Arkansas Procurement Technical Assistance Center Success Story: Premier Telecom and Technology Group, Inc.

by Kim Magee - November 30, 2021

After serving over 20 years in the telecommunications and technology fields, Wendy Cathey founded Premier Telecom and Technology Group, Inc. in 2019.

Premier is a woman-owned small business that works with clients in a host of areas such as telecommunications, network infrastructure, and field services. Cathey accomplishes Premier’s mission by employing subcontracting technicians throughout the country.

Shortly after starting her business, Cathey learned of the services offered by Arkansas APEX Accelerator while researching about the Woman-Owned Small Business (WOSB) certification process and was connected with former APEX Accelerator Counselor Mary Love and APEX Accelerator Counselor Liz Russell. Russell immediately assisted Cathey with her WOSB certification, which at that time was a self-certification process. Since then, Russell has assisted her with her State of Arkansas Minority and Woman-Owned Business Enterprise (MWBE) certification and is currently helping with her WOSB re-certification under the new rules instituted in 2020.

Following a lack of projects in her field due to COVID-19, Cathey partnered with Molly Mayhew of Mayhew Technology Solutions (MTS) to bid on a small business set-aside government contract. Good news came for the two women when they were notified that they had won the contract —Cathey's first government contract.

Awarded by the Haskell Indian Health Center, a division of the federal Indian Health Service, based in Lawrence, Kansas, the contract will consist of installing a cellular repeater or Distributed Antenna System (DAS) for the four major cellular providers. Cathey's business plans to handle the services side while Mayhew's business will handle the administration side.

Cathey also worked with APEX Accelerator Counselor Max Franks during her contracting journey. Together, our counselors have assisted Cathey with her WOSB certification, solicitation review, System for Award Management (SAM) renewal, market research, and capabilities statement.

“Liz has been wonderful. Anytime I have questions, she has been Johnny-on-the-Spot with an answer. Max has been the same way," she said.

Cathey mentioned that when she was recently unable to attend our Selling to the State of Arkansas training, Russell provided a one-on-one counseling session on the topic.

We congratulate Cathey and her business for the first of many government contract success stories and encourage our business clients to partner with others when/if they feel as though it would make them a stronger candidate for a government contract.

To learn more about the Arkansas Procurement Technical Assistance Center and the many ways mentioned in this article that our counselors can help secure government contracts, connect with us by calling 501-671-2390.