AT&T Vice President Kathy McKim, and Adam Grzybicki, Director, External Affairs, AT&T Sac­ramento, paid a visit to The Federal Technology Center (The FTC) on January 16, 2007, to welcome small business owners that had enrolled in The FTC’s “Getting Started with Government Contracting” hands-on course held in the AT&T sponsored Wireless Lab. AT&T’s McKim presented a check to Sharon Margetts of The FTC Board of Directors, for a follow-on AT&T Excelerator grant, through which the organization will develop a new interactive online course entitled “Should I Pursue Government Contracts – A Step- by-Step Guide.”

(l to r) Alice Astafan, Adam Grzybicki, and Kathy McKim listen as Hendra Barker, EVA Computer, (seated) describes his business.

The new course will assist business owners, at no cost, in making a sound decision about whether or not pursuing government contracts is the right decision for their company. The course will emphasize the importance of doing market research and discuss practical considerations such as cash flow needs, typical government payment cycles, government business practices, accounting needs and marketing. When business owners can consider these issues prior to taking a class on government contracting or meeting with a counselor, they save time and money for their business.

Alice Astafan, CEO of The FTC, thanked the AT&T represen­tatives for the company’s ongoing support. The new online course is expected to be launched in summer 2007. For the latest details, see The FTC’s website at www.TheFTC.org. For questions, call The Federal Technology Center at 916.334.9388 or 866.382.7822 toll-free.

About The FTC: The Federal Technology Center is a not-for-profit public benefit corporation that promotes economic development by facilitating technology transfer between government and the private sector and by teaching small businesses how to successfully compete for government contracts. We provide many free government contracting courses and seminars as well as free one-to-one counseling. To learn more about how The FTC can help you, visit us online at www.TheFTC.org.

###