By Dave Burge / El Paso Times
El Paso’s small-business owners can learn how to do business with the military and sell furniture to the federal government for coming Fort Bliss expansion projects at a workshop next week, organizers say.
Representatives from the General Services Administration and the Army Corps of Engineers’ Huntsville, Ala., office will attend the conference Wednesday at the Greater El Paso Chamber of Commerce’s Downtown office, 10 Civic Center Plaza.
Anyone who sells furniture and wants to learn more about how to do business with the federal government can attend, said Minda Villarreal, vice president of the Greater Chamber’s Business Development Division.
“As we know, they’re building dining facilities at Fort Bliss, offices, barracks,” she said. “All of these facilities need furniture. Barracks need beds. Offices need desks and computers. When we looked at the growth at Fort Bliss, we asked, ‘What’s next?’ Well, what’s next is they need furniture.”
Adrian Madrigal, spokesman for the El Paso District office of the U.S. Small Business Admini
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stration, said the General Services Administration and the Army Corps of Engineers’ Huntsville office are two of the agencies that buy furniture for military projects.
“If you are a furniture dealer or an office supply company that has furniture and want to sell to the military, it’s essential that you attend,” Madrigal said.
The SBA will also be present to provide information on its loan and surety bond programs.
David Branch, president of El Paso company Facilities Con nec tion, said that his company deals regularly with the military but that he wants to learn more details about when and how to bid on coming Fort Bliss projects.
“All of the Fort Bliss expansion is huge,” Branch said. Furniture “is just one part of it.”
Branch said the effort and coordination that the Greater Chamber and SBA put into events such as this are “very important to small businesses” in El Paso.
Dave Burge may be reached at dburge@elpasotimes.com; 546-6126.
