Schramm Electric Plants Seeds, Reaps Derecho Contract

• Jeff Eckhoff

A Sioux City electrical firm landed more than $190,000 in state contracts after their owners followed CIRAS advice to register as a vendor with the Iowa Department of Homeland Security.

Stephanie Schramm, office manager at Schramm Electric, said her company has a long history of dealing closely with the CIRAS Procurement Technical Assistance Center. So that was the first place the Schramm family looked for answers in early 2020 when they had questions about how to register for business with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). 

Did You Know?… Setting up an Effective BidMatch

• Jeff Eckhoff

Did you know that as the client, you play a very important role in helping your counselor set up an effective BidMatch profile?  The BidMatch system is a tool that PTAC counselors offer to their clients to help identify bid or proposal opportunities.

As with most things in life, feedback is important to the process.

Register Now for ILC Virtual Annual Conference on Oct. 28

• Jeff Eckhoff

Time is running out to register for the Iowa Lean Consortium’s Virtual Annual Conference, a new cyberspace version of the ILC’s popular yearly event for continuous improvement practitioners throughout the state.

The goal for 2020 is to provide another quality, daylong learning and networking opportunity – but this time, in a format that can be accessed without leaving your desk.

Iowa State Lab Tours Turning Virtual This Fall

• Jeff Eckhoff

Iowa State University uses a wide variety of equipment and technology for testing and scientific research. With proper coordination, this same equipment and personnel can be used to help Iowa companies test or analyze their products – but first you have to know what’s possible.

Throughout October, CIRAS experts will be leading a series of four virtual tours to help Iowa manufacturers get more familiar with the tools and capabilities available in various Iowa State labs.

Explaining CMMC and DoD’s ABCs of Cybersecurity

• Jeff Eckhoff

If your company works anywhere within a Department of Defense supply chain (or hopes to), the new CMMC cybersecurity standard will soon be part of your life. Are you confused by the alphabet soup and uncertain about what it all means?

Here’s what you need to know:

Food Safety Collaboration Launching New Round of Online Classes

• Jeff Eckhoff

More than 40 people from 32 companies now have taken part in the CIRAS Food Safety Collaboration, a series of intensive three-month classes that were created last summer.

CIRAS project manager said the classes, which were developed as part of a nationwide effort to improve the way companies are taught about food safety, remain popular with small businesses. But they’ve also developed a new following as training for managers at larger food companies.

CIRAS Survey FINAL UPDATE: Employee Well-Being Led COVID Concerns

• Jeff Eckhoff

September 18, 2020 — (Final Update) As COVID-19 proliferates across our nation, the crisis continues to negatively impact our economy and spark concerns for the future of small and medium-sized businesses. Over several months, CIRAS conducted a phone survey so we could better understand the needs of Iowa companies and better connect them to appropriate resources.

Here is what we learned during 23 weeks of survey:

Did You Know?… The AbilityOne Program

• Jeff Eckhoff

Federal agencies buy a wide variety of products and services, but they’re required to try to purchase through specific sources before ordering from the open market. 

For this month’s “Did You Know?” article, we’ll take a closer look at one of these mandatory sources: The AbilityOne Program.  We’ll learn more about AbilityOne, including what products and services it makes available to agencies, what ways businesses can support its mission, and how businesses can benefit from the program.

COVID Update: Changing Two Ways CIRAS Serves You Online

• Jeff Eckhoff

It’s been six months since COVID-19 forced CIRAS to temporarily halt in-person educational events. Since then, we’ve been working hard to meet your educational needs in cyberspace, opening up roundtable discussion groups and hosting more than 80 webinars involving thousands of people.

Recently, to help you better, we made some changes in how we’ll handle webinars and roundtables going forward.

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