Combat boots and contracts – ECONS Airmen host ‘vendor day’

Published Aug. 5, 2018
By Air Force Staff Sgt. Christopher Stoltz
386th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs

KUWAIT CITY, Kuwait -- The United States Embassy and the 386th Expeditionary Contracting Squadron recently held ‘vendor day,’ an outreach symposium for prospective clients and local vendors doing business with the United States Air Force and coalition partners.

As a joint-effort with the 407th ECONS, the U.S. Department of Commerce, coalition partners and Kuwait Chamber of Commerce, the event served as an informative briefing which connected the squadrons with prospective vendors. Additionally, the event helped educate local businesses with the government procurement process.

“This opportunity allows us to have an open forum with local vendors,” said Maj. Armando Rodriguez, 386th ECONS commander. “We were also able to highlight our business practices and other areas of interest, to include the enforcement of Combating Trafficking in Persons policies.”

The 386 ECONS team said they plan on making this an annual event, and considered this iteration a large success – as there was barely an empty seat in the auditorium.

“This event is part of the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait’s outreach initiative to expose the local vendor base to our acquisition process specifically,” he said. “The 117 attendees who were present at the event are only a fraction of the possible pool of vendors who can assist in providing essential products, services, and minor construction or repairs.”

Beyond creating a mutually-beneficial partnership with Kuwait and clients here, Rodriguez said the vendor day is slated to increase competition on current and future contracts, which will eventually lead to better quality of services and products for service members stationed here and throughout the area of responsibility.

“Kuwait's local business community is very much interested in doing business with the United States,” said Yousif Almahdi, U.S. Department of Commerce commercial specialist with the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait. “I believe these events will help the local business community further understand the contracting requirements set by contracting office at the bases.”

As the event concluded, Almahdi thanked the attendees for their presence, and said there are plans to host more events like this in the upcoming months.

“We are planning a ‘Discover America Week’ event planned for late October or early November,” he said. “We also will host additional ‘vendor days’ like this. We look forward to further ventures with the Kuwait Chamber of Commerce & Industry.”