YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Chris Thomas, owner of Tri County Tower LLC in North Jackson, was searching for a way to crack the government marketplace and grow his company’s services and capabilities.
The company constructs and maintains communication towers across the country, so exploring business in the public sector seemed like a logical move, he says.
But where to begin? Often, small businesses looking to compete for federal, state or even local government projects are saddled with administrative tasks, an overload of paperwork, and compliance issues. Going in blindly could become a frustrating and costly endeavor.
Thomas then turned to what is now Ohio Apex Accelerator – formerly the Procurement Technical Assistance Center, or PTAC – located at the Ohio Small Business Development Center at Youngstown State University.
“They opened our eyes to the government contracting and federal procurement marketplace,” Thomas says. Apex staff members met with Thomas and company employees for several hours, showing them the basics on how to navigate the ropes and become more competitive when it came to bidding for maintenance and service work for the government, he says.
Companies such as Tri County have tapped into the many organizations in the Mahoning and Shenango Valleys that help businesses in a variety of fields ranging from startups to more mature firms.
GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENT
Apex, for example, has emerged as an important asset and resource for Tri County Tower, as it works to expand its client base and expertise, Thomas says. “Apex has helped us logistically and administratively on specifics such as using the proper forms, knowing who to contact,” he says. “Knowing where to put this stuff is more than half the battle.”
The partnership has helped Tri County secure new business with federal, state and local governments, especially as it relates to emergency services and systems, Thomas says. “The bulk of our business is emergency systems for state and federal government,” he says. The company, for example, has the contract to maintain and provide service for towers that are part of Ohio’s Multi-Agency Radio Communication System, or MARCS. “Mahoning County has recently moved to MARCS, and we’re in the process of redoing a tower in Boardman right now,” he says.
Thomas says that Apex has allowed Tri County Tower to pursue new opportunities that it otherwise may not have. “That’s allowed us to bring in more revenue and hire more people,” he adds.
Moreover, the company has also had success with Apex interns through the Ohio Procurement Internship Program, Thomas says. “We’re about to host our third intern,” he says.
Helping to develop a pipeline of small businesses such as Tri County to the government marketplace is the exclusive goal of Apex, says Scot Loveland, the organization’s director.
“It’s very specific,” Loveland says. “In the mid-1980s, the government felt that it was beholden to a small number of large corporations in its supply chain. They were looking for more options to fuel innovation and lower costs.”
In 1986, Congress created the procurement technical assistance center, or PTAC, program, Loveland says. The idea was to cultivate a more resilient supply chain by connecting small business with government agencies. The procurement center opened at the Ohio SBDC at YSU in 2019. Several years ago, the agency rebranded itself as Apex.
“Our mission is simple,” Loveland says. “We’re here to help small businesses sell goods and services to the government.” Initially, that market was limited to federal contracts, but has since expanded into state, local and educational development agencies.
In 2024, for example, Loveland reports the organization’s clients in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties secured approximately $90 million in government contracts. “That’s a $90 million impact in the Mahoning Valley,” he says.
Loveland says government contracts often come with complex compliance rules that small businesses find impossible to navigate because of their limited resources. “It’s so complex, we have to exist,” he says.
Apex can guide a company on how to register in the correct data bases, conduct market research on what departments are interested in specific products or services a company sells, and avail opportunities for clients based on custom searches. “Instead of having them scour hundreds of data bases daily, they get one email,” he says.
The organization also helps prospective companies understand the request for proposal (RFP) and request for qualification (RFQ) process and how to best prepare them for business in the public sector.
“We have a lot of connections in the private and public sector,” he says. “Essentially, we’re a matchmaker.”
Apex has approximately 200 clients, Loveland says. Some of these firms reach out once a year; others contact the organization three times a week. “It’s not easy. It takes a lot of time and work,” he says. “We can do some of the heavy lifting for you and facilitate your journey, but we can’t make you successful.”
NURTURING TECHNOLOGY
Other companies have experienced successful partnerships with area incubators that are designed to vault both early stage and seasoned ventures forward with their growth prospects.
“One of the services we provide is energy management,” says Dave Martin, founder of Intwine Connect. “That’s where Brite came in.”
Martin is referring to Brite Energy Innovators in Warren, an incubator and business development organization dedicated to helping companies scale energy-related technologies and research for commercial use. “We became engaged with Brite a few years ago as a result of JumpStart,” he says. JumpStart is a Cleveland-based organization that provides tech services and skills to support entrepreneurs. Brite, he says, aligned perfectly with Intwine’s goals.
Martin says Intwine has developed a cellular broadband platform that integrates internet of things, or IoT, capability into its product. The company markets to companies all over the world and has used Brite’s laboratory and its network of experienced professionals within the tech industry to advance its business. The company has offices in the Cleveland area and at 999 Pine Ave. in Warren.
“They can provide the resources to help small businesses – engineering, marketing, venture capital,” Martin says. “Brite is very client focused. They listen, ask good questions, understand your unique needs and are extremely aggressive.”
Martin relates that he and Brite’s president and CEO, Rick Stockburger, have attended events that helped raise Intwine’s visibility to potential customers and investors. “He and I were at the White House together,” Martin recalls. “They make things happen.”
Anthony Roshetsky, business development and product manager at Intwine, says the company has developed all-in-one 4G and 5G communications systems that allow businesses to operate more efficiently and proactively. Intwine designs and sells routers, computing systems, management portals and voice over internet protocol service.
A restaurant owner, for example, can use Intwine’s system to remotely monitor and regulate temperatures in its freezers, Roshetsky says. “We’re also looking to sell to manufacturers,” he says. One of Intwine’s routers, for example, can collect data from say a rooftop chiller and determine whether a component is wearing out or needs replaced before it fails. “That enables the manufacturer to provide service contracts, extended warranties, and predict maintenance and send service parts when needed.”
Intwine is among dozens of portfolio companies that have used Brite’s facilities and expertise to help them grow, Stockburger says. “One of our companies, Power2Hydrogen, based in Columbus, did a bunch of third-party testing in our lab,” he says. “They were able to get some federal funding and just closed on a $20 million venture capital round.”
Stockburger says Brite, located in downtown Warren, in 2024 helped its portfolio companies across Ohio raise approximately $210 million of venture capital, and another $60 million in federal funding. “It was our biggest year yet, by far,” he says. “In most cases those companies would not have received that funding without our support as an organization.”
Getting companies access to capital is vital to their success, Stockburger says. One company, he reports, is getting close to finalizing a $42 million capital round that could have an impact in the Mahoning Valley.
Last year, Brite launched its CXO program, an initiative that uses the organization’s network to recruit professionals that help its portfolio companies raise both capital and innovative employees. “We piloted the program in March of last year,” he says. “It’s been the most successful program that we have ever ran. It’s been our clearest path to attracting coastal capital to Ohio, and also coastal talent to Ohio.”
Recently, Stockburger was named co-chair of the National Coalition of Clean Energy Incubators, an appointment he says is important to bringing awareness to the region as a vital center for developing new energy technology.
“I think it’s so unbelievably cool that my co-chair is the CEO of Los Angeles Greentech Incubator, and we in Warren are leading this coalition,” he says. “It’s a real blessing to elevate the Mahoning Valley as a nationally recognized place to grow companies.”
Pictured at top: Scot Loveland, director of Ohio Apex Accelerator, helps connect small business with the government marketplace.