(AVONDALE, La) — In the 2018 fiscal year, the United States government spent $562 billion dollars on business contracts – ranging from office supplies and janitorial services to technology and planning. Federal contract spending grew at a rate of nearly 6% every year since 2014, according to Bloomberg Government. This means there is plenty of opportunity for small businesses to break into government contract work. Doing business with the government can be very lucrative work, but there are certainly challenges.
That’s why JEDCO and the Jefferson Chamber of Commerce teamed up to bring you a Prosper Jefferson seminar on federal contracts and how to obtain them. We invited three experts to provide their guidance and advice on how to navigate the federal contract system. Attendees will learn:
- How to determine if their business is right for the federal government
- Basic requirements of doing business with the government
- Types of contracts
- How to win federal contracts
- Case studies from businesses that have been successful in obtaining federal contracts
Join us Wednesday, June 26th, at the JEDCO Conference Center (701A Churchill Parkway, Avondale, LA 70094) from 8:30 am – 10:30 am for our upcoming Prosper Jefferson seminar. This event is $5, which covers breakfast. Please register here.E
Meet our Speakers
Sam Briuglio, Pond & Company
Sam Briuglio is Senior Vice President of the Federal Program including Federal Master Planning & Geospatial at Pond & Company, a full-service architectural, engineering, and planning firm that has been serving DoD and Non-DoD Federal clients for the last 53 years. As Senior Vice President of the Federal Program, Sam leads a team of planning, design and geospatial professionals at multiple locations throughout the US including New Orleans, Huntsville, Colorado Springs, San Diego, and Atlanta to build successful programs to meet client requirements. He is a subject matter expert in the acquisition and management of federal contracts and federal program development.
A native of New Orleans, Sam earned a Master’s Degree in Geography from the University of New Orleans, and has worked on federal and military contracts and program development for all branches of the US military and USACE, coastal restoration, planning and design projects with EPA Region 6, NOAA and USGS. He holds a high specialization in facilities planning for the DoD and GIS development for multiple organizations worldwide. With over 19 years of professional experience, Sam is adept in federal contract management, regional planning, federal facilities planning and requirements analyses, military construction project programming, training/range facilities analysis and planning, environmental planning, and GIS development. Sam has managed projects for federal clients at the site, installation, metropolitan, statewide and national scales, led regional planning efforts for the EPA, and provided spatial and regional geographic analysis with various private and public entities including the energy sector. Sam is well-versed in federal and DoD regulations for contract procurement, facility design, as well as the use of database systems specific to the military and geospatial development operations. Over his time with Pond, he has managed 115+ geographically-dispersed tasks ranging from $25K-$5M in value. During this time, the program has increased from five to 55 dedicated personnel and grown from two to four primary locations. He is an active member of APA Federal Planning Division, SAME, Louisiana Post, and LA URISA. In addition to his duties for Pond, he serves as an Adjunct Instructor of Planning and Urban Studies for the University of New Orleans teaching Master Planning for Federal Facilities, Site Planning, and Advanced Techniques in GIS & Cartography.
Michael Ricks, Small Business Administration
Mr. Michael Ricks joined the Small Business Administration in 2004. He served as the District Director in Alabama for four years and was appointed as the District Director for Louisiana in 2008. Prior to joining the SBA, Mr. Ricks served in the U.S. Army as an infantry officer, a Program Manager for Advanced Technology and Production Readiness projects for the U.S. Marine Corps in Washington, DC, and as a Defense Acquisition Officer in early Program Concept Development for the Army Infantry Center at Fort Benning, Georgia. As an active duty and reserve infantry officer, Mr. Ricks completed numerous overseas combat and hazardous duty deployments. He was medically retired from active service and is a lifetime member of the Disabled American Veterans (DAV). Mr. Ricks is a former small business entrepreneur and operated a consulting company in Florida which advised on software development, business processes, and information systems technology. Mr. Ricks earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Technology from the University of Houston. He also holds a graduate degree in Systems Engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterrey, California, as well as an MBA from Troy University in Alabama. Mr. Ricks was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, where much of his extended family still resides.
Eileen R. Lodge, Louisiana Procurement Technical Center
Eileen R. Lodge, is a Counselor with Louisiana Procurement Technical Center located in New Orleans. Ms. Lodge is responsible for counseling contractors about government contracting in ten Louisiana parishes, Assumption, Jefferson, Lafourche, Orleans, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St. Charles, St. James St. Mary and Terrebonne. She has been working with LA-PTAC since December 2015. Ms. Lodge worked for the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers as a Contract Specialist/Contracting Officer with over 32 years of government contracting experience. She has worked with the Corps in the New Orleans District, Kansas City District, Gulf Region District, North and South, Afghanistan Engineering District South and Transatlantic Programs Center (TAC) with an unlimited Contracting Officer warrant. Ms. Lodge has a Bachelor Degree in Business Management from Northwood University and retired from the government with the highest level in contracting, Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act (DAWIA) Level III. Ms. Lodge is currently a member of Women Impacting Public Policy, (WIPP). She resides in Orleans Parish.
