The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District hosted the spring Business Opportunities Open House March 18 at the Midtown Hilton Garden Inn in Phoenix.
The annual Business Opportunities Open House, or BOOH, focuses on facilitating partnerships with businesses and highlighting contract opportunities.
“Today’s event is going great.” said Venessa Gleich, the American Indian Chamber Education Fund APEX Accelerator program manager. “We have a lot of participation from businesses looking for and connecting with the U.S Army Corps of Engineers and learning about the projects they have upcoming. There is a lot of networking between business-to-business and business-to-government.”
During the event, more than 350 business owners met with LA District division chiefs, and program and project managers.
“It was a great opportunity to reconnect with many of our longstanding USACE partners but also a time to meet with new contractors building future partnerships,” said Justin Gay,chief of the LA District’s construction management branch, following the event. “I think attendees took away an appreciation of the magnitude of the Corps mission and desire to partner with industry to deliver on our commitments.”
The BOOH had three distinct goals – to create competitive bids on upcoming projects, support small businesses in the area and build partnerships through open lines of communication with stakeholders.
“This is an opportunity for vendors to meet us and show us their capabilities,” said Kinya “Roger” Minami, a procurement analyst with LA District. “We are hoping to meet some new companies that bring new capabilities to match with USACE customers.”
Small businesses represented more than 90 percent of the participants. Businesses located as far as Florida and Illinois attended the event.
“I think today’s event was stellar,” said Victoria Mechtly, a vice president at GFT Inc. a privately held architecture, engineering, and construction firm. “It was a great opportunity for small businesses and large businesses to meet with one another as well as with the Army Corps of Engineers and gain insight on future opportunities to work with the government.”
The event also was supported by the Arizona Procurement Technical Assistance Center, Society of American Military Engineers and the USACE South Pacific Division.
“This event benefits my company and all of our employees because it gives us a chance to really give back to the military mission,” said Mechtly.
The learn more about the next BOOH visit www.spl.usace.army.mil/Business-With-Us/Small-Business-Program.