RICHLAND, Wash. - A business outreach program, co-sponsored by an EM Office of River Protection (ORP) contractor and regional business group, set a new attendance record at its latest quarterly event. Haley Taylor, pictured above, was one of several representatives from Hanford contractors to present at the recent “Meet the Buyer" event.
Sixty attendees, some traveling from as far as Michigan and California, participated in a “Meet the Buyer" workshop with presenters from EM Hanford Site prime contractors and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.
The Meet the Buyer program connects businesses with federal, state, and local government agencies and is designed to educate businesses about what the agencies buy, how they buy, upcoming projects, and more. It features small business and procurement representatives from different agencies each quarter. Previous participating agencies include school districts, port districts, transit agencies, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The free events are sponsored by ORP tank operations contractor Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) in partnership with the Tri-City Regional Chamber of Commerce. Now in its seventh year, the program has resulted in several million dollars’ worth of contracts for participating businesses.
The program is part of WRPS business outreach.
“Meet the Buyer is extremely important for the Tri-Cities community and Hanford," said Haley Taylor, small business program manager at WRPS. “It is great to see so many small businesses being able to interact with each other and take advantage of opportunities in a forum that would not otherwise happen."
Source: U.S. Dept. of Energy, Office of Environmental Management
