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.

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