CONFERENCE TO FOCUS ON HELPING AREA BUSINESSES GET GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS

Area businesses could profit from doing business with Uncle Sam, says the director of Southeast Missouri State University's Small Business Development Center.

So much so, the center is sponsoring a conference Aug. 8 to help area businesses land contracts with federal and state agencies.

"Southeast Missouri business people will be able to meet face to face with federal and state agencies that buy everything from pencils to jet fighters and need services ranging from janitorial to nuclear physics," said Buz Sutherland, director of the development center.

The U.S. government is the number one consumer of goods and services in the world, he said. Government agencies spend billions of dollars annually purchasing goods and services from small businesses, Sutherland said.

But doing business with government agencies can be confusing to businesses trying to maneuver through layers of bureaucracy, he said.

To do business with the federal government and the state of Missouri, it's important to make the right contacts.

"Once you have negotiated the bureaucracy and get to the right person, the sky's the limit," said Sutherland.

Jackson businessman Don Sievers knows there's money to be made in government contracts. Sievers is chief executive officer of Associated Sheet Metal Inc. of Jackson, which has done heating, ventilating and air conditioning work on a number of government projects ranging from the new Missouri prison in Charleston, Mo., to the veterans hospital addition in Marion, Ill.

"All those jobs were in the millions of dollars," he said.

But government procedures vary among agencies. It's important to keep up with procurement policies, said Sievers, who is among more than 75 Southeast Missouri business operators who have signed up for the conference.

"I jumped at the chance," said Sievers, who believes the conference could help him land more government contracts.

U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, R-Cape Girardeau, and U.S. Sen. Christopher Bond, R-Mo., helped set up the conference.

"The first ever Southeast Missouri Procurement Conference will provide valuable insight into government purchasing practices and how government contracts can expand your business," said the 8th District congresswoman.

Emerson is scheduled to deliver the keynote speech at the conference, which will be held in Southeast's Dempster Hall. Bond will have a staff member at the conference.

Registration begins at 7:30 a.m., followed by a series of guest speakers, breakout sessions and exhibits provided by government contractors, and state and federal agencies.

A focus of the procurement conference will be the HUBZone Empowerment Contracting Program, designed to funnel government contracts to small businesses in economically depressed areas, Sutherland said.

Want to go? WHAT: Procurement conference

WHEN: Aug. 8, with registration starting at 7:30 a.m.

WHERE: Southeast Missouri State University's Dempster Hall

FEE: $25 per person and includes lunch.

INFORMATION: Deadline to sign up for the conference is Aug. 1. For more information, contact: Small Business Development Center at 986-6084.