Arkansas Procurement Technical Assistance Center Success Story: Park Attendants Win Government Contracts

by Kim Magee - October 3, 2022

Although it may not seem like your typical government contract, APEX Accelerator Counselor Tim Hicks has had three of his park attendant APEX Accelerator clients to receive government contracts this year. These contract winning clients are from Pine Bluff, Lakeview, and Nashville.

Our first park attendant client spotlight is Stephen Case. This is Case’s first year as a park attendant and his first government contract was awarded earlier this year and goes through October 2022. Case will be park attending at Lost Bridge South Park in Garfield. Case learned of the services offered by APEX Accelerator through a fellow park attendant.

“Tim made the process of getting a Unique Entity Identifier Number (UEI) and registered in System for Award Management a breeze,” said Case.

Our second park attendant client spotlight is Rhonda Hernandez. 2021 was Hernandez’s first year as a park attendant. Her first government contract with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the Highway 125 Park campground in Bull Shoals goes from April 1st until it closes on October 31st of 2022, 2023, and 2024. Hernandez also learned of the services offered by APEX Accelerator through a fellow park attendant and R1S Coordinator for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Hernandez enjoyed traveling in her RV with her three dogs and found it therapeutic which resulted in a career of park attending.

“It would not have been possible for me to be here right now had it not been for Tim. I knew I would be a great park attendant, but I could not understand the terminology in the contracts nor how to navigate the SAM website or any of the other requirements to become one. Tim literally walked me through every single step via zoom and numerous emails and calls to him. He was absolutely a God send and never made me feel stupid or that I was a burden to him. I appreciate him more than he knows," she said.

Our third park attendant client spotlight is Stan and Becky Reeder. This is the couple’s first year as park attendants and their first government contract. Their three-year contract is with Cottonshed Park in Mineral Springs. The pair had previously volunteered at the park and learned of the services offered by APEX Accelerator through a Park Ranger.

“We feel as though Tim is the reason that we received our government contract. Before Tim, we had vague knowledge of what government contracting was all about. He has become like a bother to us now,” Stan Reeder said.

Together, the contracts by these three clients total over $60,000. Hicks assisted these clients in many ways with some of those ways being similar in nature due to the nature of the contracts being similar but also because they are standard ways that we can assist our clients.

Hicks assistance to his featured clients included:  System for Award Management (SAM), Unique Entity Identifier Number (UEI) – formerly Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS), searching for government contracting opportunities, reviewing the awarded contracts, reviewing the bid packets, and explaining bid information.

If you have ever considered park attending or other government contracting, connect with our Arkansas APEX Accelerator counselors at ptac@uada.edu to learn how you may also be able to expand your business through government contracting.