Published November 2000

Business, government
have ‘matchmaker’

Opportunities to grow business in Snohomish County come from many sources.

While the Economic Development Council has been concentrating on enhancing the county’s high-tech profile, we never lose sight of the importance of traditional sources of business opportunities that can help make our community prosperous and diverse.

One such source is the government sector. Whether local, state or federal, government agencies offer a wide spectrum of business opportunities for companies of all sizes.

In Snohomish County, we are fortunate to be the headquarters of the Procurement Technical Assistance Center, an agency that serves as a form of “matchmaker,” matching the needs of government agencies to local businesses that can meet those needs.

Operating under a contract with the Defense Department’s Defense Logistics Agency, the Snohomish County EDC provides the PTAC offices and resources to perform its job of bringing government and business together.

The center, one of 84 such agencies throughout the nation, currently serves most of Washington state and has outreach centers in Bellingham, Mount Vernon, Richland, Tacoma, Wenatchee and Vancouver.

Its newly appointed director is John Tamble, a 25-year procurement specialist for several federal agencies, including the Department of Health and Human Services, the National Parks Service, Department of Defense and the General Services Administration.

His experience will be invaluable to the many small to medium businesses that want to do business with various governments but know little about which agencies might need their products or services.

The center monitors several large databases that list various contract needs of local, state and federal government agencies.

In the past four years, the PTAC has assisted Washington state clients in receiving more than $210 million in contracts with government agencies. The center has generated more than $14 million dollars in federal, state and local awards for businesses in just the past six-month performance period.

One example of the success of the EDC-PTAC program is Ederer Inc., a Seattle firm that has received numerous federal awards, including a $3.1 million contract to rehabilitate the 300-ton bridge cranes of the Bonneville Dam 1 powerhouse.

A new PTAC initiative is with the Advanced Technology Program under the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Technology Administration and the U.S. Department of Commerce. This program bridges the gap between the research lab and the marketplace by creating partnerships with the high-tech private sector to accelerate development of innovative technologies that are high risk but demonstrate a broad national benefit.

This program provides early-stage government investment grants to develop these high-risk technologies through a competitive proposal program.

No matter what your business product or service, the chances are promising that a government agency may be interested in contracting with you.

To learn more about how the EDC-PTAC can serve you, call (425) 743-4567.

Deborah Knutson is president of the Snohomish County Economic Development Council. She can be reached at 425-743-4567 or by e-mail to dknutson@snoedc.org.

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