UH Procurement Technical Assistance Center (UH PTAC) Helps Service Disabled Veteran Win Government Contract

In November of 2007, Anthony Samuel, a service disabled veteran, attended a training class at the University of Houston Small Business Development Center, where he learned about services offered by the UH Procurement Technical Assistance Center; a specialty center of the Small Business Development Center. He and his wife, Cherie, soon began receiving life changing business advice from senior PTAC consultant, Deidra Sutton.

A former U.S. Army Military Police officer and Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement degree recipient, Anthony put his 20 years of security education and management experience to practice by starting a security firm in 1989. The firm provides armed and unarmed security patrol, loss prevention and investigative services and many other services.

After enrolling in the Section (a) SBA program, the Samuel’s started bidding on government contracts. For a year they had been trying to wade through the bid process and had only been successful in getting into the competitive range, but no signed contracts. Finally they discovered the UH Procurement Technical Assistance Center.

Their UH PTAC business consultant, Deidra Sutton, was able to assist the Samuel’s in locating government business contracting opportunities for their security firm in the Federal Business Opportunities database. The Samuel’s marketed and received the attention of a contracting Officer at Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield, California and began the process to bid on the 8 (a) contract.

Ms. Sutton assisted with the contract bidding process, payroll transition, final negotiations and the contract's thirty day phase. Ms. Sutton served as a communications liaison between the Air Force contracting officer and A-Top Security to make certain all contract compliance issues were handled in a timely manner for a smooth transition into the existing contract. A-Top Security was awarded a contract on February 29, 2008. This was the firm's first government contract award.

“Our UH PTAC consultant was instrumental in helping us through the many intricate layers of the government contracting bidding process. “Without her help, I don’t know where we’d be today,” says Cherie Samuels.

The Samuel’s continue to work with UH PTAC to secure additional contracts.