June 13, 2016
Illinois PTAC Client is Still Learning from Her PTAC – and Still Growing.
Source: APTAC, June 13, 2016
Claire Pugsley, Owner and President of Midwest Mowing, Inc., DBA: Pugsley Services has been a PTAC client since April of 2006. Following is the first Success Story that was written for Claire’s company in September of 2006:
“Claire Pugsley, President of Midwest Mowing in Brighton, IL, first approached the SIU-E SBDC in search of assistance to gain more markets for her custom lawn care business. Claire explained that she wanted to tap into the government markets. Michelle Kosteck-Catalano, SBDC Director, advised that she speak with Mary Turner, Western IL PTAC Director. Claire, a young widowed mother, was eager to use all available resources that she could find to make her business successful. After just a month of working with Mary and receiving the Center’s electronic bid matches, she was able to contract with the Department of Veterans Affairs in a cemetery near her hometown of Brighton, IL. The future looks bright as Claire has also taken advantage of some government conferences which were recommended by the PTAC office. At those sessions, she was able to network with other government agencies and businesses. Through these discussions, it looks like more work for her company may be on the horizon. She will soon be in the process of applying for the 8(a) program through the SBA which will open her opportunities even further.”
Fast-forward to the summer of 2015. Everything that was written in the first Success Story has come true and more. In the fall of 2008, Claire was approved into the 8(a) program. Additional current certifications include WOSB (Woman Owned Small Business) and EDWOSB (Economically Disadvantaged Woman Owned Small Business) programs along with her IDOT/MODOT DBE certification.
She has expanded their offerings well beyond the lawn care sector. Currently, the company has moved into the realms of environmental services, firebreak boundary maintenance, cemetery headstone installations and interment services, construction and support activities for forestry to include prescribed burning operations, tree mastication and interior forest foliar treatments. Her clients include a list of government agencies such as the Illinois Department of Transportation, US Army Corps of Engineers, the US Army Corps Engineer Research and Development Center-Construction Engineering Research Laboratory, US Department of Agriculture, Scott Air Force Base, DISA/DITCO, Federal Aviation Association and she continues to contract with the Department of Veterans Affairs.
During this tenure, she has also created joint venture companies holding contracts with the US Army Corps Engineer Research and Development Center – Construction Engineering Research Laboratory in Champaign, IL and the Army Contracting Command-Rock Island, IL.
For her impressive accomplishments, Claire gives credit to the PTAC program. In a recent interview, Claire commented that she has doubled their revenues two years in a row, reporting that “the assistance that I have received from the PTAC program has definitely given me the tools that I needed to build my company.”
For a recent article written on Claire and her company performing a contract at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin, Click here.
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For help with Government Contracting: contact your nearest Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC). Funded through Cooperative Agreements between the U.S. Department of Defense and state and local governments/institutions, PTACs provide free and low-cost assistance in virtually all areas of government contracting.