OCSBDC – Contractors Matchmaking Event
July 16, 2013
The Vanguard Global Team attended the matchmaking event hosted by the Orange County Small Business Development Center (OCSBDC) for the construction industry. This event was organized by our very own Mike Sabellico, who also is a consultant for the OCSBDC, and included several prime contractors as well as Metropolitan Water District and O.C.T.A. A panel session was held prior to the matchmaking and representatives from Baker Electric, Clark Construction, Straub Construction, Hensel Phelps, McCarthy Building, Schimmick Construction, and Turner Construction discussed best practices and upcoming business opportunities with their companies.
Mike opened the event with some overall comments on networking, capability statements, and strategic growth. Karen Burgess, the Lead Business Opportunity Specialist for the SBA’s Santa Ana Office presented on the SBA’s 8(a) program and how and where to start the verification process if you are a women owned business. David Richter from the Society of American Military Engineers (SAME) gave a description of SAME and encouraged the smaller business owners to check out their upcoming events.
The panel of large contractors began with introductions of their companies. They posed questions for the smaller companies to consider and provided details of information that would potentially assist in the discussion part of their matchmaking appointments. Each company had at least one representative with various contracting or engineering backgrounds. During the introduction of their companies, some of the contracting officers spoke about the importance of building relationships with them, how to follow-up in regular intervals, and to not become discouraged if there isn’t an immediate response to their inquiries. Others provided details of opportunities for upcoming work or where to find their job postings online.
A few examples of upcoming opportunities include Clark Construction and their Bradley International project as well as the LAX project that the Metropolitan Water District will be working on.
Once the matchmaking convened both Prime and Small Business professionals presented their companies with great detail providing potential opportunities and started building business relationships. Each prime contractor met with 8 small businesses in short 10 minute timeslots for one-on-one meetings. Overall this was a very productive event, those who attended and participated were pleased with the outcome of their matchmaking.
Covering this event was Small Business in Anaheim, examiner Kato Cooks. Please watch for our story on the examiner website at http://www.examiner.com/small-business-in-anaheim/kato-cooks.
