Saturday, September 11, 2004
Years ago, when I launched my first regional economic development strategy in Northwest Louisiana, I included an initiative to help smaller companies break into the government procurement market. It turned out that this initiative was one of the best ideas in the entire strategy.
The program still is operating after nearly twenty years. Last year, the Northwest Louisiana Government Procurement Center assisted minority-owned, women-owned, and other small businesses in obtaining more than 52.8 million in government contract awards. Visit the web site.
If you are involved in a government procurement initiative, you'll be interested in reading how the Georgia Tech Procurement Assistance Center is helping companies in Georgia ride the new wave of spending for homeland security. Read more.
posted by Ed Morrison |
links
Some Background on EDPro Weblog
The purpose of this weblog is to help economic development professionals -- EDPros -- keep up with the changes sweeping our profession. Strap on your goggles. It's a whole new game. There are no experts any more. The only place to learn about economic development is from other EDPros who are doing it.
One other point: the prevaling approach (paradigm, if you like) in economic development is shifting from competition to collaboration. There are a lot of reaasons underlying this shift, but here's the important insight: You, your community, and your region will do better by collaborating and sharing information.
If you are using a news reader, here is the link to syndicate this site:
Here's the link if you are a bloglines subscriber:
Speaking and workshops on Open Source Economic Development
As the idea of Open Source Economic Development starts spreading, more people are asking about it. Visit the I-Open web site to learn more. My colleagues and I are happy to explain the basic concepts in a talk or a workshop. E-mail Susan Alshuler if you'd like to learn more about workshops and speaking.
Background on Ed Morrison
Download some background information on me here.
Georgia Tech's Procurement Assistance Center
