Contracting Opportunities Center: A Resource that Can Give Contractors a Competitive Edge

I recently sat down with Rachel Fischer of the San Diego Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC) also known as the San Diego Contracting Opportunities Center (SDCOC), located in Mission Valley. She provided me with details about the services the PTAC program provides and most importantly how they can assist small business contractors with understanding and navigating through the rules and regulations involved in public works construction projects After years of operating with limited funding, the PTAC is now functioning with a full administrative staff, but they could always use additional sponsorship dollars to widen the scope of their program and better serve the small business community. Working with the PTAC is one of the best investments a small business can make with their time. Below you will find a description of the what resources are there:

PTAC Services:

Counseling

The COC has counselors that work with people one-on-one to grow their businesses by contracting with federal, state, and local public agencies.

Workshops

The COC hosts many free workshops every month. They are posted on the Calendar section of their website. To learn more visit http://www.ptac-sandiego.org/workshop.html.

Introduction to Doing Business with Government Agencies Workshop

To make sure that contractors are prepared to bid on public contracts the first workshop that small businesses are invited to attend is a three hour workshop that covers:

Which agencies should you target? Federal, State and local public agencies all need construction services. But this workshop will provide you with resources to determine which agencies might want to do business.

Certifications: What certifications are available to small businesses? What are the benefits of obtaining a small business certification? Does having the certifications give you an advantage as a prime or subcontractor? What is a Disabled Veteran Enterprise or DVBE? What is a Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB) Certification and does this certification help in procuring federal contracts. You will find the answers to these questions and more in this workshop.

How to find opportunities? So now that you have decided to sell your products and/or services to government agencies…where do you find the opportunities? This section reviews the websites and process for locating government contracting opportunities

How to register as a potential vendor? This portion of the Intro workshop includes the steps involved in registering as a potential vendor for federal, state, and local public agencies.

Other Workshops

Now here is where the COC really provides some help. They host workshops that discuss opportunities with specific public agencies and provide tips on doing business with that particular agency. For example in March of 2008, there are a number of workshops that are sponsored by the Caltrans Small Business Development Center Partnership. Topics include Construction Law, Prevailing wages and Cost Control.

Check them out they are free