Gallatin,TNApril7,2021–
The Association of Procurement Technical Assistance Centers (APTAC) presented its 2021 Outstanding Project Award to APTAC Region 11 for their Indian Affairs Native American Vendor Industry Day Matchmaker.
APTAC Region 11 includes the Native American Development Corporation PTAC, National Center American Indian PTAC, Tribal Government Institute PTAC, American Indian Chamber Education Fund PTAC, PEDCO PTAC, and the Nebraska Indian Community College PTAC.
The project was a collaboration between the Indian Affairs (IA) Division of Acquisitions and Native American Development Corporation PTAC, National Center American Indian PTAC, Tribal Government Revised 12/18/2017 Institute PTAC, American Indian Chamber Education Fund PTAC, PEDCO PTAC,
and the Nebraska Indian Community College PTAC. Cooperation between the members of the Eleventh Region led to the collaboration with the IA Division of Acquisitions.
“I wanted to add that the NA PTACs had a total of 290 Attendees for the Indian Affairs Native American Vendor Industry Day and Matchmaker for both the morning and afternoon matchmaking sessions. Many of the businesses that attended the morning session also participated in the afternoon matchmaking. In the matchmaking, we had 24 out of 25 available Contracting Officers from Indian Affairs participating. That’s a 96% participation rate by the Contracting Officers, a real credit to Indian Affairs and the follow-up by the Native PTACs to insure all available Contracting Officers participated. 158 Native Businesses participated in the matchmaking. When you consider that these businesses were matched to the NAICS Codes of the Contracting Officers and that Native American Businesses make up one of the smallest demographic portions of the overall small business population, and all participating businesses were screened even further to include only businesses owned by federally recognized tribes and/or their members, we are talking finding needles within a stack of needles in our search for qualified Native Businesses. Recruiting 158 businesses owned by members of Federally recognized tribes is quite an accomplishment and a level of difficulty a State or Regional PTAC cannot appreciate,” said George Williams, Program Manager of The National Center American Indian PTAC.
APTAC’s Outstanding Project Award recognizes an accomplishment that stands out from the usual activities that all PTACs organize and undertake. The award is given to projects that benefit all APTAC members and/or serve as a model for other PTACs to emulate. Region 11’s proactive and innovative project to create a valuable resource that can be used by all represents just such an initiative.
APTAC is the professional organization of and for the 94 Procurement Technical Assistance Centers (PTACs) sponsored by the Defense Department’s Defense Logistics Agency and local host organizations. APTAC supports the PTACs by providing them critical updates on the ever-changing procurement processes across all federal agencies; comprehensive training opportunities and certification; and a national presence to collaborate with federal agencies on small business contracting initiatives and otherwise provide a voice in national government contracting assistance and policy arenas.
