North Dakota Procurement Technical Assistance Center

A resource for assisting North Dakota businesses in obtaining federal, state, and local government contracts.

Jan 2022: Building an Ecosystem for North Dakota’s Businesses to Leverage Government Contracting

Here at the North Dakota Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC), we market our services to businesses in North Dakota interested in obtaining federal, state, and local government contracts. We provide technical assistance to clients through one-on-one business advising as well as through topic-specific training and professional development. Most clients we work with need assistance with securing an opportunity in government contracting they’ve identified or managed a government contract they’ve already obtained. Thus, our traffic is largely inbound. We’ve recently identified an opportunity to change that.

In North Dakota, the US Department of Defense (DOD) awarded over $300 million to private sector contractors in the fiscal year 2020. Despite this, North Dakota ranks 51st out of 51 states and territories in terms of DOD contractor spending going to locally owned businesses according to a study by consulting firm Battra. This disparity represents a significant opportunity for North Dakota businesses to obtain DOD contracts. North Dakota PTAC staff is working in collaboration with partners from the North Dakota Department of Commerce, Impact Dakota, and others to create an ecosystem of public and private stakeholders that will make DOD contracts more accessible to North Dakota businesses. We’ve identified several opportunities to strengthen our North Dakota ecosystem around Department of Defense contracting:

  • Lowering barriers to collaboration between prime and subcontractors to meet DOD requirements
  • Growing awareness for Original equipment manufacturers (OEM’s) about contracting opportunities in North Dakota’s significant Unmanned Arial Systems (UAS) infrastructure
  • Providing technical assistance to DOD contractors related to cybersecurity compliance
  • Ongoing assessment and communication of trends, changes, and opportunities within the Department of Defense supply chain

This collaborative effort represents a more proactive approach to supporting local businesses in government contracting than what we’ve taken previously; this would not be possible without our partnerships with the North Dakota Department of Commerce and Impact Dakota. We look forward to providing updates on lessons learned, opportunities identified, and other results of this effort.

As always, if you are not sure where to start or how to get organized, connect with the North Dakota Procurement Technical Assistance Center (ND PTAC). Our services are at no cost to businesses based in the state of North Dakota. Register to schedule an appointment. Additionally, take advantage of the many training opportunities and events listed on the ND PTAC website.

Not from North Dakota? Find your closest PTAC on the APTAC website and then click on your state.