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Sales Pitch
While EDI, which is a computer-to-computer exchange of business documents, may take away the one-on-one relationship between buyer and seller, it also eliminates reams of paperwork. Large companies such as Wal-Mart and Motorola have used EDI for two decades, and the federal government has been moving to the system since the Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act of 1994 (FASA) was enacted.
For small businesses, the downside to EDI is cost. Implementing the system often involves thousands of dollars for hardware and software. "We will help businesses figure out whether it's cost-effective for them," says Brian Manty, program manager for Pinellas County's Electronic Commerce Resource Center, a federally funded facility that provides training programs and consultations on EDI and the Internet.
For small-business owners who don't have enough government business to warrant the expense and hassle of EDI, the Internet provides an easy way to begin integrating electronic commerce into a procurement system. Some options:
- The Florida Administrative Weekly and Commerce Business Daily, the official state and federal publications that list bid solicitations, are both available for free on the Internet. The Florida Administrative Weekly (http://election.dos.state.fl.us/faw) includes bid solicitations for purchases of $11,000 or more. Commerce Business Daily (http://cbdnet.gpo.gov) announces all proposed federal procurements over $100,000 and many under $100,000.
- Florida's master list of potential bidders, the State Automated Purchasing System (SPURS), is available at the state's One Stop Purchasing Center Web site on the Internet (http://fcn.state.fl. us/fcn/centers/purchase/).
- PRO-Net, a Small Business Administration pilot project, (http://www.sbaonline.sba.gov) provides an Internet registration system for small businesses that want to sell to federal and state governments.
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Procurement
Charge It!
For small purchases, federal and state government agencies are bypassing the normal mounds of procurement paperwork and instead buying with government credit cards. "It certainly is the up and coming thing," says Thomas Hoffman of the Florida Procurement Technical Assistance Center(FPTAC).
Florida's state and local governments will begin using a new Visa "Purchasing Card" for small acquisitions up to $5,000. For details of the recently announced program, call the Florida Department of Management Services, 850/414-7669, or NationsBank, 850/877-8011, ext. 7.
Federal agencies have been purchasing with credit cards for several years. They've issued thousands of "International Merchant Purchase Authorization Cards," commonly called IMPAC, which look like ordinary Visa cards. Cardholders, who aren't necessarily purchasing agents, may use the cards for "micropurchases" of supplies and services up to $2,500.
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Contracting With The Government
Info - Bid Data Bank
You're ready to start selling to the government, but how do you find out who's buying what? A convenient, one-stop source of information is Info-Bid, a computerized data bank of bid opportunities operated by the Florida Small Business Development Center Network.
"Almost anybody can afford it," says Tom Hoffman, manager of the program. Businesses receive daily summaries of invitations to bid, requests for quotations and requests for proposals from all federal and Florida state agencies and many cities and counties. Every day, 9,000 to 12,000 new bids are added to the system.
Here's how it works:
Registration: A business subscribes to Info-Bid by paying $50, providing a description of the product or service they want to sell and their preference for notification of bid opportunities (daily fax or e-mail; weekly regular mail).
Review: Info-Bid delivers bid summaries tailored to the business. "They'll get enough information to tell them what the bid concerns, not enough to make the bid," says Hoffman.
Response: If the business owner is interested in a bid opportunity, he or she contacts the purchasing agency and requests a bid package and pricing history. Also, the business should ask to be put on the agency's bidders mailing list in order to get future solicitations directly from the agency.
Resources
Florida Procurement Technical Assistance Centers
Florida's leading government contracting organization, begun in 1985, offers free workshops and one-on-one counseling to business owners interested in selling to federal, state or local government agencies. Call the nearest center for details or check its Web site (http://www.fsbdc.uwf.edu/fpta/ fpta1.htm)
U.S. Small Business Administration
This federal agency's representatives counsel small businesses on prime contracting and subcontracting opportunities with the government, particularly the military. Call the SBA's procurement offices in Jacksonville, 904/443-1900; Orlando, 407/380-8252 or Eglin Air Force Base, 850/882-2605 or access through the Internet (http://www.sbaonline.sba.gov/GC/).
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COMPANY PROFILE
Designed To Sell
Artist Dary Rees builds a business with her whimsical "table jewelry".
While most artists struggle to find an out-of-the-way gallery to exhibit their works, North Miami Beach designer Dary Rees sells her creations at upscale stores such as Henri Bendel, Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom. She isn't selling paintings or prints; instead she's marketing a high-style line of tableware and home accessories that brought in $3 million last year. "They call me the queen of glasses," she quips.
A native of Israel, Rees spent two years teaching art in the Israeli army before moving to New York City in 1983. "I came with $500 and a big dream," she recalls.
Initially she sold jewelry fashioned out of wire, beads and aluminum foil at local flea markets. When cheap Asian-made jewelry began to flood the New York market in the late 1980s, though, the jewelry business suffered.
Playing around in her kitchen in 1990, Rees created her first tableware design, a wine glass wrapped with wire and finished with an earring hung on the side. Perhaps too outr? for a Midwestern department store, but not for one of the city's most stylish retailers, Henri Bendel. Two weeks after ordering 40 glasses to test the product, Bendel asked for an additional 2,000 glasses and featured the items in its New York Times ad.
Today, Rees produces hundreds of table, gift and household items ranging from a $9 napkin ring to a $2,600 loveseat. The most popular tableware items sell from $20 to $50. Since moving to south Florida in 1993, she's set up a 10,000-square-foot facility where 25 workers produce the designs. Another 35 work out of their homes. "I try to hire women who are the main supporters of their households and who have some sense of artistic design," she says.
Two years ago, Rees took her designs to Europe as part of a U.S. Department of Commerce trade mission for women business owners. Since then, she's signed up distributors in 14 countries in Europe, Asia and the Middle East by utilizing missions and other Commerce Department programs. "They basically do everything for you, all the groundwork," she enthuses.
What's next? Rees is in talks with television retailer Home Shopping Network about a deal to feature a special line. Thinking ahead to 1998, she's planning to transfer her fanciful designs to a whole line of table linens, pillows and curtains. Says Rees, "I'm trying to cater to adults, but bring out the child within."
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Small Talk
Attention Owners!
The Edward Lowe Foundation and the Central Florida Innovation Corporation are teaming up for "Success Solutions," a two-part conference for small-business owners and entrepreneurs, October 7-8 in Orlando. Day one will kick off with the Central Florida Venture Investment Conference, which provides a forum for a select group of entrepreneurs to make presentations to potential investors. The following day, the focus shifts to management, with four workshops on marketing, strategic planning, sales and finance. The conference costs $139 for two days, $89 for one. For more information, call 800/232-5693.
Loans For Women
The Small Business Administration (SBA) is offering a loan pre-qualification program to help current and prospective women business owners with loans of up to $250,000. Small Business Development Centers (SBDC) and other local non-profit organizations will assist in preparing a loan application, which is submitted directly to SBA rather than a lending institution. Once the application is approved, the SBDC or non-profit will help find a lender. Call the SBA in Jacksonville, 904/443-1900, or Coral Gables, 305/536-5521, for more details.
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