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THE CAMPAIGN FOR THE ACCOUNTABILITY OF AMERICAN BASES (CAAB) |
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THE CAMPAIGN FOR THE ACCOUNTABILITY OF AMERICAN BASES (CAAB) |
It’s the local company’s largest one-year Defense Department contract yet.
By
ANNA VOELKER ‚ Rockford Register Star
ROCKFORD — A Rockford company that acquires supplies for the U.S.
military has received its largest single-year contract, a $67 million deal to
help with the rebuilding of war-torn Iraq.
SupplyCore, a 90-employee firm which already supplies the military with maintenance and repair items, inked the deal last week with the Defense Logistics Agency, part of the Department of Defense.
The company will provide everything from construction materials for new Iraqi buildings to two-way radios for U.S. troops along with items including wire, sandbags and barriers.
SupplyCore, which has won hundreds of millions of dollars in federal contracts over its 16-year history, capitalized on that knowledge in getting the new contract, company chief Peter Provenzano said.
“They took a look at our experience supporting the troops over the last several years,” he said.
Local leaders hope this is the first of many federal contracts landed by local companies to help rebuild Iraq.
“Any government contract is a big deal,” said John DiGiacomo, director of the Procurement Technical Assistance Center at Rock Valley College. “This is a tremendous opportunity for Rockford. This takes the Rockford psyche that says ‘We can’t’ and says, ‘Why can’t we?’ There’s a company in downtown Rockford that just did.
“We have an inferiority complex here. If you never buy a Lotto ticket, you’ll never win. And if you never bid on a contract, you’re never going to get it.”
SupplyCore is familiar with the U.S. military. The company supplies lumber, air conditioners, plumbing and other goods for 150 military locations.
A conference that would have helped more companies gain that expertise had been scheduled for Thursday at Rock Valley College but was canceled because the Defense Department did not have all the information needed for businesses interested in the program.
Instead, U.S. Rep. Don Manzullo’s office will send interested businesses information once the Defense Department provides it.
Provenzano said companies interested in securing contracts will have to look at the big picture.
“It’s important to focus on what you do and leverage what you do to support the troops,” he said. “Focus on your core competencies and be persistent. It takes a lot of persistence to see these things through to fruition.”
SupplyCore’s previous contracts have been multiyear agreements, ranging from $24 million to a $59 million contract the company won in 1998 to order supplies for U.S. military bases in the Midwest. In 1999, the company netted a two-year, $72 million contract for U.S. military bases in Japan. In July 2002, the company got a two-year, $50 million deal to supply military bases in the Southeast United States.
The military has been a customer of several Rock River Valley companies over the years. Among the bigger recent contracts:
* Hamilton Sundstrand: $1 billion to build parts for Lockheed Martin’s Joint Strike Fighter.
* Hamilton Sundstrand: $830 million for Sundstrand subsidiary Ratier-Figeac to develop and produce propeller systems for Airbus military aircraft.
* Hamilton Sundstrand: $300 million to supply parts for the F/A-22 Raptor fighter jet.
* Woodward Governor: While the company declined to divulge the value of its contract to make parts for the Joint Strike Fighter, the 2002 deal increased the total value of Woodward’s parts on the jet engine to $125 million through 2028.
For more information on federal contracts, call Bryan Davis at U.S. Rep. Don Manzullo’s Rockford office, 815-394-1231.