August 23, 2010

· Congratulations to SAI Systems - NMSDC Supplier of the Year WINNER!

SAI SystemsSAI Systems International, Inc. (SAI) was the Category 3 ($10 million to $50 million) Supplier of the Year for the GNEMSDC and we are overjoyed to learn that they are the 2010 NMSDC Supplier of the Year for the same category. Congratulations Dr. Wahdwani and his entire family and team.

SAI Systems International, Inc. (SAI) is a global technology solutions company with offices in 7 different countries, across 3 continents, focused on Healthcare, Financial Services, and manufacturing. SAI has over 22 years of service experience and a history of successful delivery of Enterprise wide ITO/KPO/BPO projects. SAI is a Microsoft Gold Partner and a SAP Service Partner. SAI has proven to be the partner of choice for several companies globally both large and small for their Technology Application Maintenance, Sustainment and new Development projects.

SAI has expertise in diverse business domains and industry verticals that include Healthcare, Insurance, Financial Services, Retail, Education, and Manufacturing. We utilize our offshore development centers in Pune, India, and Bucharest, Romania and its offices in the UK, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan to provide global production support to our customers 24/5 basis.

Here at SAI, we take a consultative approach when working with clients. The consultant mindset enables us to better understand our client's needs and be able to provide a custom cost effective technical solution while increasing client satisfaction. SAI truly focuses on understanding client's business processes before submitting the implementation plan. The result is an ongoing partnership in which new opportunities are identified and better business specific solutions are generated. Over time, SAI has consistently far exceeded client expectations which have resulted in documented fact of over 95% client retention ratio. SAI is a proud winner of 2010 NMSDC Northern Region Supplier of the year in Category III of $10M-$50M

SAI Systems' technology solutions include:

  • Full life cycle software development application development
  • Global application maintenance and sustainment
  • Project management and IT consulting
  • Legacy system conversion and integration
  • Data warehousing implementation
  • Data mining
  • Quality assurance testing
  • ERP implementation and production support
  • Technical staff augmentation
  • Manufacture and integration of custom small footprint PC application base engines for vertical market products in banking, information kiosk, point of sale, navigation systems, security, medical imaging, telecom and VOIP

To see what customers have to say about SAI Systems visit: www.tinyurl.com/saivideo

SAI Systems

· What to Expect on Day 1 of the Trade Expo

Because time is the most precious of assets, we understand the need to make the case as to why you should attend each day of the GNEMSDC Trade Expo. Every day of the Expo is different and is designed to bring certified MBEs and corporate members closer together and closer to contractual relationships with each other. The first day while focusing on opportunities in retail is a great day for certified MBEs to learn of the full range of opportunities associated with retail. Think of major national chain like CVS-Caremark, Stop and Shop or TJX and imagine all of the operational details that must be addressed before a customer can come into the store and buy something off the shelf. These organizations have great opportunities for MBEs who have something to put on the shelf and for MBEs who support their operations, from IT to logistics. We will have over 20 buyers from retail organizations. These buyers are for products that are sold on store shelves as well as for goods and services that support the stores. Only certified MBEs and MBEs who are "in process" are eligible to participate in this excellent program.

And if that was not enough, Wednesday is also the day when the GNEMSDC board meets along with the senior advisory committee which includes the CPOs of several of our major corporate members. Most of these decision makers will be there for the reception on Wednesday after the day of meetings.

Here is a summary of the first day:

  • 8:00 AM Registration Opens
  • 9:00 AM - 10:30 AM MBE Input Committee Meeting
  • 10:30 -12:00 Noon Retail Opportunity Morning Session
  • 12:15 Noon to 1:30 PM Luncheon
  • 1:45 PM to 5:00 PM Retail Opportunity Afternoon Session
  • 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM GNEMSDC Board of Directors Meeting
  • 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM Opening Night Reception

It will be worth your while to join us on Wednesday, September 29. I hope to see you then.

GNEMSDC Trade Expo Registration and Information

· Opportunity at Bridgeport Housing Authority

THE HOUSING AUTHORITY OF THE CITY OF BRIDGEPORT REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP) ENERGY PERFORMANCE CONTRACT AUDITOR Solicitation No: 030-PD-10-S Date: August 22, 2010

The Housing Authority of the City of Bridgeport is accepting proposals from qualified firms or individuals to audit all utility accounts paid by BHA under the Agency's Energy Performance Contract with Siemens Building Technologies.

Proposals are due by 4:30 p.m., Tuesday, September 21, 2010 to the attention of Mr. Eugene Sumter, Chief Contracting Officer, 150 Highland Avenue, Bridgeport, CT 06604. Late proposals will not be accepted.

A non-mandatory Pre-Proposal Conference is scheduled for Wednesday, September 8, 2010 at 10 a.m. at 150 Highland Avenue, Bridgeport, CT 06604.in the Executive Conference Room. Although not mandatory, all interested proposers are strongly encouraged to attend as the conference will offer candidates an opportunity to discuss the RFP requirements with BHA staff.

A complete set of the RFP documents to include forms of contract will be available after 1 p.m., Tuesday, August 24, 2010 at the Purchasing Department, 361 Bird Street, Bridgeport, CT 06604. Attention: Ms. Caroline Sanchez, (203) 337-8820.

· MBE News and Opportunities

Ledge Light Technologies announced last week that they have expanded and opened an office in American Samoa and a satellite office in Rhode Island. Ledge Light also announced the introduction of two new products for State Highway Patrol and Police Departments; ECitation; OsCAR. ECitation allows officers to create, print and issue electronic citations in their patrol car. OsCar is a secure on-line crash analysis system that will expedite crash investigations and speed up traffic following an accident. A third new product that Light Ledge has developed is a software program called GIMME (Grant Information Monetary Management Electronic system). This system is designed for corporate, non-profit, and educational customers that need a tracking system for managing their federal and state grant applications. Congratulations, Femi O. Bajamo on your continued growth and success.

Cheryl Snead, President and CEO of Banneker Industries is working with Bryant University to host the third annual Supply Chain Management Summit on Thursday, August 26 at Bryant University in Smithfield, RI. For information on the conference and registration information call, 401-232-6416 or visit, www.scmsummit.org.

United Rentals has opportunities for certified MBEs in Office Supplies, Office Furniture, IT Asset Management, Drug Screening and Background Checks. For more information, certified MBEs can contact the GNEMSDC office, 203-288-9744.

· And Finally,

Fred in ohioOur Thursday morning speaker and seminar leader, Jeffrey Fox has a new book out titled, How to be a Fierce Competitor. This is one of those books that I keep around my desk to refer to when I am looking for a bit of inspiration and insight into business success. I picked it up this week and randomly picked a page and this is what I found: "The ubiquitous monthly report is not sacrosanct; 97.4 percent of monthly reports are a waste of management time, a waste of paper, of paperclips, of ink cartridges. Monthly reports are ancient history. By the time the percolate up and through layers of management, it is already next month." This is an interesting observation that illustrates one of the inherent competitive advantages of MBEs, who typically because of their smaller size and flatter organizations, do not require monthly meetings or monthly reports. Mr. Fox does not argue that information is irrelevant or counterproductive. His argument is about how senior management gets the information it needs. I think it was management guru Peter Drucker who observed that using historic documents to manage a company is like driving forward while only looking only out the rear view mirror. Perhaps corporate members could learn a few things from some MBEs on efficiently collecting and utilizing actionable information. There are so many observations like this in Mr. Fox's book that I think you will enjoy the read and hearing him on Thursday, September 30 at the MGM at Foxwoods. See you next month.

In your service

Dr. Fred