Government buyers are looking for what you have … quality products and services at competitive prices. There are billions of dollars in contracting opportunities with the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, Defense Logistics Agency, Veteran’s Administration, and other federal, state and local agencies. With help from the Nebraska Business Development Center (NBDC) and Small Business Administration (SBA) counselors, your company could be the one to take advantage of these lucrative opportunities.

Five Steps to Success: A Free Workshop Series
Note: The 5-step workshop series described below is already underway. Because the whole series will repeat, we thought it important to let you know about it now.

Instructors from NBDC’s procurement technical assistance program and the Small Business Administration will cover the contracting process in depth, focusing on one step each month. Each workshop will feature a guest speaker. After the last workshop, the full series will be repeated. You may also take any individual workshop from the series.

1. Government Markets – available in 2nd round. An overview of government markets including town, city, county, state and federal contracting agencies Guest speaker: Vince Mejer, purchasing agent, City of Lincoln, Lancaster County.
2. Registering Your Company - available in 2nd round. How to take the first steps to register your company with government agencies. Guest speaker: Joan Scheel, business program specialist, USDA Nebraska Rural Development.
3. Finding Bidding Opportunities - available in 2nd round. How to locate bidding opportunities from government agencies. Guest speaker: Todd Dlouhy, buyer III, State of Nebraska Purchasing.
4. The Successful Proposal - Feb 11, 2009. How to prepare the successful proposal including Capability Statements, RFQ, IFB and RFPs. Guest speaker: Tom Dahlgren, supervisory contract specialist, Nebraska National Guard.
5. Winning the Contract - Mar 11, 2009. Strategies for winning the contract. Guest speaker: Gary Kraft, C.P.M., director of purchasing, University of Nebraska.

You must register in advance for each workshop. Register online at http://ptac.unomaha.edu/events.cfm . Workshops run from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. at the Southeast Community College, Entrepreneurship Center in Lincoln, NE. For a map go to: www.southeast.edu/discover/entrepreneur.asp . Instructors for the series are Roger Johnson, NBDC procurement technical assistance counselor, and Kathleen Piper, SBA deputy director.