Feds coming to Raleigh to help small businesses get infrastructure work
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- USDOT will host a day-long National Small Business Matchmaking Series event in Raleigh.
- The event includes how-to sessions and one-on-one meetings with federal agencies.
- Businesses can register for the Raleigh event through noon on Wednesday, June 3.
The U.S. Department of Transportation wants to help small businesses in North Carolina get some of the billions of dollars that the government spends each year on highway and other infrastructure projects.
USDOT is holding a day-long event in Raleigh on Thursday, at N.C. State University’s McKimmon Center, that opens with how-to sessions from government and industry experts. There will be chances for small business owners to meet one-on-one with officials from more than a dozen federal agencies, including USDOT, the Interior Department and Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Businesses can register for the National Small Business Matchmaking Series event in Raleigh through noon Wednesday, June 3, at cmp.dot.gov/event/nsbmsnorthcarolina.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says the workshops aim to give small businesses access to federal decision makers, both for their benefit and the good of government agencies.
“We’re leaving the swamp to meet with American small business owners who are the backbone of our economy and engaging their expertise to build big, beautiful infrastructure projects,” Duffy said in a written statement. “We invite our mom-and-pop shops to join us in creating transportation projects that improve the lives of American families.”
Raleigh is one of three sites around the country where USDOT is holding these events, along with Phoenix and Wisconsin.
North Carolina’s growing economy and concentration of small businesses made it a natural choice, as does the presence of military bases such as Fort Bragg and Camp Lejeune, said Allen Gutierrez, director of the USDOT’s Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization. The Department of Defense as well as the Army and Navy will take part.
The first event in Arizona in March attracted nearly 250 businesses, according to USDOT. Gutierrez said nearly 450 had registered for the Raleigh event by Monday morning, including 20% from nearby states.
He said he expects USDOT will organize more of these matchmaking events in the future.
“This is really taking off. We’re getting calls from senators and different states,” Gutierrez said. “They say, ‘Hey, I see what you’re doing in Phoenix; I see what you’re doing in Raleigh. We want you guys next year.’”
