CDW-G expands small-business program

CDW Government Inc., a government-oriented information technology reseller, is expanding its small-business partnership program to companies serving local and state government and educational institutions in seven states.

The program follows CDW-G's formation of a 13-company consortium in July. The program's purpose is to assemble a team of specialized companies that CDW-G can turn to for help with specific projects.

The company originally planned to issue a request for proposals for the state and local government and education consortium next April, said Kevin Adams, vice president of program management. The success of the federal team urged him to move ahead with it, he said.

"In our first four months we hit our one-year target for revenue," he said, declining to specify the amount. "It just shot out of the gate."

The seven states are California, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Texas and Washington. Adams said he limited the program to seven to keep CDW-G's evaluation process manageable.

"If we did all 50 states, I'd never get through all the responses," he said. "I would expect that once we get these up and running, you'll see another RFP out of us."

Proposals are due Dec. 1, and the company plans to have contracts in place by early 2004.

The new consortium could include some of the same companies in the federal group, he added.

The contracts between CDW-G and the partner firms run for one year with two one-year option periods. CDW-G furnishes business to the smaller firms, and in turn gets access to their expertise.