Doing business the PA way

When Stewart International Airport manager Diannae Ehler wanted to find a local supplier to install new carpeting at the terminal, she had to look in the phone book. The Port Authority had yet to vet local carpet contractors. Not to worry. Plenty of businesses in the mid-Hudson region are eager to make the PA their customer and the ability to sign up is now at hand.

To learn how to get on the PA”™s vendor list, close to 100 business representatives gathered in  Orange County”™s Chamber of Commerce in Montgomery on June 13 to get the inside scoop from a group of  PA representatives and panelists. “Our job is to bring the buyer and sellers together,” said Helene Gibbs, PA development program manager. “I”™m not here to make hiring decisions ”“ just to make you aware of how to go about becoming certified with the Port Authority.”

The seminar was part of the PA”™s outreach program designed to get local businesses to register with the agency for to bid on goods, services, and projects. While a company may get called on, it will not necessarily be for Stewart Airport. The PA has a list of hundreds of vendors that supply services to its many outlets, including its four other airports, buildings and seaports throughout the metropolitan area.  If the price is right, the job is yours.

While the PA is hoping to attract minority- and women-owned businesses to its vendor ranks, Gibbs told the audience certification under that designation from the Small Business Administration does not automatically qualify those businesses in the PA”™s database. “You have to work within the Port”™s framework and fill out our forms and pass our own criteria,” said Gibbs. “But don”™t be discouraged. We are looking for local vendors and want to do business within the communities our airports are in. Stewart”™s ability to bring economic vitality to the communities around us is our goal.”

 

Other companies that do business directly with the PA ”“ AvPorts and Pacific Aviation International ”“ also try to use local vendors whenever possible and took part in the panel discussion.

Gibbs encouraged businesses to sign up on the Port Authority”™s Web site, www.panynj.gov and click on “Doing business with the PA” at the top of the page, where all the necessary forms and steps for becoming a certified vendor can be found.

“How about businesses that work on an emergency basis?” asked a representative of Serve Pro, who do those in-a-minute cleanups after a sudden storm hits, a toilet overflows or a ceiling collapses. Gibbs encouraged Serve Pro and similar “on call” businesses to register and let the Port Authority know they are out there and how close they are to PA facilities.

Ida Perich, is the go-to person in the PA”™s Office of Business and Job Opportunities for those who need help navigating the agency”™s regulations for registering.

While the Port Authority had repeatedly said it likes to do business locally, representatives told Terri Hess of the Sullivan County Chamber of Commerce there really are no set parameters when it comes to picking vendors. Ultimately, the price must be right.

One thing potential vendors can expect: If they are registered and called upon to provide a service or product, it must be quality, complete and first rate, said Gibbs. The PA regularly updates and checks its listings, not only to ensure accuracy, but to make sure potential businesses are up to par. The PA is also keeping an eye on the bottom line: It may like to buy local, but if a company in another state can provide the same product at a lower cost, that”™s the company that wins the bid.

 

While the PA encouraged  Hudson Valley vendors to register with them for potential business opportunities, it is seeking to bolster its own business at a time when airlines are suffering. Skybus, the no-frills airline, went out of business in April; Air Tran, another low-cost carrier that came on line in September 2007, just announced it will be leaving Stewart this September.

PA officials are trying to negotiate with Air Tran to stay at the New Windsor location, but the airline, like many others, is straining from the pinch of fuel prices and the decline of passengers as ticket prices rise with each dollar added to the price of fuel. Fortunately for the Hudson Valley, the Port Authority, unlike its predecessor, National Express Group, is in the transportation business on a huge sacale and for the long haul, and officials expect the current economic crisis will pass. When it will pass, however, is another question.