Meet the Buyer Forum Boosts Procurement Opportunities

By: Damita Roberts

Meet the Buyer Procurement Forum is an essential key to the development and growth of small businesses in Houston. This annual event connects small business owners with procurement agents and meets educational needs of entrepreneurs seeking procurement opportunities with the City of Houston and other entities in public and private sectors.

This year’s event, with the theme of Procuring Virtually, focused on educating business owners on aspects of the procurement process, from becoming a certified subcontractor to seeking funding for projects as a prime contractor. In its twelfth year but first virtually, Meet the Buyer was coordinated by Dr. Porscha Jackson, Business Development Manager of the Office of Business Opportunity (OBO), to provide a common space for small business owners in various industries to virtually network and build connections with procurement agents.

“We fine-tuned last year’s event and incorporated suggestions from past attendees to provide a well-rounded experience that walked business owners through important aspects of the procurement process,” said Jackson.

Houston’s growing innovation and technology sectors are producing many opportunities for small businesses to land contracts with government and private agencies. Rice Management Company (RMC), responsible for the stewardship of Rice University’s endowment, presented the event’s featured opportunity for small business owners to gain insight on upcoming contracts at The Ion. Samuel Dike, Manager of Strategic Initiatives, shared RMC’s plans to focus on minority and women business enterprise (MWBE) capacity projects as well as business opportunities for these firms with the Now, Next and the Future outline. He said, “The Now: focus on real and immediate opportunities. The Next: increase MWBE Capacity. The Future: focus on further business opportunities that we can outline for MWBE firms.”

Robin Owens of Mpact Strategic Consulting discussed her company’s role in The Ion’s procurement process and informed attendees that the first set of opportunities available are leasing, operations and maintenance.

“Our role on the project is to ensure that there are opportunities for minority and women-owned businesses to engage with a project in a time and a manner, so that they can really take advantage of the opportunities,” Owens said.

With The Ion project, there are about 40 different scopes of work currently up for bid for interested minority-owned firms with projects extending through December 2022 that range from small contracts of $1,000 - $50,000 to larger contracts of $500,000 and above.

With this year’s event being virtual, attendees were able to access virtual exhibitor booths and attend on-demand workshops accessible throughout the event on topics that included: Accessing Capital for Procurement, Citywide Small Business Development Programs, How to Access Business Resources, and The Role of Certification in Procurement. Those who logged into the workshops were able to learn about programs that offer pitch funding, small business coaching and operation planning.

During the live show, attendees were able to hear experiences from certified companies who landed contracts with the City and how they were able to grow and scale their companies due to procurement opportunities. Michelle Levi McDaniel of Elite Image Tax & Notary Services, LLC and Greg Williams of Honesty Construction Group laid out the road map they used, individually, that enabled them to continue to work on contracts and partner with other small businesses.

“My first year of business I made $97. Through my procurement opportunities, right now, we are on a bulk of business through procurement with the City of Houston that’s $4.4 million,” McDaniel said.

In addition, she touched on a key business concept of how a company can market its services to attract new business and build new relationships. Using Williams’ company as an example, she connected the dots for attendees on how networking and building business connections can yield high reward. Michelle referenced how prime contractors meeting their MWBE participation goal gives a competitive edge to companies that are City certified to be included in large budget projects.

The event recording and workshops are available on OBO’s YouTube channel, www.youtube.com/houstontxobo. For more information on Meet the Buyer, visit http://houstontx.gov/obo/meet-thebuyer.html.

PROCURING VIRTUALLY: Dr. Porscha Jackson and guest speakers Greg Williams of Honesty Construction Group and Michelle Levi McDaniel of Elite Image Tax & Notary Services participate in the Success Stories panel discussion.