| Procurement Fair Review |
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Over 1000 businesspeople seek to master the procurement maze at Glendale Civic Center expo
On April 27, dozens of Phoenicians and other Valley small business hopefuls gathered in front of the Glendale Civic Center, piles of company profile forms clutched in their hands, waiting for the opening of the Mastering the Purchasing Maze VII. Some newcomers looked excited, while veterans of the innumerable Arizona job fairs had lower expectations. But the Glendale Chamber of Commerce, City of Glendale, and others should be commended for hosting one of the best networking opportunities in Arizona.
The “sold out” event (registration at the free event totaled 1500) involved 98 vendors. Government, private companies and universities were represented. Luke Air Force Base (AFB) was the 800-pound gorilla at the event. Luke, which is estimated to provide $3 billion in benefits to Arizona, provided speakers, booths and the opening ceremony honor guard. Lt. Col. Stephen Pieper, 310th Fighter Squadron director of operations, and a small business owner, himself, detailed the importance of Luke AFB to small businesses and vice versa. He mentioned that 90% of Luke’s procurement involves small business ($41 million in contracts last year). Gabriel McKenna-Groves, Chief CE Acquisitions Flight, who was speaking with construction-related businesspeople at one of the vendor tables, stressed that Luke is very serious about working with local businesses. Private company representatives, like Jeremy McCoy from Humana, were offering to help businesspeople find affordable health care. Other firms were there to help businesses market themselves effectively, from unique advertising (e.g., Big Mouth Advertising’s fun “rolling billboards”) to, more subtle on-line word-of-mouth referrals (Cox’s www.Kudzu.com attracted 54 million searches last year). Some vendors, such as ASU’s Program Manager for University Business Services—Chester Yancy—were looking for a broad variety of suppliers. Others had a specific target audience in mind (e.g., Mike Fisher of Big E’s Tires was looking for school bus customers). Within an hour after the doors opened, it was hard to move down the aisles, as so many animated participants conversed with attentive vendors. All the major cities were present, encouraging attendees to sign up on their procurement sites, like www.mesaaz.gov/purchasing. Al Gleason, a copywriter/marketing strategist, said he came to connect with government agencies. The Civic Center provided a rare opportunity to find many government representatives all in one place. At least for one sunny morning in the Valley, both people looking for work and people looking for workers seemed to share some hope of success. |
