Planning & Development
[ About The Government Procurement Assistance Program ]
[ Procurement Technical Assistance Center ]
[ Partners ]
[ 2012 Activities ] [ Success Story ]
About The Government Procurement Assistance Program
SPC’s Government Procurement Assistance program helps hundreds of companies in our service area with their efforts to market to and contract with federal, state and local government agencies. We provide one-on-one counseling and training with an emphasis on small businesses with minority, female or service-disabled veteran owners to help facilitate their participation in the government marketplace.
Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC)
SPC’s Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC)
helps companies to enter and succeed in the world of
government contracting. Along with technical assistance, SPC provides
companies with immediate alerts on solicitations that are issued for their particular
products or services.
On any given day there may be 2,000 or more solicitations
that SPC sorts through and passes on to client companies
at no charge. PTAC helps companies gain knowledge of
standards and how to comply. In addition, PTAC provides
the personalized technical assistance on bidding procedures
and regulations that must be met when selling to the
government. The one-on-one support PTAC offers is
instrumental for small companies that are new to the
government procurement process.
PTAC services include:
- Daily electronic bid matching
- Access to military and federal specifications
- Publication library of the Federal Acquisition Regulations and federal agency regulations
- Comprehensive contact lists
- Training
- Government e-commerce
- Bid and proposal preparation
- GSA Multiple Award Schedules
- Contract histories
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Partners
SPC shares a Department of Defense (DOD) Cooperative Agreement Grant with Indiana University of Pennsylvania and the Private Industry Council of Westmoreland/Fayette that enables maximum effectiveness with limited resources. In 2012, the following organizations assisted in our Government Procurement Assistance program:
- Department of Defense (DOD)
- U.S. Small Business Administration
- Minority Purchasing Council
- Minority Business Opportunity Committee
- PA Department of General Services
- PA Department of Community and Economic Development
- Local Small Business Development Centers
- Department of Energy (DOE)
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2012 Activities
In 2012, staff took part in 20 programs offering opportunities for local businesses to increase sales through participation in the government marketplace. By collaborating with other business development organizations, SPC is able to provide greater service to individual businesses across the region.
Benefits to the region in 2012:
- Client businesses received 79 government contracts with a value of over $36 million.
- 188 businesses received individual procurement assistance, increasing their understanding of the government marketplace and the bid process to win government opportunities.
- SPC responded to initial inquiries from 84 companies for specific information to evaluate their potential in the government marketplace.
- Client businesses that received government contracts in 2012 are credited with the creation or retention of 845 jobs in Southwestern Pennsylvania.
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Success Story
Origin 4 Design
Origin 4 Design, LLC is a Woman-Owned Small Business (WOSB) founded in 2009 that provides landscape architecture and planning services.
Rendering of Origin 4 Design's concept for the EPA's Greening America's Capitals, Charleston, WV |
Starting up a design firm while the local building sector was in deep recession, Origin 4 Design (O4D) looked to government work for key contracts that could begin to establish their emerging practice. SPC’s Procurement program staff began working with O4D in 2010 in order to help them navigate the realm of federal contracting. After ensuring that the firm had successfully completed the required federal registrations, SPC staff set the firm up with a custom BidMatch search profile to locate relevant government opportunities for O4D to pursue. Before long, the daily emails delivered an ideal project that matched the interests and skills of the firm.
The Environmental Protection Agency was launching the Greening America’s Capitals program and was selecting firms to match with five state capitals to provide conceptual design services that would transform a prominent urban space into a vibrant, healthy, and sustainable place. O4D won the contract for Charleston, West Virginia. Their completed work won an honor award from the American Society of Landscape Architects and the completed project enabled the city to win additional grants to begin to implement the work. O4D is currently engaged in a second Greening America’s Capitals project in Indianapolis, Indiana and is also designing the grounds at the VA Hospital in Lebanon, PA – both thanks to BidMatch and SPC’s assistance.
“Working with SPC in setting up our daily BidMatch notifications has completely streamlined the process of searching for contracts. As small business owners, there are so many daily tasks in addition to our contracted work. Being able to scan the opportunities in a matter of seconds is key.” Rebecca Mizikar, RLA
Partner, Origin 4 Design
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The SPC's Government Procurement Assistance Program, which operates as a Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC), is funded in part through a cooperative agreement from the Department of Defense (DOD) through a program that is administered by the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA). The content of any written materials or verbal communications of the PTAC does not necessarily reflect the official views of or imply endorsement by DOD or DLA.
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For more information about our Government Procurement
program, contact Dave Pinkosky at (412) 391-5590 x308 or e-mail PTAC@spcregion.org.
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