Clear Light Communications

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As a former Business Development Manager for several engineering companies in Florida, Denis Eirikis subscribed to multiple bid and RFP notification services to help him identify government sales leads. Eirikis worked for a company that provides engineering, environmental and construction services worldwide to more than 21,000 clients, and was in charge of the company's business development for the state of Florida. To generate sales leads, Eirikis reviewed project updates online but found that the services he was using weren't meeting the company's business needs. He needed a timely and reliable source of government project information that could help the company grow its public sector revenue. Eirikis says, "we received bids from the Florida Engineering Society about once per week. The reports were incomplete and I found out about projects too late." The company even subscribed to a secondary Florida bid reporting system that sent out notices once per week, but projects kept falling through the cracks with both systems. "If we did find out about a project, we usually only had a day or two to put the proposal together and get everything into to the agency on time", says Eirikis.

Eirikis' company selected Onvia to solve their government procurement needs. "There is no other source than Onvia where I can be assured that I will find the project and be able to act on it," Eirikis says. Instead of getting project updates too late, Onvia provides him with upcoming project information so he can proactively approach the agency before the project is formally announced. "Onvia points to future opportunities — this is an easy way to get advance notice and requests for proposals. I receive notes on city council meetings that talk about what will go out for a proposal, instead of finding out about projects too late", says Eirikis.

Eirikis likes the sense of security that Onvia provides — he is now more confident that he isn't missing projects. "At the engineering, environmental and construction services company, we established new relationships with government agencies by using Onvia. For example, we had never previously worked with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. Onvia notified us about a large RFP that they had put out. We chased it and we won it." On top of advance notices and new project information, Onvia also helped the company find partnering opportunities. "Onvia alerted us to firms who were consistently winning the awards in new markets we were investigating, which helped us find teaming partners. We even wound up partnering with a company we identified through Onvia." In comparison with the previous bid reporting systems, Eirikis says, "Onvia is far superior to anything else available. I'm a true believer in your service for architecture and engineering firms. We won a lot of money by using Onvia services."

After having recently started his own business, Clear Light Communications, Eirikis decided to re-subscribe to Onvia, based on his experience using the service with his past Engineering firms. Clear Light Communications takes proven principles of sales, marketing, and PR from the private sector and applies them to educating the public, getting their feedback and winning support for government projects. In short, Clear Light Communications looks for projects where there is a need for public involvement in relation to Government. Although Eirikis' company is in a niche market, he comments, "I know I will find the opportunities with Onvia." Only a few months after signing up with Onvia, Eirikis says, "Clear Light has submitted on two proposals that we knew nothing about before signing up with Onvia." The overall value, Eirikis points out, is that "Onvia is a good return on investment."