime contractors, relationships were key as well.

"We’re here … to really identify new suppliers we haven’t identified yet," Sena said.

On Monday, Ali said she already was preparing additional materials to send to Boeing and was going to offer to fly to Seattle to
give a more targeted pitch. "The key," she said, "is what happens after the conference."

Reported By Washtech.com, http://www.washtech.com

http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/176588.html