Minn. fair seeks to match small businesses with govt. contracts

Nagender Mahipathi launched his IT firm a decade ago but only recently discovered a reliable customer base that's always been there — the government.

"All these years, I didn't know about any of this," said Mahipathi, who is the vice president of Minnetonka-based RNXT.

But on Thursday, Mahipathi was immersed in the complicated world of government procurement. He was one of 900 small business owners at the Small and Disadvantaged Business Opportunity Council, or SADBOC's, 17th annual trade fair in Brooklyn Center.

The free, daylong event aimed to demystify and remove barriers that make government contracting elusive for women, veterans and minority entrepreneurs through education and networking.

"SADBOC is the Super Bowl of all the outreaches," said Ken McCraley, past president of the National Association of Minority Contractors of the Upper Midwest. "It puts all the government players under one roof. There's nothing else like it for a small business owner."

More than 70 contracting officers from federal, state and local agencies, along with nonprofit organizations, filled the conference room of the Earle Browne Heritage Center. Entrepreneurs learned about government buying habits and upcoming needs during one-on-one meetings.

"The goal is to help small businesses sell their goods and services to the government and the government's contractors," said Randy Czaia, chair of the Federal Executive Board of Minnesota's SADBOC. "The government sees it as part of their job to reach out to small businesses and give them the maximum chance to get their share of the government contracts."

Buyers from 3M, Cargill and dozens of other major corporations were also seeking vendors and suppliers to subcontract — a requirement of their prime government contracts.

Businesses were matched weeks before with the government entities that buy exactly what they're selling. The pairs — totaling 350 — met for private one-on-ones as part of the event's match making program.

Last year Adobe Designs, an American Indian-owned business, was paired with Hennepin County. The company is now installing more than 200 signs in the county's new library in Brooklyn Park.

"It put us in front of people we ordinarily wouldn't be able to meet," said Vivian Guerra, co-owner of the Minneapolis-based signage company. "I was trying to figure out how to do this but getting nowhere."

All levels of government need and buy an array of goods and services — from IT to vehicles to stationery. Most vendors or suppliers have to go through a competitive bidding process.

The federal government's procurement spending in Minnesota totaled $4.7 billion in 2015, according to USASpending.gov.

"A government contract can be very lucrative, once in a while it can even turn a small business into a large business," said Christina Nebel-Dickerson, director of Minnesota Procurement Technical Assistance Center, which guides business owners through the government contracting process.

"In most cases, it's an opportunity to grow and diversify a business, and it's a revenue stream you can count on because the government's check won't bounce."

Even with some set-asides and special certifications, the cumbersome process and the program's obscurity have kept minority participation low, Nebel-Dickerson said.

"As a small business owner, you have cash flow issues so you're too busy trying to survive," Mahipathi, the IT business executive, said. "There's no time to look into other opportunities. You miss a lot."

The certification programs designed to help minority and women-owned businesses can be an overwhelming alphabet soup with different entities offering different types of certificates.

The Disadvantaged Business Enterprise, or DBE, certificate for women and minorities is required by the Minnesota Department of Transportation, Metropolitan Airports Commission and the city of Minneapolis. There are separate certificates for state of Minnesota and federal contracts.

"The government is a complicated and demanding customer," Czaia of Minnesota's SADBOC said. "It does take a while for people learn all the rules and requirements."

Mahipathi learned his service is needed, but requires additional certifications. Even so he was glad to have a matchmaking session with a state agency.

"It went very well," he said. "It's the start of the process."