Region 8 Industry Day Provides Small Business Opportunities

September 16, 2021

Small businesses are the lifeblood for project support in the Rocky Mountain Region so to find new vendors in Utah, the region recently held an Industry Day for ongoing key construction projects.

This Industry Day brought in 37 small business attendees looking to provide operations and maintenance support in Utah.

"These forums are important to communicate the project goals and expectations to the small business community,’ said Tanya Burks, Acquisition Division Director for the Public Buildings Service (PBS).  “It allows for the community to be better positioned to offer services that meet the needs of the government and offers savings to the taxpayers."

The event provided the small businesses with project specific requirements as well as getting critical business information from them, such as capability and qualifications. Polls given to the attendees sought to gain their input on the best way to structure the requirement, optimal length of contracts and how much experience the businesses had with specific types of renovation projects.

"We have so many opportunities for small businesses in a variety of different areas,” Burks stated. “Forums such as this create space for open communication and sharing of ideas, to provide a pathway to work with small businesses.”

The main purpose of the Industry Day was to engage with the vendor community on specific upcoming opportunities but also to boost confidence in working government contracts.

Not only was this event beneficial to external partners, it also helped to demonstrate partnership with PBS teams such as Acquisition, Property Management, Facilities Management, and the Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization.

The result included 23 specific small business contracts to leverage in the future, but more importantly provided clear expectations of both parties and trust right from the start.