06/10/2014

Last Chance: FPDA is Looking for a Few Distributor Men or Women!

Have you submitted government bids? Frustrated? FPDA can help improve the process through a new partnership. FPDA has already received the names of a few volunteers and we would like a few more to help. Let us know if you are interested in volunteering an employee for this effort.

FPDA has discussed an opportunity with the East County Economic Development Council (ECEDC) in El Cajon, CA, to improve the bidding process with the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA). ECEDC serves as a liaison between industry, via trusted associations, and the DLA in order to:

• Benefit industry members by making it easier for them to bid/win on DLA solicitations for fluid power systems
• Benefit the DLA via wider industry response to their solicitations

This is a great opportunity to build more business with Federal Government solicitations for fluid power and hydraulics by educating the DLA on our industry terms, systems, etc. They have already gained an understanding of the distributor/manufacturer relationship through the hose and accessories industry and fully recognize the need to work through distributors in the fluid power marketplace.

This model has been tested with the hose and accessories commodity class resulting in the MASIC project – Matching Acquisition Strategies to Industrial Capabilities. MASIC includes tools to help both suppliers decipher the solicitations to make rapid bid/no-bid decisions and the DLA to identify capable vendors. Following the success of this project, the DLA next identified fluid power as an industry they would like to work with to create a smoother flow for bids.

This is where you come in – we need real people to provide feedback and get engaged in the project, ultimately driving better business for the industry. A great side benefit is that you can get free consulting advice on working with the government from the ECEDC team.

If you are able to volunteer someone to help with this effort, please email Trish Lilly at plilly@fpda.org.  Once we identify a core group of distributors with experience and/or interest in doing business with the DLA, the ECEDC president, Jo Marie Diamond, and her team will meet via teleconference with volunteers to walk through the project, discuss what’s most needed and discuss how DLA works.