Knoxville Utilities Board Procurement team recognized one of its small, minority vendors in an effort to encourage and support the participation of more.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (April 2022) – Accurate Contracting Services Inc. has been in operation since 2011 and is a certified Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) company. Accurate is owned and operated by Reggie Bazel, who has been working in the construction field for over 30 years.
Three years ago, Bazel attended a networking event where KUB was a vendor. After his interaction with the KUB presenter, he became a KUB registered bidder and researched bid opportunities. Agents for KUB asked Bazel what advice he would give businesses attempting to work with KUB.
“Attending the pre-bid meetings allowed me to understand the scope of work and ask questions that helped me to prepare my bid,” Reggie said. “I also suggest attending the bid-opening meetings before you begin bidding. Bid-opening meetings allowed me to network with other vendors, get to know the KUB Procurement team, and become familiar with the bidding process and paperwork.”
Accurate Contracting Services Inc. recently secured their second three-year contract for the installation of 110v outlets for the Natural Gas Water Heater program. They were also the successful bidder on The Fleming Operations Center Administration Office upgrade, which has been completed.
Reggie wants to encourage small and minority contractors to reach out to the KUB Procurement team for support throughout the process and to learn from each bid and apply that knowledge going forward, and keep bidding. “You won’t win every bid—and that’s ok. If you do not win, request the bid tab to find out why you were not the successful bidder and keep bidding.” Reggie encourages small businesses to take advantage of the support available through the KUB teams. For more information visit; kub.org/procurement; for support email the KUB small biz and diversity teams at; smallbiz@kub.org; Diversity@kub.org.
ABOUT KUB Small Business Program: Companies with fifty (50) or fewer employees can more easily participate in bid opportunities between $10,000 and $100,000, made available through the Small Business and Diversity Programs.