Published May 2003

Biz assistance center expecting more
federal funds

By Bryan Corliss
Herald Business Writer

An Everett-based program that helps small businesses win defense contracts is in line for more federal funding.

That will allow it to open offices in Spokane and on the Olympic Peninsula, and will make it possible for its staff to spend more time with Snohomish County companies, Program Manager John Tamble said.

“There are opportunities out there,” Tamble said. “It’s going to be good.”

Tamble is statewide manager of the Procurement Technical Assistance Center, a Department of Defense program that helps small businesses negotiate the red tape involved in bidding for federal contracts.

“There’s always something new that the government’s coming up with, and it doesn’t make it any easier for the small-business person,” he said.

The centers work in conjunction with local nonprofit or educational agencies to deliver those services. In Everett, the program teams with the Snohomish County Economic Development Council, which provides office space, money and services. The program also has representatives in Bellingham, Mount Vernon, Richland, Tacoma, Vancouver and Wenatchee.

Over the past two years, the program has received $300,000 from the federal government to operate the program. Strong congressional support means that allocation will rise by about 50 percent, Tamble said, although the exact amount has not been set.

That’s what’s allowing the expansion, he said.

Tamble already has hired a part-time clerk to help handle paperwork. And in April, the program concluded an agreement with a Spokane-area group to provide assistance to companies that want to do business with Fairchild Air Force Base, Tamble said.

Future plans call for adding an Olympic Peninsula office, and for increasing the amount of time program counselors are available in King County, Tamble said.

With the extra help statewide, the local staff is “going to be able to focus more on what’s going on in Snohomish County,” he said.

As the economy has slumped, more and more companies have turned to federal contracts to make up for lost revenue, Tamble said.

“They’re saying, ‘If we don’t get this contract, we’re going to go under,’” he said. “It’s that serious.”

The program has been able to assist some of them. Last year, it helped companies statewide land roughly $50 million in Defense Department contracts, which was about double the total for 2001. Of last year’s total, about $25 million went to Snohomish County companies.

The largest contract went to Sound & Sea Technology of Edmonds, which won a $13.5 million contract to install cables for sensors that can detect nuclear weapons tests.

But a number of other companies won smaller contracts, with some of them going to small machine shops that had lost their Boeing parts-supply contracts, Tamble said. Those shops are now building parts for the military.

Those contracts, typically under $100,000, “keep the shop running,” he said. “It’s the kind of thing that can sustain a company.”

They can also lead to larger contracts in the future, he added.

Tamble’s program works closely with the Northwest Women’s Business Center, which shares space in the Economic Development Council office at 728 134th St. SW in south Everett.

That program provides general small-business assistance, and having both in one place has been helpful in that they’ve been able to refer clients to each other, Tamble said.