SBA, CIAPR hosting gov’t contracting matchmaking event
The U.S. Small Business Administration and the Puerto Rico Professional College of Engineers and Land Surveyors (CIAPR by its Spanish acronym) will conduct on Tuesday their 10th annual “Business Matchmaking Event” to pair small firms with federal government agencies seeking vendors.
Kicking-off “Small Business Week 2014” in Puerto Rico, the Matchmaking Event’s main objective is to connect small business owners with federal procurement officials and prime contractors. Entrepreneurs will have the opportunity to market their firms’ products and services through individual face-to-face appointments directly to purchasing officers, helping increase their development possibilities.
“The federal government is the world’s greatest buyer of product and services,” said SBA Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands District Director Yvette T. Collazo. “Part of SBA’s mission is to ensure that small businesses gain fair access to federal contracts. With this Matchmaking Event we have been conducting with the CIAPR during the past decade, we reaffirm our commitment to continue helping develop local businesses and our island’s economy.”
Participating at the Matchmaking Event will be such federal agencies as the Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Attorney’s Office, and Veteran’s Administration, among others.
“This activity is of utmost importance to our membership. Part of our mission at CIAPR is helping pave the way for economic progress. Today, entrepreneurship is more important than ever, and this event helps us encourage it among our island’s engineers and land surveyors, and firms that provide services that employ our membership,” Edgar Rodríguez Pérez, CIAPR president.
SBA resource partners SCORE, Puerto Rico Small Business & Technology Development Center and Women’s Business Institute will also be available to provide orientation.
