Arkansas Procurement Assistance Center (APAC) Updates

As we enter the holiday season I want to take time to show appreciation for our APAC clients, resource partners and staff. The Arkansas Procurement Assistance Center has been very busy over the last year. We have hosted or participated in 83 small business events and trainings over the last 12 months. As a result, our small business clients received more than $143 million in government contracts during this time.

Our APAC clients are actively bidding on federal, local and state government contracts. Anytime our small business clients need assistance in reviewing a solicitation our experienced procurement counselors are here to walk them through the opportunity line by line, page by page. If you do not win the award this time, our counselors are also here to educate you on how to request a debriefing session with the contracting officer as well as to explain what everything means in hopes you will do better on the next bid.

In July of this year, the Arkansas Procurement Assistance Center entered into a strategic alliance with the Small Business Administration (SBA) and the Little Rock Air Force Base (LRAFB). Since then we have hosted three small business trainings at the LRAFB on how businesses can best work with the staff on base. The first training brought together over 50 small businesses to meet the leadership of the 19^th Contracting Squadron at the LRAFB. The second training discussed in detail the various types of contracts the LRAFB has available for businesses. The final training focused on contract performance and what to do after the contract was won. We are working to replicate this training series not only for a repeat performance at the LRAFB in early 2019, but with more federal and state agencies across the state.

We are so thankful for our APAC clients, resource partners and staff. We look forward to many more exciting partnerships over the next year and increasing the awards received by our Arkansas small business clients! Let’s work together to show the country what Arkansas has to offer!

A list of upcoming APAC events and trainings are listed on our website as well as available upon request. Email us at ptac@uada.edu or call our main office at 501-671-2390 for more information.