Success with his first bid and the persistence of Mary Graff, his NBDC consultant, has encouraged Robert Brown to continue bidding for federal government contracts. In 2015, his efforts were well rewarded when he won a long-term contract to deliver janitorial services for the federal government. The five-year contract will add $254,100 to his small company’s sales.
Brown’s Commercial Cleaning is a janitorial services firm located in Omaha, Nebraska that specializes in commercial and residential cleaning of multi-family dwellings. NBDC’s procurement technical assistance program began working with Brown in 2014. In September, Graff became aware of an open solicitation for cleaning the Army Reserve Center in Elkhorn, Nebraska and felt strongly that he should pursue the opportunity. She supplied Brown with a synopsis of the contract, alerted him to a scheduled site visit, helped him understand the solicitation and other required documents and reviewed the completed bid for accuracy. Despite some bumps in the road, with Graff’s help Brown was able to make the deadline..
Graff, a Certified Contract Assistance Specialist and a Certified Federal Contractor, is a consultant for the Nebraska Business Development Center (NBDC) Procurement Technical Assistance program. The program provides services to help small and medium-sized businesses compete in the government marketplace. Contracting consultants serve business owners for no fees from offices throughout the state.
Brown says he was inspired by this win to continue pursuing government contracts. He thanks Graff for her continual encouragement to pursue this opportunity and credits her dogged determination that he attend the pre-bid site visit for his eventual success.
“Without Mary’s commitment to finding the opportunity and reminding me to attend that pre-bid site visit, I may not have won this contract. NBDC’s program has been a great asset to me in expanding my vision for the future of my company,” he says.