Houston Business Journal 2007

• Contractors should take note of the federal ‘earmarks’ for 2008 – 12/28/2007
  There are many things to watch for as a year winds down and anticipation builds for a new one. [more]
• Government contracting opportunities becoming more diverse – 12/14/2007
  Private contractors who think there might not be a need for their specific service offerings in government should think again. There is some public sector agency with an open procurement for almost every conceivable service at some time during any particular year. [more]
• Now is the time to make 2008 business development resolutions – 11/30/2007
  With the end of 2007 in sight, thoughts begin to turn toward resolutions for the coming year. For many businesses that means new revenue quotas. [more]
• Opportunity knocks as voters approve $15B bond proposals – 11/16/2007
  Texas voters approved more than $15 billion in bond proposals on Nov. 6, creating a world of new opportunities for government contractors. [more]
• Opportunity knocks as cities respond to need for leisure facilities – 11/2/2007
  Texans are much like other Americans. We are a society of hard-working, over-stressed, impatient individuals who want as much access to recreational activities and entertainment as we can possibly get. [more]
• Step to the front of the line by getting on a term contract list – 10/19/2007
  Companies that contract with governmental entities are continually on the lookout for opportunities. Information gathering is critical and early identification of opportunities often provides a competitive advantage. [more]
• Opportunity knocks as Texas economy shows no sign of slowing – 10/5/2007
  Texas is experiencing significant growing pains as a result of a booming economy, and there is no slowdown in sight.The state’s prosperity continues to attract a large influx of newcomers each month. The unprecedented growth is presenting historic funding challenges for local governmental entities and phenomenal opportunities for Texas businesses. [more]
• E-government opens up opportunities for all types of vendors – 9/21/2007
  Texans have become accustomed to the ease and convenience of gleaning information quickly with no more effort than pointing and clicking on a computer.This is presenting some new challenges and opportunities to public entities. [more]
• Higher education changes creating facility contracting opportunities – 9/7/2007
  Political leaders and the business community in Texas have joined forces to face a large potential problem.Texas is in danger of having its economic prosperity slip if efforts to increase the number of students entering institutions of higher education are not successful. Simply put, it has become painfully apparent that more students must be channeled into colleges and universities if we are to maintain the economic standards that exist in Texas today. [more]
• Weather can often lead to government contracting opportunities – 8/24/2007
  Many types of environmental occurrences spawn opportunities for government contractors. Normally, weather-related occurrences are not a result of too much rain. Tornados, hurricanes and droughts are the types of disturbances Texans expect to cause the serious problems. [more]
• Information surge leads to need for system upgrades – 8/10/2007
  Governmental agencies have extremely large data and reporting demands. Critical management information systems have become more necessary with each passing year.Cities, counties, schools and state agencies throughout Texas are almost all needing to upgrade information systems in order to ensure more efficiency, allocate resources and control growing budgets. [more]
• State’s new fiscal year provides good opportunity for vendors – 7/27/2007
  In less than six weeks, state government in Texas will enter a new fiscal year and agencies will have millions in recently appropriated funds for all types of purchases. Contractors should be actively working now to gather information and get positioned for these upcoming opportunities. [more]
• Construction, renovation projects booming throughout Texas – 7/13/2007
  The recently approved appropriations bill opened up many opportunities throughout Texas for businesses large and small, but one sector — construction and renovation — has the potential to become historically large. [more]
• State’s biennial budget yields gold mine of diverse opportunities – 6/29/2007
  The legislative session has ended. Billions of dollars have been appropriated for new initiatives. It’s important now for businesses throughout the state to know about some of the upcoming opportunities. [more]
• Suburban growth drives a wide variety of contractor opportunities – 6/15/2007
  As the state’s population continues to grow at an extraordinary rate, Texas suburbs are flourishing. “Boomburbs” and “technoburbs” are cropping up throughout the state, increasingly becoming major employment centers and home to a wide range of business and industry. [more]
• Summer months are important for all government contractors – 6/1/2007
  Summer is a perfect time for vendors and contractors to approach government decision-makers.From June to August, state agencies, preparing for the fall when new budget cycles begin, make an effort to spend all remaining funds left over from old budgets. [more]
• Statewide bond elections deliver thousands of new opportunities – 5/18/2007
  The strength of a community’s public school system directly impacts its economic prosperity. Today, a strong school system — one that offers benefits beyond the basics — is a 900-pound gorilla in economic development competition. [more]
• Contractors should not overlook the state’s higher-education sector – 5/4/2007
  There is a very large and diversified marketplace for contractors in the world of higher education. Texas’ colleges and universities spend hundreds of millions of dollars with outside contractors for goods and services every year. Vendors who build relationships and offer consistent value to educational campuses often have repeat sales for decades. [more]
• Public safety sector offers strong pot of opportunities – 4/20/2007
  Across the state, businesses are teaming up with law enforcement agencies — from rural sheriffs’ offices to metropolitan police departments — to bring state-of-the-art facilities, communications and information technology to the front lines of criminal justice. There are dozens of initiatives under way currently, and more are in the planning stages. Each has the stated objective of improving services related to public safety in Texas. [more]
• Renovation projects becoming the norm for public facilities – 4/6/2007
  A population that continues to grow at an unprecedented rate, coupled with urgent needs that, in some areas, expand daily is resulting in a very lucrative marketplace for contractors specializing in renovation and repair. [more]
• Growth boosting demand for professional consulting services – 3/23/2007
  Cities and counties are currently hiring professional services firms in large numbers in Texas. Almost every region of any size is either in a growth planning stage, a major construction phase or preparing for a bond election. [more]
• Historic courthouse projects are prominent across Texas – 3/9/2007
  Texas has more historic courthouses than any other state. Most of the state’s courthouses are very old, with some dating back to the mid-1800s. [more]
• New schools bring a growing market and new opportunities – 2/23/2007
  State Demographer Steve Murdock conducts in-depth research into population changes in Texas and his prognostications are revered among public officials. [more]
• Move toward centralized purchasing could create opportunities – 2/9/2007
  No one questions the fact that, in Texas, everything is big … and bigger. But, consider this: State agencies in Texas in one year alone spent more than $26.6 billion procuring goods and services. That makes state government in Texas, by itself, one big marketplace. When local governmental purchasing is included, the size of the marketplace becomes huge. [more]
• Firms should take advantage of government agency assistance – 1/26/2007
  Governmental agencies pay billions of dollars to private sector firms for goods and services every year. Partnerships have become so much the norm that the lines between the two environments are often blurred. It is definitely in the best interest of taxpayers everywhere for private sector companies to know there are governmental agencies anxious to hear from them. [more]
• Government outsourcing has successful past, promising future – 1/12/2007
  The facts sound very familiar: The developer of a new, untested technology wins government assistance to get his fledgling enterprise off the ground, even before all the bugs have been worked out. Amid controversy and backbiting by competitors, the new service flourishes and ends up revolutionizing both government operations and private enterprise. [more]

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