Only about 35 local business men and women came to the Radisson in Rockford this morning to learn how to become a service provider to federal buildings and offices.
The turnout for the round-table discussion and seminar was disappointing considering the U.S. Government is the largest “buyer” in the country and pays much more quickly and reliably than state governments, especially Illinois. Plus, the lead speaker was Ann Kalayil, the regional administrator of the General Services Administration.
The ones that did come went away encouraged that becoming a GSA provider is worth the effort.
“It’s not as difficult as we thought. It’s time consuming, you have to get registered on a lot of levels, but there’s help here like (the Rock Valley College Rock Valley College Procurement Technical Assistance Center),” said SERVPRO of Rockford owner Mary Jo Hare.
PTAC helps companies learn about and win federal, state and local government contracts. SERVPRO provides fire and water cleanup and restoration services and mold mitigation and remediation and would like to provide those services to the new 200,000-square-foot, seven-story high federal courthouse.
“We’re going to take the next steps because we need to keep expanding our markets and the courthouse would be a big market.”
The GSA manages and supplies products and communications for U.S. Government offices, provides office space and transportation to federal employees and developments cost-savings plans government wide.
The GSA employs about 12,000 federal workers with an annual budget of more than $25 billion. GSA oversees more than $65 in supply and service purchases a year. It manages $500 billion in U.S. federal property.
