Bell & Associates

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Bell & Associates is based in Oregon and reviews financial and operational rates for solid waste. They analyze solid waste programs and make recommendations as to what garbage rates a city's residents should pay, based on numerous factors such as amount of refuse collected, size and numbers of dumpsters used and collection frequency per week.

In an effort to reduce the amount of time spent researching government opportunities and increase efficiency, Bell and Associates decided to make significant changes in their current method of identifying and qualifying government opportunities. Chris Bell is the Principal and Owner of Bell and Associates. Before subscribing to the Onvia Guide, Bell spent an average of 3-5 hours per week researching government opportunities. He would look through newspapers, reading the call for bids section in addition to sending out letters and calling municipalities to register for their e-mail solicitation lists. Bell wanted to save time researching all the government opportunities that were specific to his business; he also felt he wasted resources and time by sending out letters and subscribing to newspapers. Overall, Bell & Associates wanted to make better use of their time and money.

Bell looked at three different government business information companies in addition to Onvia. To determine which service would provide the best business solution, he set up a challenge. Each company was given a list of agencies from three specific states that Bell knew had recently solicited solid waste bids. "Out of every project that came out, Onvia caught them all. The other companies caught some of the bids but not all of them," says Bell. The company chose Onvia as their government business partner and subscribed to the Onvia Guide with premium services to solve their business needs. Now with the Onvia Guide, Bell spends a maximum of 10 minutes a day to review his opportunities, instead of 5 hours per week. The Onvia Guide delivers electronic notifications of bid notices, requests for proposals and contracting opportunities customized to specific industry categories and locations through unparalleled coverage of 73,000 federal, state and local purchasing entities. To ensure all his business needs are met, Bell works with his Onvia account manager whenever he has any questions or needs to refine his account profile. "Every day I get something. I may get a dozen qualified leads but even if I only get only one good lead, the service pays for itself," says Bell.

"The Onvia Guide has paid for itself over and over," Bell says. The greatest benefit that Onvia has provided for Bell & Associates is the timely, customized notifications that have led to increased revenue for the company. Instead of going through newspapers, sending out letters and registering for municipality e-mail lists, Bell takes 10 minutes or less to skim his Onvia Guide. Even though Bell & Associates is in a niche market, the Onvia Guide ensures that all of the opportunities specific to their business are captured.

In 2005, Bell & Associates won 5 contracts worth a total of $80,000 in New Mexico, Idaho, Washington and Oregon. The project in Washington alone totaled $25,000.