CDW-G seeks small biz

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

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

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

Company officials had planned to issue a request for proposals for the new state and local government and education consortium next April, said Kevin Adams, vice president of program management. The success of the federal team spurred 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." Proposals are due Dec. 1, and the company plans to have contracts in place by early 2004.

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."

The new consortium could potentially include some of the 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.

The RFP is available at www.cdwg.com/smallbizrfp. n