Advice Paves the Way to Success
The subcontract for the decorative stamped concrete at the Homestead National Monument in Beatrice went to Decopro Custom Concrete after the company learned the intricacies of the government registration and bidding processes from NBDC Procurement Technical Assistance program consultant Roger McCullough.
“Working with the government is complicated,” says Westley Behrends, owner of Decopro Custom Concrete in Beatrice. “Roger was awesome. He did a great job explaining the registration process and continued following up on the project on our behalf.”
Behrends founded his company in 2012 and has grown it to five employees. Decopro Custom Concrete specializes in new construction, tear out and repair of all decorative concrete or regular flatwork and paving. The company prides itself on a strong work ethic and on finishing projects on time or ahead of schedule.
Behrends first consulted with McCullough in February 2016 as his company sought to identify opportunities to work on government projects, especially the opportunity to bid the decorative concrete contract at the Homestead National Monument.
“The director of the Homestead Monument informed Westley that he needed to be registered with the System for Awards Management (SAM) in order to bid,” McCullough says. “Westley came to the NBDC office in Lincoln to learn more about SAM and get registered.”
Among other tasks, McCullough reviewed the Nebraska Secretary of State filings for the company and checked Dun & Bradstreet for a Dun’s number, which he subsequently helped Behrends obtain. He also walked Behrends through the SAM registration process.
McCullough explained other services of the Procurement Technical Assistance program, including signing the company up for BidMatch, an electronic service that searches for open solicitations, like the Homestead solicitation, and emails Behrends new solicitations that might interest his company.