Opportunity for businesses was the subject of a conference held Wednesday on St. Thomas. The event, titled the V.I. Apex Accelerator Business Innovation Summit, focused on the opportunities for local business owners to partner with the federal government.
Summit organizers said about 20 business owners came to the University of the Virgin Islands 13D Innovation Center to learn how they can qualify for federal contracts. The majority of the roughly 2,500 businesses operating in the territory have fewer than 500 employees and generate less than $6 million in annual revenue — factors that define a small business.
The 13D Innovation Center is also the home of the university’s Small Business Development Center, where VI Apex Director Frank Dixon promotes opportunity. “… it’s about helping local businesses, the federal government agencies, local agencies, commissioners and politicans understand the available resources that are here for businesses,” Dixon said.
VI APEX provides free counseling services and contracting assistance and is funded in part by the U.S. Department of Defense Office of Small Business Programs.
Some summit presenters also mentioned the challenge V.I. contractors face in providing a surety bond that the federal government requires. The answer, they said, is for small businesses to team up with sub-contractors and find a way to pool resources.
Military representatives came to present their own small business opportunity programs, among them Army Corps of Engineers Deputy Commander Major Ricardo Herrero. At Wednesday’s summit, Herrero made a historic announcement: Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands are newly designated members of their own federal sub-district.
It’s a designation that may lead to greater opportunities for businesses to pursue civil engineering projects, including those tied to ongoing hurricane recovery projects. “We are strongly committed to helping the USVI get all that they need to become more resilient,” Herrero said.
Dixon called the development “groundbreaking. If they district themselves from a Caribbean perspective that would centralize their resources,” he said.
Presenters spent most of Wednesday morning explaining the contracting process, why understanding the culture of a federal partner helps them navigate the process, and how the services provided through VI Apex can help local businesses prepare to meet the challenge of winning a contract award.
Any business that feels they can provide goods or services to an agency engaged in a government project can prepare to bid for a contract. “These agencies buy everything — every product, every service — even if there’s nothing spoken in terms of what these businesses sell, it’s about understanding the environment and the way the government gets what they want,” the director said.
Among those wanting to know more was Kylan Penn, owner of Dynamic Haulers, a solid waste management company. “It’s good to get in here and find out what kind of contracts are going to be available in the future and see how you can position yourself to apply and win those contracts,” Penn said.
Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. dropped in to welcome the participants and share his wish for a successful outcome. At the same time, he said, matching local businesses with big opportunities can present challenges.
“ … in the small business community, in our community, people don’t really get it,” Bryan said. “Before, you would hire 10 guys, really good guys in construction or whatever (sic) they do. So you get a job that probably needs 30 guys; you put 10 guys on it and the job will last three times as long … Now, it’s about efficiency.”
To find out more about the numerous opportunities available to federal contractors and sub-contractors, visit www.VIAPEX.org.
