Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 28, Number 1, 1 Ianuali 2011 — Hawaiʻi PTAC helps businesses help themselves [ARTICLE]

Hawaiʻi PTAC helps businesses help themselves

By Howard Dashefsky To succeed in business is to understand how to successfully market your goods and services. But what if your potential customer is the government? Whether it be the county, the state or even the federal government, getting that proverbial foot in the door is no easy task. Enter the Hawai'i Procurement īeehnieal Assistance Center, or HI-PTAC. "We signed up for it and now we get notifications of contracts that are coming available in the federal marketplace in the next 30 days or so," said Ray Jardine, President of the Native Hawaiian-owned Native Hawaiian Veterans LLC. Because Jardine's company has been up and running for five years, he says HI-PTAC isn't as critical for him as it is for other eompanies that are smaller or just starting out. "It gives them not only ideas of what's out there in the federal marketplace but it also helps them start their companies," said Jardine. "HI-PTAC is not just putting out information about what contracts are coming out. It helps small businesses learn how to do business in the federal marketplace, whieh will ultimately translate into jobs creation." Jardine helped bring the procurement center to Hawai'i two years ago by alerting Hawai'i senior Sen. Daniel Inouye that Hawai'i was one of just two states without one. It didn't take very long for that to change. In 2008, the Defense Logistics Agency awarded a grant to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs to bring the first PTAC to the state. Now Jardine not only benefits from the program, he's become a part of it. "We've gone to some of their procurement seminars and also participated in them with Native Hawaiian Organizations Association," said Jardine. "We teamed up to do a presentation on doing work in the federal marketplace, and it's paid off. Lor us, and for many others. Lor that, we are very proud." ■ Howard Dashefsky is a Contributing Writerfor Ka Wai Ola. A 25-year veteran in broadcast news, he teaches journaIism atthe University of Hawai'i-Mānoa and produces showsfor OC 16.