By Mark Wineka
mwineka@salisburypost.com
For several years, Patterson Farms in Rowan County has worked through the federal and state governments to supply strawberries and tomatoes to N.C. public schools.
It may seem strange, but the Farm to School program, which concentrates on getting fresh produce into the schools, is handled through the U.S. Department of Defense and the Markets and Distribution Division of the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
“There are some opportunities out there,” says Doug Patterson, who runs the 90-year-old family farming operation with his brother, Randall. “The key is getting the right person to talk with.”
Patterson and more than 100 other representatives of local business attended sessions Thursday at the Salisbury Holiday Inn that focused on tapping into the billions of dollars federal and state governments spend every year on, well, you name it.
“We have a GSA contract on just about everything,” said Dinora Gonzalez, small business technical advisor with the U.S. General Services Administration.
The government procurement event, organized by the Salisbury-Rowan Economic Development Corp., came at a time when federal and state agencies are beginning to pump funds from the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act into the economy.
“The bottom line is, there’s going to be more federal spending than there has ever been in our lifetime,” said Robert Van Geons, executive director of the EDC.
If they came away with anything, the participants learned they must register to do business with government, that they’ll find out about most projects online, that often their opportunities will be as subcontractors and that the government usually throws in some extra administrative and inspection steps if they are awarded contracts.
But it’s worth the time, speakers said Thursday.
“All of this stuff is so overwhelming, you have to hear it over and over again before it sinks in,” the GSA’s Gonzalez said.
Patterson registered few complaints about his experiences working with the government. He said his only horror story had to do with navigating the Department of Defense Web site and “just getting to the right screen” for things such as invoices and order procurement.
The spring (for strawberries) and late summer (for tomatoes) offer small windows of opportunities for N.C. growers to get their produce to the schools, so that was another issue the farmers had to work out.
The Farm to School program also provides buyers for farmers who grow sweet potatoes, apples, watermelon and cantaloupes. “This is a growing project for North Carolina,” Patterson said.
Some 2,412 schools in 67 districts are involved in the program.
Patterson’s is one of only three tomato producers participating in the program. More strawberry farmers participate in the spring, when Patterson Farms sends thousands of flats to schools.
Maxon Furniture on Grace Church Road in Salisbury does considerable business in supplying office furniture to the federal government through GSA contracts.
“This segment for them (Maxon) has grown every year,” Van Geons reported.
GSA is a key player in awarding and managing federal contracts. It essentially serves as the purchasing agent for products and services in support of most federal agencies.
“Our customers are the federal agencies,” Gonzalez said.
Things the GSA doesn’t buy are cattle, insurance and weapons of mass destruction, she added.
GSA also serves as landlord for all federal buildings and courthouses ó all of which need to be maintained, furnished, refurbished and repaired.
To do business with the GSA, Gonzalez explained, a company has to register online, have a basic knowledge of how federal contracts work and have a performance history.
Other speakers Thursday included Glenn Harris of the Small Business Administration; Archibald Black, procurement counselor for the N.C. Small Business and Technology Center; James D. Staton Jr., the state’s purchasing officer; Ritchie Hearne, project engineer for Division 10 of the N.C. Department of Transportation; and Scott Dorney, executive director of the N.C. Military Business Center.
Procurement Technical Assistance Centers serve as a bridge between the government and local businesses.
Black said the assistance centers ó there are five counselors in North Carolina ó can help in applying for GSA schedules, marketing to government agencies, understanding government requirements, locating bid opportunities and more.
“Everything you can think of in government procurement,” Black said, “we’re here to help you.”
Staton, the state purchasing officer, told the local business representatives to make themselves familiar with several state Web sites connected to purchasing and contracts.
“We want you to do business with North Carolina,” he said.
Dorney said Rowan County businesses ó and others in North Carolina ó could do a lot better job selling to the Department of Defense and other government entities.
His agency’s MatchForce.org is “a dating service for federal contracts,” he said.
Businesses should take the 15 minutes or so needed to fill out their company’s profile and register for information on the military-support opportunities that might be available, Dorney said.
Military construction spending in North Carolina over the next four years will amount to $5 billion to $7 billion. Every new stimulus project is listed on the center’s Web site, Dorney said.
“Don’t think you can’t do this work,” Dorney told the local businesses.
Every $100 million spent on defense contracts creates or saves 3,000 jobs and leads to $7 million in corporate tax revenues, according to Dorney.