Press Release

We’re so proud of your hard work!

24 November, 2020

This has been a wild year for all of us! I first want to highlight the extraordinary, creative, and persistent work of our clients. You successfully navigated an unexpected and unusual government contracting and business environment this year. You all acted quickly to adapt to constantly changing rules, and some of you even pivoted your operations to support Covid-19 and fire recovery efforts. And, you managed to do this while dealing with a global pandemic. 

Over the past year, our clients won more than $314 million in government contracts, nearly twice as much as in 2019. We’re so proud of your hard work and have highlighted some of your inspirational success stories.

Also, a big thank you to our Norcal PTAC counseling and administrative team for everything they did, direct and indirect, big and small, to support our clients. Here are some highlights from what we accomplished in 2020:

  • Spent more than 3,000 hours of one-on-one counseling time with over 800 clients.
  • Hosted and participated in 50 outreach events.
  • Quickly adapted to remote work to keep staff and clients safe from the Covid-19 virus.
  • Developed resource pages for Covid-19 and fire recovery with general information and bid opportunities.
  • Built many new exciting partnerships with organizations across Northern California (highlighted in the section below).
  • Created a vision statement we’re really proud of: We envision a level playing field in the government marketplace, where all businesses have equitable access to resources and support for contracting success.

We’re looking forward to seeing you in person when it’s safe, either at one of our partner centers in Richmond, San Jose, San Francisco or Eureka, or at a networking or training event. In the meantime, we are available to meet with you virtually from the comfort of your home or office.

 

Wishing you all a wonderful, prosperous & safe new year.

 

Kristina Kunkel, Program Director, Norcal PTAC

 

 

Here are these two businesses that were able to pivot and win Covid related awards:

  • Doshi, LLC (NursElet®)
    This  Bay area Minority & Women Owned Small Business provides simple, smart and sustainable maternity, baby and breastfeeding essentials that aim to simplify the early years of parenting. Their flagship product, NursElet®, is a patented nursing bracelet that helps mothers hold their shirt up during breastfeeding and breast pumping to provide hands-free and comfortable breastfeeding experience. In the wake of Covid-19 outbreak, the owner was able to source face masks from their suppliers and win their first government contract with Covered CA. Read full story…
     
  • Planet Halo Health Inc.
    This Bay area company specializes in fleet management and telematics for commercial vehicles. Thanks to this company’s extensive distribution network, and relationships to manufacturing facilities and employees based overseas, the company very quickly adapted to the Covid-19 outbreak, establishing a new department, Planet Halo Health, to source and supply Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) in bulk. Their products include masks, face shields, nitrile gloves, and sanitizing solutions. Read full story…

 

We’re very proud of the new partnerships we’ve made this year:

  • CoBiz Richmond
    Provides work space, training, business acumen, a sense of community, and opportunities.
     
  • Women’s Business Center at JEDI
    Serves women and men starting and growing businesses in the Siskiyou, Shasta, Trinity and Humboldt Counties.
     
  • Women’s Business Enterprise Council
    Creates partnership opportunities between Corporate Members and Women’s Business Enterprises.
     
  • AnewAmerica Women’s Business Center | Oakland & San Jose
    Provides training, counseling and support services to help women entrepreneurs start and grow their businesses.