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April 11, 2005
Stamp of approval
Five years ago, Intercon Solutions
Inc. had barely $50,000 in sales and no idea how to
expand the business. Today, it is one of the largest
electronics recyclers in the country, employing 25 people
and on track to do $5 million in annual sales within
the next two years. Local, state and federal government
jobs account for 30% to 45% of its workload. The Chicago-based
company also recycles for major electronics manufacturers.
 HOW
I . . .
GOT GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS
Brian Brundage, 33
CEO, Intercon Solutions Inc.
When I got involved with the company,
I was basically a troubleshooter. Intercon had a great
idea but wasn't living up to its potential. I'd dealt
with government agencies before, so I knew what it took
to get their business.
Many people end up reworking their businesses
to fit what they think the government wants. But we
set it up that way to begin with. I looked through all
the RFPs (requests for proposals) that I'd ever filled
out and analyzed them to see the patterns. We didn't
ever want there to be a question of whether we fit this
or that guideline.
For instance, the government is pretty
clear about wanting its contractors to have a certain
financial makeup. Basically, they want to be sure you're
going to stay in business. So, we made sure we got our
bank's blessing for future financing needs. We also
started cutting checks twice a month and paying vendors
within 30 days, even if their terms said 90.
When it comes to recycling, everyone wants
proof that their stuff isn't going in a landfill. So
while we were in the running for our first big contract
with the U.S. Department of Energy, we spent about $75,000
to get our ISO 14001 certification. That means we account
for every crumb we recycle. We did it because we're
environmentally friendly people, but honestly, it's
also one heck of a sales point.
We also do a lot of work for the city
of Chicago and for the state of Wisconsin's corrections
system. Along the way we've picked up big corporate
clients, too, like Ericsson, Texas Instruments Inc.
and FedEx Kinko's in Canada.
People are daunted by the government process,
but it isn't as intimidating as it seems. There's a
lot of paperwork and they ask a lot of questions that
people don't want to answer, like about your financial
situation. But after you do it once, it's easy. One
of my little tricks is to have all the RFP stuff turned
in before the due date. You generally have three to
four weeks before it's due, but we try to do it in two
to three business days, because then we look efficient.
Government work isn't lucrative. It has
very tight margins because there's a lot of extra work,
like special tracking and recordkeeping. But it's given
us credibility.
Christina Le Beau
Photo by John R. Boehm
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