Diversity Works

Minority businesses get designations, government contracts

Over the past 10 years, diversity has evolved into a must have for every company. The concept is now perceived as wider than ever, encompassing inclusion of staff and involvement of businesses that represent a variety of races, genders, ethnic groups, ages, personality types, cognitive styles, tenure, education, background and more.

Diversity’s benefits are many, say consultants at DiversityWorking.com, one of the largest online job-posting boards dedicated to the concept. They say companies that have it also have increased adaptability to change, a broader service range, a variety of viewpoints yielding more ideas and more-effective execution of tasks.

The Business Journal’s Diversity Works special report covers the topic from several angles: understanding what diversity in the workplace actually means and how it delivers for local firms; how to get be designated a minority business in order to be a government vendor; and how banks are interfacing with and addressing the needs of minority businesses and individuals.

Within the last year, Tanya Woodford completed the paperwork necessary for her fledgling medical, janitorial and school supplies company to qualify as a minority government contractor. She believes the designation will help her get her enterprise off the ground better and faster.

Her Palm Beach-based Star Beacon Products has applied for the minority and small business designations throughout the tricounty area. Woodford also hopes to take her six-year-old company to the next level by attending trade shows and networking with potential investors, who might be interested in betting on the dreams of a hungry, young entrepreneur.

So far, she has been certified as a vendor with the state of Florida, the city of West Palm Beach, Miami-Dade County Public Schools and is working on establishing a relationship with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Woodford is also working on getting certifications from the Broward and Palm Beach county school districts.

Helping her navigate the complex relationships underpinning government work is Carol Hart, of the Palm Beach office of the U.S. Department of Defense’s Procurement Technical Assistance Center. The center offers assistance on issues that range from determining suitability for contracting to proposal preparation and preparing for the contract audit.

Hart said one advantage of accreditation is that the government awards a percentage of contract work to companies with specific designations. “A procurement specialist can help you navigate even the most difficult solicitation package, including securing
necessary specifications and drawings and determining pricing,” according to the center’s information for proposal preparation. “You will never need to pass up a great contract opportunity just because the solicitation is too complicated.”

In Woodford’s case, the state of Florida required her to produce various records including corporate documents, her company’s bylaws, her voter registration information and the company’s financial statement. Broward County Public Schools asked for three years of personal taxes, while Miami-Dade asked for a notarized statement of her balance sheet.

Mark Llano, who heads Source One Distributors in Wellington, got accredited in 2004 through the 8(a) program offered by the U.S. Small Business Administration, which has some of the most stringent requirements – and which can take nearly a year to process. The process was lengthy, but well worth it because of the opportunity it and other like programs offer, he said. Government contracts have contributed to annual employee growth of 125 percent at Source One, Llano said, with the company logging $50 million in sales in its fourth year.

More help for small businesses

In late 2008, the SBA announced that small businesses had won a record $83.2 billion in federal prime contracts in fiscal year 2007, an increase of almost $6 billion from the prior year. Overall, federal agencies awarded 22 percent of contracting funds to small businesses.

Federal officials are also sending signals that they want to do more.

In August, the Obama administration announced efforts to help minority-owned businesses get government contracts through networking events. In September, the SBA launched an online training course to help business win federal contracts.

Source One, which distributes equipment for military personnel, said each accreditation offers an opportunity for contract work, but warns against a qualifying business’ feeling a false sense of entitlement - that contracts will simply be awarded due to the qualification.

“You have to market, market and market because no one knows who you are,” Llano explained. “A lot of people I have seen tell me they were certified but haven’t gotten work. I ask them, ‘How many times have  you gotten on a plane to meet a contract officer, or the program manager at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security?’ There are buyers in different contracting shops. Homeland Security alone has 23 agencies.”

Llano says getting ahead in government contracting requires an investment of money and time. It involves lots of travel to trade shows (he did 60 last year) and meetings with government decision makers, but the payoffs can be significant.“It requires sacrifice, time away from your family and loved ones,” he explained. “At some point, it’s about the gut check. How much of your time do you want to invest to grow your business?”