Success Story: Aegis Business Solutions
Kansas City, MO

Randy Crawford exudes an attitude of ease and quiet confidence. It belies the drive and determination bubbling underneath that has taken him where he is today.

He can be found most days in the downtown Kansas City headquarters of the business service firm he founded two years ago—Aegis Business Solutions LLC. The company, which Crawford heads, helps government agencies and private industry by delivering complete office solutions for business needs ranging from information technology to office furniture to relocation services.

"Our targeted clientele is the U.S. government and Fortune 500 companies with socio-economic goals related to our status as a Service Disabled Veteran Owned Business," explains Crawford, who served as an Army staff sergeant from 1976-1983. He taught military intelligence and also worked directly with the National Security Agency.

Randy Crawford is founder and president of Kansas City-based Aegis Business Solutions LLC. The company is one of only eight Service Disabled Veteran Owned Businesses in the country that has a contract schedule for furniture with the General Services Administration.

He left the Army as a result of a service-connected disability. Back in civilian life Crawford determined to make the best of his situation. He set himself on a path to entrepreneurship.

Among Crawford's achievements during the years following his Army service: he owned and operated a manufacturer's representative company selling test equipment to the communications industry. He also pursued a bachelor's degree in business administration, which he received in 2000 from Baker University in Baldwin City, Kan.

All of his experience in business ownership, management and education eventually led to the creation of another entrepreneurial urge, resulting in Crawford founding Aegis in March 2006.

It was within the first week of operation at his new enterprise that Crawford learned of a valuable business resource, the Missouri Procurement Technical Assistance Centers (MO PTAC).

"I went to a presentation that Donna Leonard (MO PTAC counselor at UMKC) put on about selling to the government," recalls Crawford. "Later I met with Donna and together over the next two months we worked on a submission for a GSA (General Services Administration) contract. Once we both felt it was ready to submit, off it went."

Above: Crawford discusses business with Donna Leonard, the UMKC-based MO PTAC counselor, at his company's downtown Kansas City headquarters. Leonard has worked with Aegis Business Solutions for the past two years.
Below: Missouri state Sen. Jolie Justus (right, D-10th District) presents a legislative resolution to Randy Crawford (left).

That was May 2006. GSA approved the Aegis bid in August...2007, a seemingly interminable interval: "This was a difficult time, waiting for those 16 months with no income coming in and trying to survive," Crawford notes. "But survive we did."

With the contract approved, Aegis Business Solutions became one of only eight SDVOB companies in the country that has a GSA schedule for furniture.

Long waits are typical of GSA schedule solicitations, which seek to establish long-term contracts that allow virtually any government office to buy a spectrum of supplies and services directly from commercial suppliers. GSA's goal is to obtain "most favored customer" pricing while achieving such purchasing benefits as short lead times, lower administrative costs and reduced inventories. The benefit to the supplier is the formal establishment of long-term relationships with a variety of government offices.

"Once we received the contract, we have been met by government contracting officers with open arms," Crawford says, "as they are required to meet their socio-economic goals. One of these goals is the SDVOB that has taken a very high priority, especially in the Veterans Administration."

So despite the 16-month processing period, the wait was worth it for Aegis. After GSA awarded the contract, Crawford and his crew booked more than $2.8 million in sales before the end of 2007. Currently, the firm is on target to achieve its 2008 sales goal of $8 million, according to the company president.

Crawford receives a Missouri Procurement Technical Assistance Centers award from Morris Hudson (right), state director of the MO PTAC program.

"I have sold many things to the federal government over the years and knew of the GSA contract system," says Crawford. "But I never had to apply on my own behalf to GSA to get a schedule for a small business. The aid MO PTAC provided to decipher the GSA purchasing system was a very important step in getting Aegis out of the starting blocks."

Crawford has found Leonard's assistance to be timely and top-notch for his business's development, and he recommends it to any business that aims to sell its products or services to offices at any level of government.

"Donna assisted me with the submission of the GSA schedule, ensuring that I had completed the document as prescribed by the government, and that all questions were answered completely and accurately," notes Crawford. "She is an invaluable asset to MO PTAC, and she has truly been a very substantial part of what our business is and will be in the future."

This story was featured in the April 2008 newsletter

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