Iowa State Solar Car Team Probes the Practicality of a Sun-powered SUV

• Jeff Eckhoff

Members of Iowa State University’s PrISUm solar car team see a silver lining in the clouds that dampened their recent trip to Australia for the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge.

Despite rainy weather and a missed checkpoint that knocked them out of the finish, the Iowa State engineering students are taking pride in the fact that they managed to build a practical and highly functional solar-powered SUV—one that, once tweaked, appears destined for future competitions.

CIRAS PTAP—Iowa’s Local Link to a National Network of Contracting Expertise

• Jeff Eckhoff

Government contracting is a byzantine business—a long and plodding trek through a jungle filled with complicated regulation, documentation, and new marketing challenges.

Sound impossible? It’s not. But no smart explorer launches a trip through the jungle without finding a good guide. CIRAS exists to serve as that guide for Iowa businesses. Many Iowa businesses have known this for a long time.

What Iowans may not know, however, is how much knowledge and experience is available to back up the CIRAS government contracting team if the way proves complicated for your particular business.

Did You Know?  Information is Power   

• Jeff Eckhoff

Did you know that CIRAS has access to several training resources, systems, and databases that can assist you and your business with government contracting free of charge?  We’ve also just acquired access to a new system that allows us to see city/county/state spending data, similar to how we can see federal data. 

Here’s a recap of some of these resources:

CIRAS Helps Avoca Surface Take Smooth First Steps into Government Contracting

• Jeff Eckhoff

It was a quest for help with the paperwork that sent Patrick Richards to the Flying J truck stop in Avoca.

 In 2016, Richards was in the beginning stages of creating what would become Avoca Surfaces, a countertop business owned by Richards, his son, and another father-son team. Lori Holste, executive director of the Western Iowa Development Association, suggested that Richards meet with Andy Alexander, a government contracting specialist with CIRAS’ Procurement Technical Assistance Program (PTAP). And a long-term partnership was born.

CIRAS + MEP = The National Network for Manufacturers

• Jeff Eckhoff

One of the promises CIRAS makes to our clients is that working with us brings you more than just our 500+ years of combined industry experience. Clients also get connected with CIRAS’ vast network of experts. Usually, this means one of our great partners or the service providers we work with in Iowa. But frequently, it means tapping into the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) National Network.

GROWING YOUR BUSINESS: All-Small Mentor-Protégé Program can Open New Doors

• Jeff Eckhoff

Small businesses that sell products or services to the government received a new tool for growth last fall when the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) launched its new All-Small Mentor-Protégé Program.

The program, which expanded on capabilities that previously existed for Certified 8(a) disadvantaged businesses, essentially put all small businesses on a higher level of competiveness by making them viable bidders for larger-scale federal contracts.

The Future of Manufacturing is Happening Today

• Jeff Eckhoff

Every day we see something “new” in manufacturing. 3D Printed food, connected everything, cobots, and the list goes on. In fact, we’ve heard of these possibilities for decades. But something about these things seems a bit more real now than in the past. Like something important is happening

CIRAS Shows ADA Enterprises How to Build for the Future

• Jeff Eckhoff

A Northwood, Iowa-based manufacturer of pig and calf flooring and commercial outdoor furniture should see a major boost to its production capacity because of a CIRAS-assisted expansion of its production plant.

Thomas Stensrud, president of ADA Enterprises, said his company’s recently remodeled and expanded footprint should provide 20 years of growth for the maker of park furniture and plastic-coated pork industry flooring. “We plan on at least doubling or even tripling our capacity,” he said.

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