January P-TALK News, Upcoming Events and More!

News

PTACs are now also referred to as APEX Accelerators. Your local PTAC is part of a nationwide network of 90+ PTAC’s all funded, in part, by the US Department of Defense. Recently, the program shifted administration from Defense Logistics Agency to the Office of Small Business Programs and with that shift came a new name of APEX Accelerator. Washington PTAC, an APEX Accelerator, will continue to provide no-cost procurement technical assistance to firms throughout Washington State who are interested in selling to federal, state, or local government agencies and primes.

National Defense Authorization Act was passed last month. The legislation includes relief due to inflation impacts for federal contractors including the allowing Secretary of Defense to modify fixed-price contracts to provide an economic price adjustment. Read more here.

The team at Washington PTAC welcomes the NEW North Olympic Peninsula PTAC program serving Jefferson and Clallam County based firms. Learn more here.

IT Project Managers: See the Request for Information posted by Washington State seeking your feedback prior to their competitive bidding of the current statewide contract 08215. Comments due Jan 6. Login to WEBS and search Customer Reference Number 14822.

Interested in improving your win rate when bidding public works? Learn from the pros at this no-cost virtual training series. Weekly live sessions started January 3. Register here.

Call for speakers, sponsors, and early-bird registration is now open for the 37^th Annual Alliance Northwest Government Contracting Outreach event! This IN PERSON event will take place at Tacoma Convention Center. https://alliancenorthwest.org.

Washington PTAC adds new counselor to serve Thurston, Lewis, Mason, Pacific & Gray Harbor Counties. Please join us in welcoming Grady Smith. Grady is a US Navy Veteran, a husband and a father. While serving in the Navy at NBK Bangor, Grady served as a Supply Petty Officer. It was there he discovered a fascination with the world of government procurement! Grady graduated from Penn State University with a Bachelor's Degree in History. He worked with various companies in the continental United States and Guam as an Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) Technician and Diver. Grady loves America, and he is committed to serving five Western Washington State counties as a PTAC counselor with the same dedication and love. You can reach Grady at gsmith@thurstonedc.com.

Contact a PTAC Counselor today for assistance with all your government contracting questions. Click on a counselor's name to email them or give them a call at the phone number listed.

Main Center

Thurston EDC

4220 6th Ave.

Lacey, WA 98503

360-464-6041

Program Manager

Counselors

Sub Centers

(425) 248-4223

(509) 321-3646

Columbia River Economic Development Council

(503) 694-9403

(253) 520-6267

Kitsap Economic Development Alliance

(360) 377-9499

(509) 491-3231

News

Innovation Station - New Year – New Service!

Welcome to Innovation Station! This is a new service provided to you by your Washington PTAC, an APEX Accelerator. Washington PTAC is part of a team of resources who are providing guidance for innovative firms who wish to provide innovative or cutting edge solutions to federal government agencies.

Each month we will highlight resource links, Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) announcements and more.

Resource Partner Highlight: Learn more about available resources around our state at Innovation Station.

SBIR Announcements

Agencies releasing topics in January include:

· Department of Defense

· NASA

· Department of Transportation

For more information visit SBIR.gov

Workshops for Innovators

SBIR 101 – Virtual – TBD

SBIR/STTR Workshop with National Institute of Health Focus 1/19/2023 12:00 pm - 1:30 PM

For more information, visit the PTAC calendar and search for Innovation/SBIR workshops.

Questions? Reach out to Kate Hoy, SBIR Program Manager at khoy@thurstonedc.com

Bid Opportunities

Contracting opportunities - Find Federal, State and Local government Contracting Opportunities

Subcontracting Opportunities

Subcontracting opportunities - Find sub bid requests from prime contractors such as Pease & Sons, Kiewit, MidMountain Contractors and Granite Construction Company

Upcoming Events - Virtual unless otherwise noted

Keep scrolling to find upcoming events divided into four categories:

Focused Classes
Monthly Meetings
Series Courses
Tradeshows and Conferences

Upcoming Events - Focused Classes

Growing Your Business

1/11/2023 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM

William Factory, 1423 E 29 St, Tacoma WA 98404-4008

Come and learn more about Federal, State and Tribal Certifications; Veteran Certification and Marketing

UEI & SAM Registration How To – limited seating

1/12/2023 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM

Economic Development Alliance Skagit County 1932 E College Way, Mount Vernon WA 98273

Getting a Unique Entity ID (UEI) and registration in the System for Award Management (SAM.gov) registration are mandatory for businesses that want contracts and grant funding from the federal government.

This training will help save time and frustration by learning how to do it right the first time -- or figure out what went wrong to fix an issue -- and attendees will receive a helpful checklist to use from start to finish.

Are there ethics in government contracting?

1/18/2023 8:00 AM - 10:00 AM

In this session you will learn contract terms and conditions, and clauses you MUST be compliant with in order to avoid contract termination, fines, penalties, debarment and even prison.

Capabilities Statement - Writing for Impact

1/25/2023 9:00 AM - 11:30 AM

This workshop is for firms with a desire to start networking and developing relationships with local, state and federal government agencies. The ability to market your firms strengths through a capabilities statement is one of the first steps in being successful with government contracting. Please be prepared to create or improve your firms capabilities statement to increase your visibility with government agencies. Subject Matter Expert Sandy Bjorgen will be leading us through an exercise of writing for impact and being memorable.

Are you prepared to write a winning proposal?

1/25/2023 8:00 AM - 10:00 AM

When writing a proposal, what are the fine details you should pay attention to? Learn from two retired contracting officers have read countless proposals and have seen and read it all. Let their experience and expertise guide you on your next solicitation response!

Upcoming Events - Monthly Sessions

Contracting Coffee Hour, 8:00 AM - 10:00 AM

Got contracting questions? We have answers!

1/4/2023

University of Washington Virtual Workshops for Suppliers, 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM

The orientations will provide a learning opportunity to assist in navigating potential business prospects at the University and with other state agencies, as well as educational and other resources to assist businesses.

1/5/2023, 2/2/2023

PTAC & SBDC First Friday Follow-up, 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Friday Follow-up is an open forum, round table for businesses to get answers from your local PTAC counselor and SBDC Advisor. Bring your questions regarding government contracting and learn from knowledgeable Small Business Experts. Our main focus is to share resources for growing your business.

1/6/2023

Wednesday with the Deputy for Small Business, 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM

Wednesday with the Deputy for Small Business is an opportunity for Industry partners to learn about doing business with the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) Division, Keyport.

1/11/2023, 2/8/2023

Doing Business with the state – DES, 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM

On the third Thursday of the month, the Washington State Department of Enterprise Services (DES) facilitates an interactive conversation with state procurement professionals who can provide information and insight on how to do business with the state.

1/19/2023 2/16/2023

Upcoming Events - Series Courses

Washington Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC) and Municipal Research and Services Center (MRSC) are presenting a virtual training series focused on Public Work contracting. Each session is led by a subject matter expert(s) from the public works sector. This training series is a continuation of the Fundamentals training which took place in November 2022 for small, minority and women-owned businesses.

We are now focused on learning about the BIDDING PROCESS.

Training sessions are scheduled for each Tuesday in January from 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm.

January 3rd - Business Plan & Pursuit Schedule (Plan the Plan)

January 10th - Specs & Schedule (Digging In)

January 17th - Pricing (Nuts and Bolts)

January 24th - Bidding (Making Final Adjustments)

January 31st - After Bid Submission Etiquette (Now What)

Upcoming Events - Tradeshows and Conferences

Alliance Northwest 2023 March 16, 2023 is back IN-PERSON

EARLY BIRD ATTENDEE DISCOUNT IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1/15/2023

For over 30 years, Alliance Northwest has been one of the largest business-to-government events in the Northwest, featuring subject matter experts and opportunities to connect buyers and sellers in the public marketplace. We are back IN PERSON this year and moving to the Greater Tacoma Convention Center! We are also keeping a virtual component to give even more resources and access to enhance the business-to-government interaction.

Govology classes, live and on demand, are Free for Washington PTAC clients – contact your PTAC counselor for access. Click here for the list of Govology this month’s live classes.

Recorded webinars available.

PTAC CALENDAR

PTAC provides technical assistance to help Washington businesses successfully compete in the government marketplace. A program of the Thurston Economic Development Council, in partnership with the following subcenters: