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By Rick Gilmore, Business Development Specialist, NCMBC

With the recent downturn in commercial manufacturing, many machine shops and contract manufacturers now realize that the Department of Defense represents a viable and lucrative alternative for maintaining and growing their company’s sales.  This is evidenced by the rate that North Carolina companies have joined the N.C. Defense Machining Initiative and adopted SourceNC.com since launch in May of 2008.

The statistics are compelling. In the first year of operations, more than 550 companies registered on SourceNC.com to gain streamlined access to Department of Defense solicitations.  More than 200 of those companies have been fully qualified and have bid on more than 1,500 pre-screened and pre-qualified solicitations that were posted on the site. Through SourceNC and the companies’ independent efforts, registrants won nearly $4.4 million in contracts since July of 2008.

"SourceNC.com provides a streamlined process to help the average machine shop navigate the Department of Defense red tape," said Mike Marquart of Indigen Armor when he was asked to comment on the Initiative.  His sentiment is shared by many. Participating companies report a 65 to 80 percent reduction in the time to find solicitations that are technically accurate and complete enough to support bidding and manufacturing operations.

"We believe (especially in these times) that SourceNC opens a whole new window of opportunity for us that did not exist until this was put together, so...thanks,” said John Ackerman of Atlantic Aero, Inc. 

Lavonda Carswell from Tool Craft ,Inc. added, "The NC Defense Machining Initiative is very important to our company. All companies in NC who could benefit from this program and are not participating are truly missing a great opportunity."

It was a good year for the NC Defense Machining Initiative and SourceNC.com. Happy Birthday and many returns!

Ready to get started? Visit www.SourceNC.com today. For more information contact Rick Gilmore at gilmorer@ncmbc.us or call 866-873-1757.

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