HOULTON, Maine — Rotarian Dana Delano was the guest speaker at the Houlton Rotary Club meeting on Monday, Jan. 11. He spoke about the Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC) program that he represents in northern Penobscot and Aroostook counties through the Northern Maine Development Commission.
Over the past seven years, Delano has been a procurement counselor for Maine PTAC, one of 98 PTAC centers nationally. Authorized by Congress in 1985 and funded by the Department of Defense and administered by the Defense Logistics Agency, Maine PTAC provides training and technical assistance to local businesses statewide so they can find, win and perform on government contracts, be it federal, state, county or local agencies.
“The federal government is the world’s largest buyer of all kinds of goods and services”, stated Delano. “Over $500 billion a year. Nearly $115 billion goes to small business. The Small Business Administration administers several business programs that give small businesses a benefit when it comes to federal dollars, including the Woman Owned Small Business program, the Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business program, Historically Underutilized Business Zone program and the 8(a) Disadvantaged Business Development program. Maine PTAC assists qualifying small businesses in becoming certified for these programs”.
State government, counties and local municipalities are also large buyers of goods and services. Construction projects, roads, vehicles, ATV’s and snowmobiles, office supplies, research and more. Maine PTAC has a program called “Bid Match” that helps companies find these opportunities and PTAC counselors like Delano will work with local businesses in understanding the solicitations, registration rules, procurement requirements, and submitting bids. Once a bid is awarded, they assist companies with performance requirements. PTAC services are free to area small businesses.
Delano stressed that many opportunities are available to area small businesses by subcontracting with larger prime contractors. As an example, the upcoming Madawaska Land Port of Entry building and international bridge projects will be awarded to a couple of large prime contractors, however. they will be looking for area small businesses to partner with them to complete the projects. Area masons, plumbers, electricians, excavation, IT, metal fabricators, housing and more will be needed to complete these major projects. Delano has been working with many local small businesses to make sure they are aware of these opportunities.
Last year, Maine PTAC assisted 1100 Maine businesses and logged 23,661 prime and subcontracting awards totaling $2 billion. Nearly 2000 awards went to Maine small businesses totaling $398 million.
“If businesses are looking to expand, government contracting provides excellent opportunities for area small businesses”, states Dana. “Last year I assisted Cam Clark at Shiretown Structures in finding a State of Maine solicitation for two Fire Tower Cabs to be placed in Northern Maine. We worked together in registering with the State as a Vendor, put together a bid and submitting it on time. Low and behold, he was the successful bidder and delivered a beautiful product. He now has a positive past performance record with the State and is excited to find other projects to bid.”
If area businesses are interested in exploring government contracting, contact Dana at ddelano@nmdc.org.
