Partner

We are registered with the Certification Office for Business Inclusion and Diversity (COBID) and are certified as an Emerging Small Business (ESB) and Service-Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise (SDVBE) as listed under Directory of Certified Firms.  We are capable of handling up to medium-sized website, web application, marketing, and design work for local, county, and state agencies here in Oregon only.  We have the resources and expertise to work on public projects between $10,000 and $250,000 at this time, depending on scope and timeline.  Per OAS Rule 125-246-0314 (Disabled Veterans Preference), we can be directly awarded smaller projects under $50,000 in size without public bid, to include items such as focused design and website maintenance.  Due to our certifications, we can also partner with in-state prime firms as a qualified subcontracting agency to complete smaller portions of larger tasks.  Those firms gain the advantage of our certification under the same umbrella.

Yes, we’re certified under the Small Business Administration for the Veteran Small Business Certification (VetCert) program.

We used to, but we don’t do that any longer. Due to the myriad of problems associated with that form of project bidding, to include reviewer bias, administrative discrimination, most points allocated towards the lowest price, and advertising public bids for legal reasons despite already having an agency selected, we can’t waste our time entertaining bureaucracy at this level and remain profitable, competitive, or available for clients. Our firm participated in the formal disparity study commissioned by the Oregon Department of Administrative Services (DAS) here.

We are typically contacted directly by agencies for smaller projects, we’re referred to NGOs as preferred vendors, and we work on projects funded by government entities that are non-profit within the community. Most organizations in Oregon find us through the COBID program using the online directory. Federal partners can find us using the Small Business Administration VetCert office and SAM.

Absolutely! The public bidding process is fraught with issues surrounding the inability to properly examine a project’s scope, conduct proper discovery, and actually engage a potential agency client without providing critical competitive information to all participants. The initial project scope conversations are critical as most agencies are unaware of what they actually need and the Request for Proposal (RFP) documentation is often incorrectly written with unrealistic expectations. These items alone, despite numerous other reasons, can leave our agency in a position of legal liability and therefore we’ve decided not to engage that way.

We are, but only if the relationship is ethical, fair, and realistic. What we won’t tolerate is a prime firm contacting us to merely provide a minimum amount of hours to report in the RFP that they are “actively working with COBID-certified firm, per the requirements.” This happens more than you realize.

We do. Oftentimes, we’re contacted for private non-disclosure agreement work to fill in for skill gaps or to custom program a specialized deliverable that the larger agency may not be able to complete in-house due to time or resources. We can accommodate most requests and stay open to these unique partnership opportunities.

Sometimes, because more often than not, marketing firms don’t understand proper user experience or user interface designs, and we typically receive development “plans” for a project that has already been finalized without discussion. When we examine those plans, they are fraught with issues that the marketing agency doesn’t want to change, so our ability to work with marketing firms can be limiting. We’re open to working with marketing firms that understand that development and marketing are two distinct disciplines. We’re not open to working with marketing firms that simply want to “tell us what to do” without any discussion.