I am committed to strengthening this winning combination. That is why last week I co-sponsored a Small Business Matchmaker conference to bring together government agencies and prime contractors with our small-business community to match up purchasing needs with goods and services. I was pleased to sponsor this event with my colleague, Senator Olympia Snowe, in conjunction with the Department of Defense Northeast Regional Council and with assistance from the Maine Procurement Technical Assistance Center.
The three-day conference in South Portland was a tremendous success, with 555 small business owners and representatives from government agencies and from prime contractors looking to sub-contract work, meeting face-to-face to exchange ideas on requirements and capabilities, needs and opportunities, problems and solutions. This was a significant increase from the impressive 422 attendees at our previous Matchmaker conference four years ago. In fact, attendance at our South Portland event nearly equaled that of one held recently near New York City!
Let me cite just one example of the kind of matches and ongoing relationships that can be made. Will Rood, the owner of B&B Precise Products in Benton, attended the 2006 Matchmaker. That directly resulted in his small high-end precision machining company doing business with a major aerospace manufacturer that has remained a long-term and substantial customer.
Mr. Rood attended this year's Matchmaker, and although attendance was "only" 31.5 percent bigger than four years ago, he declared it was "150 percent better," due to even higher-level buyers and more matches that fit his company. He is very optimistic that this year's conference will yield even better results than he experienced four years ago.
In today's global, telecommunications-based economy, businesses can be located anywhere, but there still is no substitute for face-to-face meetings, relationships built on trust, and a handshake. One great benefit of the Matchmaker approach is that instead of working for weeks or even months just to connect with the right person in a vast government bureaucracy or prime contractor, our entrepreneurs merely have to sit down at a table. It is direct, efficient, effective, and personal.
Although the federal marketplace offers great opportunity, there are challenges to achieving success. The rules and regulations for contracting with government agencies are often strict, cumbersome, and unfamiliar to many small businesses. Additionally, prime contractors and agencies alike often have difficulty in fulfilling their goals to utilize small businesses. The Maine Procurement Technical Assistance Center plays a critical role in facilitating matches by connecting small businesses with prime contractors and federal agencies, and by helping them through the contracting process from start to finish.
A strong partnership between the public and private sectors is vital to our nation. As a senior member of both the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Homeland Security Committee, I know the important role the private sector plays in helping the federal government meet its most fundamental obligation - to protect the American people. From national security to energy and transportation, the small-business sector of our economy offers the efficiency and ingenuity to respond to challenges with speed and flexibility.
Maine small businesses, if given a level playing field, can compete and succeed in doing business with both the private and public sectors. The Matchmaker conference helps them to seize new opportunities to grow, create new jobs, support their communities, and conduct the research and development that is crucial to their businesses, to our state, and to our nation.