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JB MDL 'Industry Day' attracts contractors, vendors

  • Published
  • By Steve Snyder
  • Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst Public Affairs
JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. --  More than 400 people attended thefirst Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst Industry Day Nov. 19 at the McGuireCommunity Center.

The conference was held to aid small business proprietors in applying forand securing government contracts from JB MDL. The theme was "DoingBusiness with the Joint Base" and there was no cost for local contractors and vendors.

The 87th Contracting Squadron and the director of the New Jersey Procurement Technical Assistance Center provided information on the basic concepts of conducting business with the federal government. They also addressed resources and assistance available to vendors, JB MDL business processes, and information on the supplies and services typically procured to support the installation.

Col. Michael Carrell, 87th Mission Support Group commander greeted the visitors and promised to walk them through the processes of conducting business with JB MDL. He emphasized that McGuire, Dix and Lakehurst will still retain their basic missions while maintaining excellent relations with local communities, including many small businesses in the area.

"We want to put a lot of military dollars back into the area," said Colonel Carrell.

Lt. Col. David Searle, 87th Contracting Squadron commander explained that the 87th Contracting Squadron could not perform their JB MDL mission without support in the communal market system.

"You are very important to us," he said.

The remainder of the day was filled with speakers and instructional sessions.

Speakers emphasized how the process behind getting government contracts works, exploring in detail what individual applicants have to go through to land their share of government largess. Time was spent analyzing what kinds of supplies and services organizations like the joint base need.

Suzanne Edgar, Simplified Acquisition Flight chief, spoke about the process for acquiring supplies and services to meet government requirements in the most effective, economical and timely manner.

The audience was introduced to Web sites and other resources that helped navigate through the maze of regulations and restrictions regarding government relationships with civilian enterprises

The remaining speakers covered various other topics of interest to the community. James Kelly spoke to the differences between government and commercial contracts; Mrs. Karen Thorngren discussed business processes; and Manuel Revilla presented a spend analysis and financial forecast.

Dolcey Chaplin from the Procurement Technical Assistance Center was the last speaker and discussed resources available to assist the community conduct business with the government.

Sonja Jones, proprietor of a restaurant in Browns Mills, called the conference very interesting, noting that communication between JB MDL and businesses in the area cannot help but be beneficial to both parties.