JIRACOR Becomes Established Defense Contractor

Florida PTAC at UCF Assists Company Gain Government Contracting Success

October 31, 2018

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Hal Thayer, Communications Director, FSBDC at UCF, 407.420.4850 or hthayer@ucf.edu

Steven South, PTAC MANAGRE, FSBDC AT UCF, 407.420-4859 or steven.south@ucf.edu

Orlando, FL – Doing business with the government can be challenging for a small business. But it can also be extremely rewarding. Once the choice has been made to be a government contractor, often the largest hurdle is identifying and then meeting the many requirements set by government departments and agencies. Fortunately, the Florida PTAC (Procurement Technical Assistance Center) at UCF – in partnership with the Florida SBDC at UCF – is available to help.

Florida PTAC at UCF is where Jeannette Coronado and husband Richard Coronado turned when they decided to move their business away from commercial customers and into the government sector. Their company, JIRACOR LLC, had been successfully offering services to businesses, but they saw a bigger opportunity in government work.

“When we started in our new direction, we didn’t know about doing business with the government, about their requirements and expectations” recalls Jeannette Coronado. “That’s where the Florida PTAC came in. They helped us. They educated us. They guided us.”

“At the beginning, working with government, in our case the U.S. Department of Defense, was scary because the requirements they have are very specialized,” she continued. “To be in the game, you need to get security clearances, have approved accounting systems, speak their language and understand all their acronyms. Then you have to know how to find contract opportunities, how to bid on them, and what to do when you win. It can be overwhelming.”

The Florida PTAC provided an extensive list of services to the Coronado’s, including no-cost consulting, training, assistance with obtaining key certifications and registering with the government’s SAM (System for Award Management) system, not to mention offering matchmaking events and strategies for working with the government. “There are so many boxes you have to check to win government contracts,” says Jeannette. “The Florida PTAC explains it all and makes it possible to check them all off.”

Thanks to the Coronado’s hard work and the help of their Florida PTAC specialist, today JIRACOR is an established government contractor.  With Jeannette as CEO and Richard as President, the company offers training & logistics support, manufacturing and fabrications services and depot-level maintenance and repairs. They are an SBA 8(a) and woman-owned certified business and have met ISO 90001 and AS9100 quality management systems standards.

“When we first went into the Florida PTAC, we were not procurement ready,’ states Richard Coronado. “From their mentoring, their classes, their consulting, their advice on our business plan, now we are winning contracts and ready for more. The Department of Defense could award us a multi-million-dollar sole source contract tomorrow and we are ready with the people and infrastructure to execute it. As it is, we have seen our revenues increase by more than 200% since we started consulting with the Florida PTAC.”

“If it weren’t for the Florida PTAC, we at JIRACOR probably wouldn’t be here,” he concluded. “Our experience has been awesome! They have great consultants. They have great services. They have great training. All at little or no cost. Getting all of the certifications, advice, knowledge and support from PTAC has made the difference for us.”

For information about JIRACOR LLC, please visit www.jiracor.com.

— FSBDC —

About the Florida Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC) at UCF

Government Contracting Services offered by the Florida Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC) at the University of Central Florida provide high-value, confidential one-on-one consulting at no cost to help Florida businesses prepare, research, and bid on federal, state, and local government contracts. Since 1986, Florida PTAC client businesses statewide have won $8.3 billion in contract awards, helping to create and save 187,090 jobs. This PTAC is funded in part through a cooperative agreement with the Defense Logistics Agency. For more information, please visit www.fptac.org.

About the FSBDC at UCF

With its main office in the National Entrepreneur Center located at the Fashion Square Mall in Orlando, the Florida SBDC at the University of Central Florida (FSBDC at UCF) is part of the UCF Office of Research & Commercialization and the Florida SBDC Network. The FSBDC at UCF provides business seminars and no-cost, one-on-one business consultation to emerging and established businesses. The FSBDC at UCF serves an eight-county area that includes Brevard, Flagler, Lake, Orange, Osceola, Seminole, Sumter, and Volusia counties and maintains 10 service centers across Central Florida.

In 2016, the FSBDC at UCF served over 2,400 entrepreneurs in Central Florida through consulting and training, resulting in nearly 6,700 jobs created, retained or saved; $980 million in sales growth; $92.7 million in capital formation; $154.6 million in government contract awards; and 120 new businesses started.

About the Florida SBDC Network

For over forty years, the Florida SBDC Network, the state’s principal provider of business assistance [Fl. Stat. 288.001], has nourished a statewide partnership between higher education and economic development to provide existing and emerging small and medium-sized business owners with management and knowledge resources that enable overall growth, increased profitability, and economic prosperity for Florida’s economy.

Since 2011, Florida SBDCs have provided 513,107 hours of professional business consulting to 74,669 client businesses, resulting in 252,955 jobs created, retained, or saved; $33.3 billion in sales growth; $2.6 billion in government contract awarded; $1.4 billion in capital investments acquired; and 4,159 new businesses started.

A statewide network of over 40 offices, the Florida SBDC is funded in part by the U.S. Small Business Administration, Defense Logistics Agency, State of Florida and other private and public partners. The Florida SBDC Network, headquartered at the University of West Florida, is nationally accredited by the Association of SBDCs and is a 2016 recipient of the President’s E Award for Export Service. Florida SBDC services are extended to the public on a nondiscriminatory basis. Language assistance services are available for individuals with limited English proficiency. For more information, please visit www.FloridaSBDC.org.