One Contract at a Time
Written By: Joan C. Rueben, Director of Nevada APEX Accelerator
At no charge or fee to its business clients, the Nevada APEX Accelerator team assists for-profit companies in the state with their public sector contracting journeys at the local, state, and federal government level. The government contracting pursuits do not even have to be geographically limited to Nevada, as businesses look to sell their goods and/or services regionally and/or nationally. Contracts and subcontracts won either on a competitive or non-competitive basis have helped businesses to increase revenue and be profitable, enabling job retention and creation. Nevada’s economy continues to diversify because of Nevada companies, especially the small businesses. The statewide APEX is funded, in part, through a formal, cost-sharing cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Defense/War. The same goes for other APEXes across the nation and in some U.S. territories.
The Nevada APEX Accelerator team, composed of many former federal government contracting professionals, helps to provide procurement technical assistance via one-on-one counseling, APEX bid-matching services, e-news regarding important topics such as cybersecurity as well as concerns regarding foreign ownership, control, or influence of a Nevada business, in-person educational workshops, virtual educational webinars, networking events, matchmaker events, capability statement reviews, certification walkthroughs, pre-solicitation review assistance, solicitation review help, proposal review assistance, and help for contract issues. Additionally, APEX is part of the wider business resource partner network and can refer Nevada businesses to other organizations in the state that provide help in non-procurement technical assistance areas.
Regarding aforementioned in-person educational workshops and networking events, the Nevada APEX Accelerator is proud to be working with other APEXes in its assigned regional area, Region 10, by the National APEX Accelerator Alliance (NAPEX). Since October 2025, regional APEXes have been collaborating and working on an in-person event “Strengthening the Defense Industrial Base (DIB) via American Ingenuity” that will be held in January 2026 and hosted by the lead APEX Accelerator, the Nevada APEX Accelerator, in Las Vegas. While the international Consumer Electronics Show (CES) will be ending in early January at the Las Vegas Convention Center, there is no reason that the technology, innovation, and invention themes should end with the CES convention. The themes will continue from a national security perspective at the Clark County Library’s Main Theater venue in Las Vegas.
Those from local, state, and federal government; industry or the business community to include formal APEX clients; academia; and the non-profit sector will join together to network and listen to thought leaders share information about the importance of technology, innovation, and inventions as they relate to deterring war and ensuring our nation’s security in a complex global environment. A sample set of APEX clients will be showcasing their respective company’s products and/or capabilities. Individuals representing Nellis Air Force Base and Creech Air Force Base will be providing insight from a mission support perspective. APEX program managers/directors will be sharing information about respective APEXes and the areas and clients they serve. Professionals will be discussing intellectual property protection. A national defense-related professional association will be discussing the state of the defense industrial base. Academia will be part of a discussion regarding ensuring science, technology, engineering, and mathematics pathways for our nation’s youth.
As described above, the event programming is intended to touch on many important facets related to strengthening the DIB. Equally important will be the networking, as buyers and sellers of goods and/or services will be in attendance. Government agencies and publicly-funded entities, prime contractors, and subcontractors at every level have requirements, in order to support their respective missions and projects. They need companies’ quality goods and/or service capabilities to get the job done. APEX Accelerator clients have come to learn that, as a minimum, each in-person event is a way to grow one’s professional network and prospective opportunities. As examples, opportunities may come in the form of a contract, subcontract, or order to propose or bid on; a formal teaming agreement, where parties agree on a prime contractor-subcontractor relationship, as they pursue a government contract; learning about a prospective customer, so much so that it helps to inform one when generating a formal proposal or bid to same; and cross-referring professional contacts between businesses, in order to grow the number of those in one’s network.
If your business is headquartered in Nevada, and is interested in selling your goods and/or services in the public sector, please see the “Becoming a Client” section of APEX’s webpage on the GOED website: https://goed.nv.gov/programs/nevada-apex-accelerator/
Note: Regarding the public sector, and as posted in part on the Internet, by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, a federal government agency, in federal “Fiscal Year 2024, the federal government committed about $755 billion on contracts