Doing Business with CPS

001Hello. Hi everyone. Welcome. Welcome. Welcome. Welcome. So excited to have you here and I'm so excited you took time out of your busy day to come after work [clears throat] to our doing business with Cincinnati Public Schools. I appreciate you being here. We are going to go ahead and get started. So I just want to do the welcome. And my name is Trina Lattimore. I'm the Purchasing Director for Cincinnati Public Schools and my team is here as well. They're in the back. So Yolanda Johnson, she is our Contract Administrator. Karonda Wilson, she's our Vendor Management. Michelle Thacker, she is our Buyer. And we have Tiana Rice, she's our Assistant Buyer and Shenita Wills Reese and she is my Senior Accounting Technician. So I just wanted you to introduce my team. Let everybody know who they

002are. [applause] Also, we are collaborating with African American Chamber of Commerce and Minority Business Assistance Center, Cincinnati. And I'll have Ricky coming up. He's going to come up and introduce his team and do a little welcome. Come on up. >> [laughter] >> Good afternoon. >> [laughter] >> Good afternoon. All right. How's everybody doing? Good. We are so happy that you all are here. We're so happy that this room is filled up. >> Yes. My name is Ricky Pleasant. I'm the Financial Advisor with the Cincinnati Minority Business Assistance Center that's housed at the African American Chamber of Commerce. And so one of the main things that I that is our focus and our mission is empowering our community and making sure people have the opportunities that they need to make sure that their business grows and

003succeeds. And so CPS mission is the same. They do it with the kids and they got to do it with y'all. Right. Right? And so please take advantage of this opportunity. Make sure you take notes, ask questions. The Minority Business Assistance Center is here to provide free services for you all, financial services, certification services and I want to introduce our team. So we have Miss Deborah Davis, she's the Direct Program Director. We have Vivian Watkins who's our Certification Specialist and Outreach Manager. We have James Collins here and we also have from the Chamber of Commerce Gregory Parker who's our Membership Director. So y'all need to go talk to him. Right. >> [laughter] >> After you get finished listening to this information. So we really appreciate y'all. If y'all need help with anything or want to

004follow up or have any questions about the Chamber or MBAC, please come see us after the presentation. Thank you all. Thank you. Thank you. Thank [applause] you. I want to go over agenda. We're a little off cuz I know it started a little late. So we did the welcome and the second half of that is want to be doing business with CPS. Um introductions to CPS bidding process and we have some guest speakers. I'm so excited about our guest speakers. So we're going to go ahead and get started. I want to make sure that everybody understands and knows where the restrooms are. So the restrooms are um actually I'm not sure if you want to go out this door because instead of interrupting this way, but you go around this way and it's actually right

005on this other side of this wall. So whenever y'all need to get up, stretch, use the bathroom, just go ahead and and go ahead and do that. So I just want to make sure y'all know where that's it where that's at. We're going to go ahead and go get started with Pathways to becoming a vendor. So I worked hard with our Communication Engagement to update our actual website. And so what I want to do is show you our website. Okay. Show you our website. Thank you. So you will understand exactly how to navigate in Cincinnati Public Schools doing business with CPS. So on our website we have all the information that you would need to do business with CPS. I'm going to go down. And we also have the doing business CPS with for us

006today, y'all. So excited. So on here we have the four We have my other vendor um the vendor quote requirements, Pathways to Becoming a Vendor, Information for Existing Vendor and Procurement Solicitation Process. And at the bottom we have also CPS Diverse Inclusion Opportunities, Local Hire Initiatives, Board Policies and Resolutions, Resource Links and Local Resources. And I'm going to go back to the top because this is where we keep our bidding information. So whenever we have bids out and you want to know what we have available for CPS, it is right here. Bid Notices. So we'll put bids out and they go right here on the CPS webpage. Right now we just have one bid right this second, but we are working on other bids that's going to be coming out soon. So I want you

007to guys to make sure you look at this website. Keep looking at it cuz as we move towards FY27 which starts in July, we will be putting more bids out there so you can look at and you know, bid on. And we do also give our information to the Chamber and we give it to Hamilton County and the city just because we want to make sure that everybody reaches the information. I'm going to go back. The district currently uses IonWave for all of our bidding. So make sure when you go in to register your IonWave, you're selecting your commodity correctly because you will actually get an email of any bids or RFPs that come up that's under the commodity you select. So doing business with Cincinnati Public Schools, we're going to do Join Us and

008out here are three pathways that we created. And the pathways are CPS Vendor Opportunity Form. So oh, sorry. I got to be by the mic. I would like for everyone to make sure they go out and complete this form because this form actually gives us the leeway for my Vendor Management to send you an invitation to become a vendor in our database. So when you become a vendor in our database, our district sees who you are and you can get quotes and things like that. So we do a lot of quotes here. We do more quotes than bids, honestly. I'm just going to say that. So if she sends you a link from um from um What is it called? Um It's from IonWave. IonWave. Yeah. Okay, it's coming from IonWave. IonWave, just know it's

009coming from CPS. And so when you click on that, she's going to ask you for some information because she's going to send you a link back to PaymentWorks and that's our onboarding system. And then you will onboard yourself into our database. And like Miss Yolanda said, you have to make sure you put in what you do for our for your for for your business because that's how we categorize in our system. So our our job in Purchasing is to make sure that we have valid vendors for the district to use and we do that by giving them access to our Vendor Directory and so you will guys would be part of that. Another initiative that I'm working with my Vendor Management on is being more more directive with maybe saying, "Okay, we have all these

010vendors. I want you guys to start looking at these vendors before y'all start ordering." So if you're in our database, we can pull your information and we can give it to our schools. Uh our cuz we work closely with our clerical staff and our principals and things like that. So we can be more intensive to make sure that you are getting what you need, okay? And we want to make sure you're doing that. So when we actually when you go out here, make sure you do that as well. The next thing we have for you is actually going out and speaking with school the schools and departments. We have a school list and I have a director's department list. You have the ability to go out and and work your business because I'm being honest,

011we are decentralized. I don't have all the budgets. So the schools make their own decision on what they do. Every school kind of operate separately. You know, the SCPA's and Walnut's and the Clark Clark's and all the other schools, they just operate differently. So their needs You know, we educating the children for sure, but their needs may be different depending on what's going on. So I want you guys to make sure that you're looking at this list and being intentional with, you know, following up and reaching out. I I actually receive a lot of people reaching out to me. Just just asking me for their time and I give it to them sometimes. Sometimes I'll be like, "Oh, yeah, I need that. I'm looking for that." So you never know. So just be more just

012think about that because we want to make And I also pass things along. When you when people send me things, I will send it to my directors. I will send it to my schools and say, "Look at this. Do you need this?" And they'll be like, "Thank you." Because you never know, right? So I just want you just to know that part. And the last part is our bidding software. So if you have not signed in our bidding software, please do. Uh again, put your category of what you do for your business because when we have bids out there and you will get an email you will get an email according to what you do. Some people select everything, but that means you're going to get every bid. >> [laughter] >> So I would suggest

013just selecting what you really do so you can be more intentional in that in that area. So those are the three different pathways that you can get into Cincinnati Public Schools and you might have to do some of the work. Like I said, I do not have all the budgets. The budgets are out there and so you never know what the schools or departments may need. And so if you put yourself out there or in our database that would be helpful. All right. Let me go back cuz I'm going to share a couple of more things. I really want to make sure that we get our Hey, let's go back. So we have vendor quote. Now the vendor quote is very important. Like I said, we do way more quotes in our district than bidding

014or anything else. So it's very important to send quotes out to our ven- to our schools. If you actually are able to get into a school and they say, "You know what? We need a quote because without a quote they cannot put anything into the system for you to actually do the services, right?" So for a quote you need to make sure that you are having a valid quote and these are the um um the parameters that we go by. And we have example quotes out here as well. So we have a product quote and a service quote which is totally different cuz a service quote more than likely will receive a contract from our contract administrator and she cannot make the contract if you don't put the proper information on the quote. So out

015here we do have examples of what it should look like, what you should give back to us so we can be um making sure that we can get that through the system and you can get your work started with the schools. Make sure you do not start any services without a purchase order. I might say that a thousand times today because it's so important. I have a lot of people calling us and they'll they'll say, "I haven't gotten paid. I did these services." I'm like, "What's your PO number?" and they just don't know what I'm talking about. Because they go in the schools and they, you know, try to get the services and they'll be so happy but one thing they have to do is put a PO in. They have to have a PO.

016We cannot pay you without a PO. We cannot pay you without you being in our database. So that's so important to make sure you have that. So a quote is very important but you have to have a proper quote. The other things I want to share with you is for existing vendors. So if you are already an existing vendor you can click on this link and my my vendor management she actually put a lot of information out here for uh what to be aware of. Scams, performances, she just put out quote requirements, vendor portal. She put a lot of information out here for existing vendors or if if you if you're going to become a vendor so you can get familiar what that looks like is out here for you. I would just take some

017time, you know, go out there and just look around, poke around and you know, see what's out there for you. And the last thing I have out here is procurement solicitation process. It's a high level just giving you information on how we do our processes for our request for proposals, and solicitations, bids, and things like that. We're going to go over that today, a little bit of that today so you'll get a little bit of that. But right here is a document that put together that kind of gives you a little bit more information, too. Okay? And one thing that we want to do is increase increase our participation. So we definitely want to make sure that you need to go out on this site and be familiar with doing business with CPS and really

018go in and check this current bids and legal notices so you can make sure you're not missing anything. Again, register yourself in IonWave cuz that's our bidding system. Make sure that when you get that information from invendor @cpsboe.k12.oh.us That was the ven- that is the um our vendor email that you'll receive if you click that fill out that first link to become a vendor. Karonda will look at it, look at the service you provide, and you will receive a different a link from her from that email. I just want you to know cuz you know there's a lot of scamming out here and you know, I'm very cautious myself but I'm giving you the information so when you see it you'll know. She's very efficient so she might be sending it out like in a

019couple weeks like maybe a week so just look out for it, okay? Okay. So you have any questions about the website and how to navigate doing business with Cincinnati Public Schools? Sure. >> [clears throat] >> Yes. It's invendor invendor so the letter n and v e n d o r @ cpsboe. k12. oh.us That's how long email address Cincinnati Public Schools. >> [laughter] >> So yes. Any other questions? Okay, we're going to go ahead and move on. So now we're going to talk about the bidding process. What does that look like? You know, how do we actually receive our bids? What we do? What do you have to do in order to actually get a good bid to us and be responsive? Cuz you cannot be responsive if you don't follow all the regulations and

020rules and things like that. So we're going to go over some things. It's high level um Ricky excuse me but we will you can we're going to pass out the um the actual PowerPoint to Yes. Okay. Okay. Okay. So you'll get an email. >> [clears throat] >> You can go over it. So the different types of bidding. So we have request for proposal and it's used for our complex projects uh requiring creative vendor solutions and things like that. We have an invitation to bid or bid that focus primarily on price. Straightforward, we know we want we want these widgets, cost like this, who's got the lowest price? We do that as well. We also have sealed bids which is for a really construction. So the bids are sealed, they come in sealed, we cannot open

021them until that time frame. We can have the bidders come into a room with us, open them together, and you can see exactly what other people bid it. That's really more construction side of the house but that's a sealed bid a sealed bid. A statement of qualification, this is actually for construction professional services for engineering, architectural services, and things like that. We have to also have a statement of qualifications on already there so we bid that out as well. Um so those are the different types of bids that we typically do. And we're going to kind of expand on it. We're going to go through like four high level processes that you would do to give back to us to be responsive. The first one is reviewing and understanding the solicitation process. You have to

022understand what you're doing. Read over solicitation, understand what that is. Drafting your responses. So make sure you're looking at what you're drafting, making sure you're following what's in the scope when you're drafting. Um review of compliance. Make sure you're looking at everything they're asking. The bids will be different depending on what they're actually doing. So you have to really pay attention to what they actually needing from you to make sure you be responsive for the bid. Respond to solicitation and follow up. Make sure that you hit the respond button. Make sure you submit cuz sometimes in your system they're like, "You sure you want to submit?" and people kind of move on from that. But make sure that happens. So we're going to go high level kind of go through this. So the first part

023of this is understanding the project. So being clearly we state the client's needs or problems. We need to understand the scope and approach. You need to outline a clear plan for completing the work including timelines, major milestones, describe method, tools, or system because you want your bid to be better than someone else's bid, right? You want to win the bid so you have to put more into it making sure that you give everything that we're asking. And you need to understand the qualification experiences including relative relative past projects or case examples. So when we asking for this information make sure you give it to us. Give us your your past projects. What What do you do? What did you do? You know, um demonstrate experience with similar clients or work and highlight measurable results or

024outcome because you can just, you know, brag on yourself. You know, this is what I do. You know, this is my management, this is what I can bring to the table. You know, put all that in your bid. Make sure you're bragging on yourself because you know, that's this is your work. You know, so you know, don't take it lightly. Don't just give a little bit of information you know Whatever we ask for we definitely want but you know, if you can showcase a little bit more, you know, they'll look at it. So make sure you're doing that. The second part of this is drafting your response. So looking at the pricing, cost structure because we will make a bid um non-responsive if you don't follow these rules. We want them to come out a

025certain way so when our valuation team look at it if they can boom boom boom and get it done. So you have to follow the structure of how it looks. Compliance with requirements. So we have a lot of compliance. Yes, I agree to that. Yes, I agree to that. Yes, you know, because we have to have a actual bid solicitation it's really a contract. It's a start of one, right? So our contract administrator will take that information and she will create and look at it for a contract. So this is important to make sure that you're actually paying attention to compliance requirements. Yes, saying yes, you agree to stuff, you know, being honest about it. Um the value and diff- diff- diff- differences Appreciation. That part. Clearly explain what sets the company apart. So make

026sure you set yourself apart. You know, give yourself, you know, a pat on the back. Set yourself apart from what's going on with everybody else. That's okay. Do that. Highlight unique strengths and advantages so we'll see what we can bring what you bring to the table. So when you're doing your bid response make sure you put all that stuff in there because it's very important for us to see it and for the people that's actually going to evaluate to see what you have and what you can provide. The other part is review for compliance. Make sure you go over it. Don't miss anything. Um make sure you follow all the directives and you put everything in response attachments and things like that that's required of you because again, if we see things missing, they may

027take it as non-responsive. Some people don't follow the direction when it comes to the cost and line item. They don't put the line item stuff in there and so they're just like we just take it out because we don't know. So this clearly says put your fixed price, your initial price. Put it says it. So you have to do what it says. Cuz we don't want to have to call and try to figure out what you're saying. We want to make sure that you understand what you need to be put in there. Um references, we really want your references too because they look at those references as testimonials. Um presentation fairly. So we do have presentations. Sometimes some of our evaluations what evaluators will ask you to come in and do a presentation or really

028online now. So they'll ask you to know the top three. We need to do a presentation for us and you got to shine because here we are. You the big everybody out. You got the top three here. Now we're ready to shine and show them what you can do. So that happens too. Um in some of our bids um organized to match bid selections. Use clear straightforward language so we can understand what you're saying. Free of errors and easy to review. Um and require all required copies. Most of the time it's we do responses in the tab. You just upload your stuff into the tab cuz everything is online. And then so our evaluations go in and they can actually see everything y'all put in. Um not following the requirements. Like I said, price structure,

029having a clear straightforward scope of work, missing any required documentation, missing checks, checking all required boxes. And like I said, has something in there do I agree this and that because we um like we we are in an organization but we we still have to follow state regulations and bidding process so it makes sense. So we want to make sure that you follow all things and we will name it as non-responsive if you don't. The last thing is to respond to the bid and follow up. Follow the submission deadline. Make sure you perform the final step once you submit a bid. Like I said, sometimes the software say, "Are you sure?" Yes. Click that. We can see that it hasn't been done. We may con- cuz we understand that sometimes like you may forget that

030and we see it before it closes, we will like, "You know, go back in and make sure you click the button." Um before the submission deadline but it has to be before the submission deadline. We can't do anything after that. Um always check your emails, our website for any amendments or addendums. Our construction contracts definitely will have a they always have amendments and addendums. Um and some are other things too too. So if they feel like they left something out, they want to put some things in there, you have to go back and you will get an email cuz we do send it out. Once we put addendums in, we'll send out an email to you but you have to check your email to make sure you are aligning with what we're actually putting out

031there. So that means you may have to do something else. You may have to get more information but you have to read your email during that solicitation process. Um submission issues, if you have any issues um submission before the bid deadline email, that's our proposal email and then you we can help you get through the bidding process. So if you email us, we are definitely get you through that before the deadline. It has to be before the deadline. And also we put an example of what a bid when when it's actually finished in bid in IonWave. There is a Trina did mention that if there is issues with trying to submit your bid proposal. But as you're reviewing your bids, if you have any questions, if something is not clear, if you need to expand

032upon, "Hey, you mentioned this but I need some clarification or what what what did you guys do last year?" That is the opportunity to ask those questions. So when you're reviewing it, make sure that you're checking that question and answer date. Because you have to submit all of your questions by that date. They will be um reviewed, responded and then they will be put back into IonWave and that's when you'll be getting those emails letting you know that there's an addendum. They call the addendum when we respond to any questions. Once that time is over, there are no more questions and we will not answer any more. So make sure when you're reviewing that um triangle, that first one you're looking, if you see anything that you have questions about, that is the time to

033do it, to ask those questions. It's very important. I mean, any question you think you want to know, just ask it. We will respond and make sure that you respond to your bid so you can get a better response for your bid. You can understand what you're bidding on. So this right here is actually out of our IonWave bidding software and it actually gives all the information of what you select. See you it says, "I have downloaded and read. I agree." I agree. See all those I agree. So some of those things in there because it's our boiler plate, we have to have it in there. Um proposed requirements. I agree. We You have to pay attention and make sure you answer all these questions. All right, indemnification, warranties if you require it. So like

034I said, all bids are different. We got supplier information. Um references. Weight criteria. Bid line. So this is a bid line we was talking about where sometimes people don't respond to it and they'll put zero and we're like, "Everybody else did. Like what happened?" They never contacted us so we don't know what kind of you know, what they had issues they had. So they may say non-responsive. The evaluators will say non-responsive. So just make sure you do that. Um and so at the bottom of here, so in this bid, they put the actual scope and everything under the bid line. So when you're looking at how to bid, they wanted you to see everything that you're going to be needing to bid on and the scope of information you're looking for. So they put it

035here. So within our actual bidding process, it may be within the top part of the bid where it say scope of work and proposal requirements. You will see some things like that. And those are the things you will have to deliverables because it has to be whatever product you you given or whatever, it has to be delivered or done by this time. They're going to put specific deliverables. Can you do this? That's going to be in there too. So it'll be at the top. So you will see it as soon as you And like I said, if you don't understand um that's the time to do the question and answers so you can really understand what you're bidding on. Sure. Mhm. Yeah. No. So this actually is our bidding solicitation process. If you're working with

036the school and they just like for instance, we have a quote. They you they asked for your quote, right? And you wanted to come in and do services. You can just come in and make sure you got a PO. They'll make sure that you're in the vendor's database so they can actually select you. And then you would do a PO and do that service. That's totally different from our bidding software. So our quote is where we have a method of procurement and our method of procurement requires the district to have so many quotes depending on the threshold of your of the actual um amount. So we need one quote no matter what. So whatever you're doing, if you got $3,000 you you're charging us, we're going to need a quote from you. That's why the

037quote process is very important. If between 10,000 and 24,999, we need two quotes. So then we're going to reach out to two more people, right? And then from um to 25,000 to 99,999, we need three quotes. So that's three people they're going to reach out to you, see what kind of service you provide. Can you provide these services and they're going to pick a quote. If they pick your quote, then they're going to ask they're going to put you in the system. You're going to get a PO. Like I said, a PO is very important. And then you can start services. Now if it's over $50,000, they have to go through board but you still get that PO and you still can start services. This process is bidding. So if we have some out there

038that we're bidding on, more and our bidding is starting at 100,000 and up typically. We can bid anything. It all depends on what our um our schools and departments want to do but for the rule method of procurement, we have 100,000 and up that we bid. So everything that we put out there that we finna put out there like a lot of stuff is 100,000 and up. Meaning that the budget that they actually give into us is 100,000 and up. They can bid smaller stuff too. We do. We do. We bid out like um snow removal. We bid snow removals out. >> [clears throat] >> Um we finna bid out actually um custodial supplies. That's going to go up on the website in a couple of days. So we bid smaller things out too because

039we want to be competitive and we want to make sure that everybody get a chance to do um some bidding like stop choosing the same people. Put it out there. So we require our people to do that. My chief does. He requires that. So it don't always have to be 100,000 but that's our threshold but if you are just doing a quote and the school say, "Yes, I want you to do this." You get a PO. You come in and do your services. 30-day net after you do your services, you get paid. Which is totally separate from this. Okay? Now even though Trina did mention that we typically do 100,000 and greater, um still review the information. You may not be able to do the entire district, but I can do the west side. I

040can do the central area. So, keep that in mind that even though the total amount is a hundred thousand, look at the criteria and what they're asking and say I can bid on this piece. So, you don't have to bid on all of our bids the entire amount. Make sure you're reading through it and if there is a piece of the pie that you can do, put that information in. Still submit that bid. On our facility side of the house, they do that a lot. We have a lot of a lot of vendors. Because we have we are a huge district and we all over the tri-state area. So, we just can't run from here to here to here. We need to be able to get to me and get get to right there. So,

041that's the reason why Yolanda is saying that, okay, we're going to choose five vendors to do the west side. We're going to choose No, we choose we do that. They actually break it up. So, you never know. So, it's very good like you said, you know, to read through all the scope requirements and what's going on cuz you never know you may even still get the you know, the bid with somebody else, but yes. Yes. Say I'm not Let me Wait. You do the mic? Okay. I'm going to come with him, right? Let me see. Let's do this. Check. [clears throat] Check. Check. Check one, two. Okay. There you go. Sorry. I was just asking what is the turnaround time after you submit a bid? Mhm. With CPS? Yes. Okay. So, that varies. Uh we

042have to put our bids out for two weeks. It's mandatory. But depending on the complexity of the bid, it could take a long time because depending on how big the bid is. Typically it take um uh two months maybe. So, we got to put the bid out two weeks depending on the evaluation process. Then if it has to go through board, board only happens twice a month. So, that could take up some time as well. So, that could take two months. I I I can say that. It could I can say it could take two months at least uh for you to hear back and see who won that bid because it do take some time because like I said some of our stuff the hundred thousand and up definitely got to go to board.

043But some of it don't. But the process itself can still take some time. It still can take some time. Any other questions? Yes. Um do you guys typically take the lowest bid? So, for invitation to bid and for a bid, yes. Typically it's the lowest bid. Cuz we already know what widgets we want. We don't have to like for our construct uh custodial supplies, we have a list of supplies you're going to have to be able to do. We already know what that looks like. So, yes. We would take the lowest bid and those instances they'll choose more than one because we have like I said, we are a huge district and if something was to happen, we have to make sure we have other vendors to take care of things. So, but invitation to

044bid bid, yes. For request for proposals, no, not necessarily. It depends on um the qualifications and things like that, but for our sealed bids it typically is the lowest bid facility construction. Yeah. Any other questions? On this process? Nope. Okay, we're going to move on to the next part. So, we got some key reminders. So, like I said, the purchase order is very important. Make sure you keep a purchase order you have a purchase order before you start your services. Invoicing. Understand the district payment cycle and submit invoices with valid purchase orders. And if you have not if you know your services is over, if you have not got paid in 30 days, please contact the school that you've been working for our department because you know all our invoices when you submit them go

045down to AP. AP is a very small department. It work very very hard, but things can get missed in the shuffle. So, make sure that you contact them, you know, the school first whoever you're working with or department. Uh make sure you contact them so you can make sure you get paid. Um background checks. We do the background checks here depending on where you are. If you're working with the schools or even here we do background checks. So, you have to get a back background check here. One of the other biggest thing that my contract administrator um kind of run into is insurance because our insurance brokerage, he actually said this is what he require our legal department is what we work with on our contracts require um for insurance and this is it right

046here. I'll put it out there cuz I want you guys to see it and know what it is and understand that sometimes if you can cannot meet these criteria, you cannot perform the services. Um we have that instance sometimes like even with driving our buses um driving vans people are um try to get in with transportation which is no problem, but you still have to meet the the automobile liability insurance and things like that. You are carrying our kids around. It's no joke. So, we do not play. You have to carry it. It's some other instances that are my contract administrator, you know, she reads over all these contracts and things like that and look making sure that we got insurance and we may give you a call if it's not we don't receive anything.

047So, that's that's very important so you would know exactly what you'd be looking for what you should be having when you're bidding or things like that. Um so this is it for insurance. Do you have anything else to add for that? No, if you have any problems or any questions about the insurance, you can always reach out to purchasing and we can provide some direction. For insurance. Oh, so excited. So, the next part of this is career and techno education experience, internship and pre-apprenticeship. So, Mike Turner, he is a director of strategic planning and career and techno education, internship, pre-apprenticeship beyond the tassel master scheduling. He do it all. He is leading initiatives that align work for workforce development with student success and district strategy. And we have Mike here. We're excited. So, the last

048time we did this, they asked for this. They asked for someone to come in and talk about our apprenticeship program. So, I want to make sure that he's here to do that and talk about our children. So, take it away, Mike. Thank you. So, I do want to say it's not on the slide. As a as a person who works with the purchasing department, they are phenomenal. It's a well-oiled machine. Uh so, they really do deserve a hand for everything they do. Thank you. [applause] Thank you, Mike. We've done a lot of RFPs. Um I've been part of them for various uh things, some career tech and some other things. So, they have it all laid out. It's like very clear and everything she said is true. If there's something missing from a vendor, uh

049somebody who's submitting we look at that and we're like, well, we don't know what to do with that because it's it's missing. And if we're missing anything, they catch it and then we have it in there. So, they do phenomenal uh work. So, I'm so happy to be here today. This is like the high point of my day. Uh so, that's great to end the day uh with this. And so, I was asked really to talk about kind of what happens with students once they once they're on their way across the stage and out into the real world. And so, why does all this really matter uh in front of an audience uh like you guys is that we do want our students to have graduation with direction. We have about 2,500 give or take

050students a year who graduate from Cincinnati Public Schools. About 700 give or take uh of those students are actually career tech students. That means that they've completed a couple courses in career tech. So, that's we're we're really happy with that percentage. We want it to be higher. I will say that our uh percentage of students in career tech is very on target with the different groups for Cincinnati Public Schools as a whole. Um so, we have students with disabilities who graduate as career tech students and that matches the district percentage. We have English learners. Um all of that. And so, we're really really happy. But it is a challenge to take even 700 and follow them out the door. Teenagers are teenagers. So, once they graduate they don't typically are not calling us back. I

051was the principal at Taft. I was at Taft for uh 19 years, principal the last six uh the Taft uh high school, not the elementary. And once the kids go across the stage and very few would come back, but we always welcome them to come back if things weren't going well or if they were going great because we really wanted to keep that connection, but we do lose a connection. So, we try to do as much as we can uh while they're with us. So, we give them lots of career exposure. Uh we want them to know like what do they want to do because once they get the diploma, that's when it when it really hits home with them. So, we do a lot with readiness and experiences help with the readiness. We have

052internships. We have uh about 325 internships right now. Those are juniors and seniors who are out in 40 to 50 different places for differing periods of time in a week actually doing real-world work. Many of them are getting paid by the companies uh who they're with, some are not. We have lots of work-based learning experiences aside from internships. And so, we want students to be prepared uh for what it's going to be like when they go out. About 45% of our career tech students go to college. About 45% go into work and then 10% are a smattering of military. Uh some take a gap year. Some are doing like service projects, maybe with their church or being missionaries or things like that. Uh which is great. And we really really look at equity. We want

053to make sure that all of our students, especially our underrepresented students, have equitable experiences uh so that people do value them and that they are seen. And business partnerships are the way that we are able to do that. Right now, we have well over 200 business partners that work with us either out in the field uh in the schools. We have career tech in in nearly every high school. We also have career tech courses now in 7th and 8th grade settings and next year we will have career tech in every 7th and 8th grade uh setting in the district because we're starting earlier. And so, how can business partners help? And I do want to say that from the vendor side of things, we my department loves local vendors. And so, it it would be

054great to have more local vendors that we can choose from uh because we really do believe in the Cincinnati uh and greater Cincinnati uh community. And so, the way that our business partners help and and we don't have like a minimum requirement or a maximum requirement. We actually when somebody reaches out, we have some materials that we give that really it's like a menu of this is what we can do, this is what we can't do. But career exposure, so it could be guest speakers. It could be tours. We love lunch and learns. We love getting students out in the businesses. We can do that in small numbers or we actually do that in larger numbers. Moats, who does a lot of the turf for the fields, we just had a great experience with students

055from Dater High School where they went out uh for a tour and it turned out phenomenal. Job shadowing is important. Uh as students get older in their experience, that's when internships, summer opportunities uh really come into play. Uh we love listening to uh the businesses and the voice of the businesses. And so, we have advisory committees for each one of our career clusters. We also have a business advisory council for uh Cincinnati Public Schools, an award-winning business advisory council. Uh and so, we would love for more people to be involved in those ways. And then really the next step, and that's what I just want to briefly spend a little bit of time on, is this idea of pre-apprenticeships, apprenticeships. This is really a growing area um in the state of Ohio in particular. Uh

056the the governor um current governor has and former lieutenant governor really put a lot of time and effort into internships, pre-apprenticeships. We don't know how the next governor's race will fall out, but I believe that both parties are extremely interested in this idea of workforce development. We also see nationally that people are extremely interested in apprenticeships. And so, that really there's awareness on this part of the student. There's awareness. Then there's exposure. Then they have the experiences and that should lead to that pathway. We do ask every student to identify their E uh out of the three E's, that's employment, uh enrollment or enlistment. And we are working really hard in all of those areas to give a wide range of experiences because we do want students to do what they want to do. I

057so easy as adults sometimes we want to push kids to say, "Well, you'd be great." Like for me, I always want to be a teacher. And my teachers, and this is horrible for me to say, my teachers always said, "You're too smart to be a teacher. You need to do something else." So, I I was dumb enough to listen to them and went to college to be um systems analyst. Junior year, I decided, "You know what? I I want to be a teacher." So, I started Bloom Middle School uh 1986, 40 years in CPS. And so, for me, I'm very passionate about this because I really didn't have the awareness, exposure, experience, and the pathway part because adults were pointing me in what they thought I should do, not what I thought uh and what

058I really felt like in my heart I should be doing. So, we do value uh this. And so, how could the chamber or other uh businesses help? It's really open doors. We have so many ways for people to be involved and sometimes we feel like businesses feel like, "Well, I'm too small." Or I don't have any money like available to to pay students or you know, we're short-staffed. We're so huge that, you know, we're just like too busy doing other things. Uh we have a way for people to be involved. And so, we never want anybody to be intimidated by that. Your voice is so important. Uh sometimes we get narrow-minded in what we do. And having somebody outside of the education system come in to say, "Here's another way to look at that." That's

059really really powerful. Uh networking is great because we do want to be able to point students who are interested in certain pathways to say, "Oh, you know what? We know this person at this company." Or "Hey, this college like would be like sounds like it's what you would want." Um because we look at you know, college for career tech students. We love that because that's part of getting into your career. Could be going to college, maybe it's not, but you're still on your career path. And then we're always looking at creating pathways. I will say the federal funding has had negative uh impacts on us with with some partners because many of our partners that are small have relied on federal funding and they've not been able to do the internships that they were doing

060because they don't have the staff. They had to cut staff. It's not about the money to give to students. It's the fact they just don't have the staff. So, the career tech staff has worked really hard this year to find additional internships. And they're small intern with the small companies. And without the small businesses, uh we would not have as many opportunities. And so, we do want to link our students. And so, what success would look like is just having more exposure for more students. And we are working hard to expand the career tech presence even more than uh what it is. More employers that we have a connection with is always phenomenal. And then more pathways from high school, whether it's into work, college, or an apprenticeship. And I put the tagline at the

061bottom, it's not just workforce development, it's graduation readiness, opportunity, and really long-term community impact because we want our students to be able to give back uh to the community. So, what about apprenticeships? Some [clears throat] people Excuse me. In the trades, sometimes they're not called apprentices, they may be called journeymen. It's really the same idea. So, I was in a meeting today. We had some CPS interns, actually CPS is doing interns now, which is phenomenal. It's called CPS Edge. And so, some of those students, I think there's five uh out of the 18 or so are very interested in being an apprentice or a journeyman. And so, we are now with the union or other organizations for them to get signed up. In Ohio, if you sign up to be sign the contract to be

062an apprentice or a journeyman, that actually uh can help you graduate if you need that as a pathway. Military is the same. So, if you're really interested in learning more about apprentices and pre-apprenticeships, uh just Google Apprentice Ohio and it's a great site. It gives you all kinds of information. You can even search by county uh about approved apprenticeships that are in the state of Ohio and that may give you a connection that you need with another business that does the same that you do. I will say pre-apprenticeships typically are occurring in high school. Businesses can get approved to do pre-apprenticeships. The school doesn't have to be the one who does those, and we do have some local organizations that do pre-apprenticeships. And then Apprentice Ohio really is pointing people to having apprenticeships in their

063organization. And that really helps the organization get employees, but it also helps us point students in the right direction. We're working really hard on the trades. Our students, and this is not just our students, it's across the country. We still have some of that negative perception about going into the trades. And we're we're working really hard across the country to get rid of that stigma because many studies are showing that people who are going into the trades are making significantly more money than people who went to college and graduated with a bachelor's degree in certain fields. And so we want our students to do what they want to do. But we do struggle with the trades. And so we're excited about some of the recent work that we've that we've done. And so that that

064was it. I don't know if we're asking questions or [laughter] Okay. So do you have any questions for Mike about the internship or want to do the internship? So we really would yes. I'm going to um I'm going to volunteer the impact team. Oh, okay. I like it. I like it. So we can get together and do something as far as introducing the students to Well, guess what? There's my card. How's that for service? >> [laughter] >> Yes. So exciting. But but you know, we love those types of conversations because we grow from that as well. And we do want we do want connections for our students. So we'll be very happy to talk with you. And we were just talking about this earlier at a workshop that Ricky put on for us about taxes.

065And one of the issues that business owners had was workforce. And so I said, "Well, you all can always go to the colleges, you know, there are a lot of colleges, you know, Butler Tech and everything to get internships, you know, so." But I did not think of the high school. So Yeah. that's a good It's great. Yeah. So exciting. Yes. Oh, sure. Yeah. I'm Mike, but Oh, hello. Hello. Is it on? Oh, yeah. Okay. I just noticed earlier on you had something about coming in and speaking to students. >> Yes. How is How does that work? Yeah, so so typically whatever the topic is, we match it with the audience for that. Uh So for example, if it's somebody who um is kind of more on the IT side, we have certain schools that

066have IT pathways. And it depends on how many people they want to speak to and the timing, and we just work it out individually. A lot of the work that we do in the department is extremely individualized. Uh internships are all different, but we have the same process that we follow. But the logistics of internships is very different. Same thing with speakers. Yeah, so we will tailor that to Would you like my card? >> [laughter] >> I love it. Yes. When I leave here, I'm just going to pass out cards [laughter] to random people and say Can you help? Any other questions? Oh, okay. Oh, yep. For it. I should be like Oprah. You get a card. You get [laughter] a card. Who wanted a card? Everybody get a card. Everybody get a card. I

067don't KNOW IF I HAVE ENOUGH CARDS. OH MY GOSH, I only have like five left. Did you have a question or you just wanted a card? Okay. I can let people take pictures of my card. >> [laughter] >> I'll take a picture. The cards are good. If you don't have any more, take a picture. Oh, you have a question? Sure. I have one left, so pictures now, I guess. I can run up and get some more. Okay. Mike, you have a question. Question? So in terms of internships do you have like a guidance for them to go through the internships? Is there some guidance for the trade that they may be considering like a mentorship? Yeah, so so what we do um is for students who we know are going into an internship, there's a

068process. It's almost like an internal mentoring process that guides them through. So for most of the internships, they have to they have to have their resume. They have to interview. So the staff actually pretends that they're on the other side of the table, and they lead them through that. And then as they are like TriHealth is a great example of a phenomenal internship. They have a person at TriHealth that they've hired cuz we have about 55 a year who go through that. They get so much mentoring and coaching from both sides with that. We would love to have individual mentors. That that is an area of weakness that that we do have because it's a capacity issue. We did have some partners that used to coordinate mentoring, but then budgets for them kind of shrunk.

069So we do internal mentoring, and they do get they end up with mentors at the companies just from the natural connections that occur. But not everybody. Any other questions? No? Okay. Thank you, Mike. THIS WAS GREAT. >> [applause] >> LOOK AT ALL THE CONNECTIONS WE JUST MADE. So I just want y'all to know that that connection is another connection, right? Right? Okay. Just putting it out there. Okay, so the next part of this Well, oh, sorry. We got a question. Absolutely. Sorry. Okay. >> [laughter] >> I just had one question. Do you have to be an intern at your company? Do you already have to have been through the process or Do you mean does a student have to have gone through the process? No, the company. Does the company have already had been checked

070by y'all like went through the the process and then get the internship or can get the internship before then? Oh, yeah. So there is not a direct connection between being a vendor that vendor What am I saying? Vendor for that. It's been a long day. A vendor for CPS and working with us. Those were totally two totally separate things. We do vet We have had people come to us. This is a small amount who want interns, but then we figure out it's not a good fit because they're looking for somebody to you know, kind of tidy up and things like that. That is not we will not deal with that. >> [laughter] >> Uh so um you know, we that that doesn't happen a lot, but we have gotten that vibe sometimes, and we just

071gracefully bow out because our our kids Now, I will say we do have some students with some pretty severe disabilities that are working in internships, but they are they are learning uh some life skills that they need. And that could involve some things that maybe some people look at as the lower level, but for those students, that's really really important. And it it supplements what happens in the classroom. We have a workforce academy that is for students who are with us for like five five or six years because of their individualized education or plans or IEPs. And so they have internships as well, but for in general, yeah, we every now and then we turn a partner away, but we we love to talk to people and figure out what we can make work. And

072I think my email address you can put somewhere where they can email me. >> Definitely. Definitely. Definitely. Thank you so much, Mike. >> [applause] >> Thank you so now we have three great speakers that's going to be coming up, but first we're going to have to get the mic. They're going to come to the front of the chairs for me, and um Rob is one of Mike's guys. So this is so exciting. So we have three speakers that's actually working or doing business with Cincinnati Public Schools. So we want to get their knowledge and understanding on how to become a vendor, how they how they like working with Cincinnati Public Schools, and you guys can ask questions and things like that. I have written out questions for them, but we want to make sure that

073they actually can get information from them. I want them to introduce themselves and their business. That's why I haven't done it yet, so I want them to do it. I'm going to ask a question. Thank you. How are you? I'm all right. Okay. Make sure I don't fall out of here. Y'all ready? Yes. Y'all ready? We'll see. >> [laughter] >> So my first I just want to introduce y'all. So I want y'all to introduce yourselves and provide a brief description of your businesses. So y'all are Mike. But going to pass this mic around because this mic is for online for YouTube. Okay. Okay, so you got to speak in both. Okay. So, Hello. >> [laughter] >> My name is Eric Ruffin and I own a company named Able Building Systems along with my wife, Marla.

074We've been in business for 26 [clears throat] years. Our company provides fire alarm systems, burglar alarm systems, access control systems. We do design, installation, as well as service. We also have a monitoring station and we do central monitoring and dispatch. We also do emergency radio responder systems. Uh Are we talking about what we do for CPS yet? I mean >> Okay, you can. Of course. Okay. All right. So, [laughter] currently currently um our company uh monitors all of the uh Cincinnati Public Schools fire alarm systems as well as all of the burglar alarm systems. Um The smallest thing we've done for CPS is about a $35 horn strobe. The largest thing we've done for CPS is about a $3.5 million uh uh camera system expansion. What's up? >> [laughter] >> Hello everyone. My name is

075Sonya Moore. I'm the CEO and owner of Moore Planning and Consulting. And what I do is I help high achieving professionals and business owners transform their expertise into sustainable and systematized businesses. And what that means is I assist you with figuring out how to have consistent income by structuring your business in the back office, all that unsexy stuff that you don't want to do, but at the end of the day is what holds you down and helps you stay in this ever changing economy. So, um I assist with strategic planning and the back office and all of those things. So, I've been doing that for the past eight years. And how I was connected with CPS, um a brief interesting story is relationships. That's all I want to say. Is that I've been on the

076other side of being a partner with CPS when I was working with a nonprofit organization. And through that experience, I did not know that I was being looked at for future business. So, you just never know how you might be of service to someone else. And through that experience, 2 years later, I started my own business and I was on Facebook doing a live talking about strategic strategic planning and the resource coordinator that I worked with reached out to me. It'd been 2 years and she said, "Hey, you remember me?" I said, "Of course I do." And she basically said, "I remember how you always came prepared and how you were ready and we have an opportunity here and I'd like to work with you." And that was my first contract with uh CPS and

077then she referred me to Trina. So, I had two contracts change my life, okay? >> [laughter] >> Corporate contracts changed my life, but that's a little bit of my backstory, but uh yeah, just relationships and that's what I do. And I am on the board of African American Chamber of Commerce. Woo woo. >> [applause] >> Good afternoon. My name is Brandy Siegel. I am the owner of Nia Educational. I provide academic support services to at risk youth and exceptional learners or students with disabilities. So, I have been a vendor with Cincinnati Public since about 2008. Um I'm currently um in partnership with uh residential facilities and I provide academic support services to those kiddos that are in those facilities to try to help them navigate the school system as an at risk youth. As you

078know, those children are at risk for um dropping out of school and so we provide um I am one leg of the wraparound services that are provided to those youth with uh that are in those that are in those residential facilities. >> [applause] >> Now, Sonya did explain how she kind of got into working with Cincinnati Public Schools. So, Eric, if you can tell me, how did you, you know, start working with Cincinnati Public Schools? And then Sure. Okay. So, um Wow, 22 years ago about um I uh worked for a company called Honeywell and I was an engineer there and uh I left and uh started my business and uh part of what we did was design fire alarm systems. Uh we tried to get direct into Cincinnati Public Schools and it was tough

079because uh Cincinnati schools schools is kind of a steward of taxpayer dollars. So, they can't just use whoever they want whenever they want to because anything that they do that can't be scrutinized uh it it's going to be problems. >> Mhm. So, I um found a school There was a school out in Mount Washington and it was a new school being built and there was a fire alarm system going into the school. So, I saw the bid and um I found out who all the electrical contractors were. There were about 10 electrical contractors that were bidding to the construction management company that was bidding to the general contractor that was bidding to Cincinnati Public Schools. So, I found out who all the electrical contractors were. I went and I visited them and I asked them

080if I could design the fire alarm system for that school. And uh told all of them that I loved them dearly and I was the best choice and uh the one that won was one that I did not know was bidding. Well, it turned out that uh the one one that lost the bid actually told the other electrical contractor, "Hey, uh this Able guy's got a better number than who you actually used. You should give him a call." And that's how we did our first fire alarm at Cincinnati Public Schools. And then we uh we were in the building. We did everything with excellence. We worked hard and we met the people at Cincinnati Public Schools that worked on the fire alarm system and then I started talking to them and uh did a little

081job and another little job and another little job and now we do all of the schools and that's how we got in. >> [applause] >> Uh so, my first um time signing up with CPS as a vendor happened in about 2008. Uh back during that time, that was under the No Child Left Behind era where uh school districts had to provide supplemental education services or tutoring services for students that were in schools that had not made adequate yearly progress. Um that funding went away when No Child Left Behind was reauthorized. And so, from there I was doing just my private practices. In about 2020, I had a residential facility reach out to me for a proposal and a bid because they were trying to take advantage of Title 1D dollars which provides funding for at

082risk youth. That means at risk youth that are in juvenile um detention facilities, uh group homes and things like that. So, um in this case, I partnered with that residential facility. Um she was able to submit bids from several several vendors. I was the vendor that she selected and I have been working um with that residential facility for about 4 years now. And so, it's been an amazing experience uh working with CPS. Mhm. Okay. >> [applause] >> So, it sounds like the relationships, right? >> Mhm. Um really really just getting yourself out there. That's what you did. You got yourself out there. That's what I was talking about earlier. Reaching out to our schools and departments like we um we are decentralized. I do not hold the budgets, but you have to put yourself out

083there to make sure that you are able to get inside Cincinnati Public Schools. It's not going to be easy journey, but it can be done. The relationship that I have with Sonya, she came to she worked with my team. I called someone else that she worked with saying, "Okay, you do you have somebody that that that she said, "Yes. Call Sonya." She did two contracts for me. She actually came to one of my um work with my my team while I was out of the actual um area. She actually took over for my team, did a lot of consulting stuff. It was great. So, this is what I'm saying, you never know how things will go. Now, with Mike Turner, I know a lot of people took those cards. Never know how it go once

084you get get in that door. You never know. So, and I got to I did a lot of explaining on my little my little stuff. So, you know, let's talk about uh >> [laughter] >> on the cards, um your experience with the contracts, procurement, and compliance. Like you know, uh so when you did your contract with us, how did you understand the contract? How did you go through with making sure that you got everything you're supposed to have? Making sure you're getting paid and things like that and stuff like that. Like how did y'all actually navigate that? Did you I told you that recently do payment works and things like that. Okay, talk a little bit about [laughter] that and give us some up cuz payment works is how we onboard now. And so give

085me some insight as someone that just went through it and help you understand when you get that email and vendor, how to navigate payment works. So kind of give us some insights about the contracts and things like that that y'all had to navigate through and things like that. Well, for me read. Reading is fundamental. That's all I can say and following instructions. What Trina mentioned earlier, what they ask for is what they need. Nothing more, nothing less. And be very timely. So the contract process for me, I'm not sure how it how it was for everyone else, but they reached out to me because they had a need and said, "Hey, I need you to submit a proposal." It felt like within 24 hours. So be ready so you don't have to get ready. Have

086you heard that? Yes. So when I got the phone call, I said, "Oh, okay. You need me to submit this in 24 hours? Definitely." She told me what the criteria was. Created a a contract. Everything needed to be itemized because I needed to They needed to understand what I was delivering and what the outcome was going to be once it was delivered and have a itemized price associated with each line item of what I was doing because it wasn't just a one and done. It was come in, present, and then there was follow-up. Meeting with the team. I'm referring to my first contract. Meeting with the team. So I had had to justify and I had to align my numbers with that so that they could understand. And so I had to be very clear.

087I had workbooks. I had things that needed to be printed. They needed to know how many workbooks and about how much so that they could do the PO process and all of that. So understanding how you got to your number was was key and I submitted the information. Any questions I had, they responded promptly. And not only that, if I had a question, I could respond or ask them a question and that definitely around the net 30 cuz being a small business owner, you have to be prepared for that because you may facilitate or deliver, but expect those dollars to hit your account 30, maybe 45 days later depending upon when they meet with the board. So the clarity and understanding that was key, but payment works, game changing. >> [laughter] >> Just signed up

088for that. Everything is online. So when you get the email after they invite you, read the email, submit, you're going to get the information, click the link, and it walks you through everything. But I want to be clear with have your information ready. Meaning like your EIN number. What else did you need? Your EIN number and anything that is key financially to what you need to put into the system, your account number. Have those things ready so that the process should only take you maybe 15 minutes. And not only that, it will prepare you in the future because if you can fulfill their requirements in payment works, you're setting yourself up in your business to be ready to accept other contracts otherwise. So just don't look at this as a one and done. You follow

089their process, you're opening your doors for the opportunity to be invited into other to other contract situation. But payment works, game changing, online, quick turnaround, and you can follow where your invoicing and where you are in the process. I saw that on the screen too so you don't have to call and say, "You know, I thought I was going to get this in my account on such and such." You don't have to do that anymore. Log into payment works and it's there. >> [laughter] >> And I'm signing up. I got the email. I'm signing up. So just a couple of things that I always recommend. I think they discussed this at the beginning. Do not start your work before you get a PO. That process does take some time. I have been blessed enough that

090the residential facility works very closely with the satellite office. They're very informative. We meet and we discuss things in terms of when my invoices need to be submitted. Again, she said that could be a 30-day, but really read your contract to see what that says and be prepared for that as a business owner, especially if you have employees. Be prepared to know that there is some time to turn around invoices. Another thing I think you guys spoke about how to find out what's out there. I'm in the education world. There are a lot of opportunities that may be hidden in some of our legislation. So if you're trying to figure out what your business can do for different districts, start following what's happening at the legislative level. But one of the biggest things making sure

091if you are doing invoices that you have a good system that helps you keep track of it. Having that number, all of those key little housekeeping things that you do for your business. But the biggest thing is to read your contract, understand that whoever your contact person is that you're keeping in contact with them and to make sure you are in compliance with whatever CPS is asking you to do so that you can get paid in a timely manner. So we've done large bids that were longer than what you just showed there that have all the questions. The last one we did, there were 10 contractors that bid it and uh I read every single word, every single line, check every single box, and then I double-check it again after I just triple-checked it. Um

092and and in the in the in the construction type bidding world, um performance means a lot. So you can win I have won bids at CPS where they wanted the lowest bid. But because of all the small jobs we've done, because of all the consultations we've done, because of all the money that we've saved them in the past on change orders, right I wrote that down. Here's where I saved you $200,000 in a year. Here's where I did this. Here's where I did this. Here's where this job went and there would have been a change order for X amount of dollars, but I told you that. And they looked at it and we were the out of the 10, two were lower bids than us, but they were national companies. They were They had never

093done work for Cincinnati Public Schools and the people reading that understood the risk of a change order on a two and a half million dollar project if they were off 10% and they had somebody they weren't working with. And and they they awarded us that project and uh by the way, that was a project that was completed 100% by black folks, which I was proud of because not because not because >> [applause] >> not because I have something against anyone else, but because so many people act like that's a big deal to do. But the big deal is putting the money in the contract into the right owner's hands so that small, female, minority-owned companies can get that business. But anyway, payroll for for pay my wife handles all of our financials. If you ever

094get a call from my wife or if you see my wife walking that door tonight, you better run if you owe us money. All right? I handle all the bidding and the engineering department. So but I do know that CPS is a great client for us. I mean, they pay us when they say they're going to pay us. Some places they say they're going to pay you in 30 days. That means they're going to process your check in 30 days. And then that means that they distribute checks on the 7th and the 21st of the next month. So even though they say they've paid you, they think they've paid you, but you're waiting until the next month. But Cincinnati Public Schools has been a a key client for us and uh that helps us bid

095tight for them because I know I'm not going to have to wait for the money. Um so yeah, I I can't speak a lot to to the the software part of the pay. Your wife because >> [laughter] >> you know, I have not $1 in my pocket right now. She's got it all. >> [laughter] >> Thank you so much. That was so good information. Some things I didn't know. So that was great. Yeah. So do you have any questions? So I'm going to open the floor up to any questions you might want to ask the panel. Anything y'all might want to know? Anything Okay. Yeah. I I can speak to it. Okay. Um it's great to know and it's great to see the panel and know your experiences. Um more from a professional services side

096more than products um and A lot of times when they are RFQs or uh, quotes that that that come out, um, there tends to be a very short window of response. Yes, that's true. >> And I'm going to say what I'm going to say the way I'm going to say it. Okay. It appears at time, and I'm using the word appears, that the window is short because there may have already been or be identified a service provider. And they're just doing the due diligence. Is that or has that been your experience with CPS? For me, not that I'm aware of. I can't I don't know what happened prior to the invite on my behalf, but all I know is when I did get the phone call, I was ready to deliver what they needed, to

097offer an opportunity for my business to show up and to serve, if the gap has was pre-filled or not. Um, for me, again, in professional services, because we know that's a wide range. I think understanding the competitive nature, so there are a million NEA educationals out there that are vying. I don't want to call it the Hunger Games, but understanding that we have to always be ready, especially as minority-owned businesses. Um, as she said, you're getting invites or um, emails that are constantly. Sometimes I sleep on reading my emails, and I'm like, oh Lord, I missed that opportunity. So, it's just one of those things where this is a competitive industry, you know that. I mean, you're professional services. Um, and still, like she said, building those relationships, understanding the ecosystem, understanding where your um,

098service fits within the district, understanding that it is a need that they have, because sometimes we may have a business, but that's not a pressing need. So, understanding what that organization needs and where you can get your company in at. And it may be something, we call it the blue ocean, red ocean. The red ocean is where everybody is at. Um, and sometimes we got to exist in that blue ocean, and in some those innovative spaces to fill needs that maybe there may not be a a lot of vendors there. So, I say, keep keep trying. I mean, they can only say no, but one day they're going to say yes, right? Oh, another question. Okay. >> [laughter] [clears throat] >> I just want to say, that was a very good question. So, I used

099to be over contract compliance with the city of Cincinnati, uh, Eric. And so, yes, I do know that that happened. So, and I know you're politically correct, you guys can't say that, but I do I'm not talking about CPS. I don't know anything about how you guys, but it has happened. And actually, uh, that's why I left from where I did, because I know that it happened, what you're talking about. Uh, but that was many years ago, so hopefully things have changed. Uh, but what I do want to ask, I haven't heard you speak about subcontracting. Like, do you guys require have any kind of inclusion program where you require subcontracting? Or you talked about the lowest, do you ever consider lowest and best? Cuz Eric, his example was an example of that lowest, well,

100he wasn't the lowest, but he he demonstrated that he was the Yeah. So, I haven't heard you talk about that. Um, as far as subcontractor, so that is my next topic that I want to discuss with our qualified our um, our contractors that are we work with for qualification. So, we are working with, and we do have That's the reason why Yolanda, that's why I wanted to circle back. She talked about looking over the bid and making sure that it's somewhere you can possibly fit in. So, my next round of talking to facilities, cuz that's who do all our contracting and everything here, is to talk to our um, architectural that's contracted, so we can actually get you guys in for subcontract. Um, we do have that where they will actually go in a contractor

101has a bid, but you have to have so many different subcontractors underneath, and they do work with that. So, it will be in the bid, the the contractor has to um, identify who those subcontractors are, and that's why relationships are so important. Just like Eric mentioned that he went out and talked to all those those engineers, the professionals, that's important, because once you do that, they start hearing you and knowing who you are, and you can do this great work, they'll put you in with their bid. So, we do actually have that where our facilities people will have subcontractors come out. Um, we have this big overarching bid, but we need somebody to paint, we need somebody to do some other things, and we will actually bid that services out outside of construction. Really, we

102do that as well. But, the relationships is so important with like Eric talked how he got in there, is to really understand who our actual architectural people are around here. You know, then getting in with them, because that's where it starts for us. We have to go with the drawings, and they they work with us on build building out those type of bids, and then they'll work with, if you're doing subcontractors, what that look like and who they are. So, that's where, you know, we we come in. So, I plan on working with our facilities director on that piece, so we can be more intentional in that area, so we can get more people local, minority, women-owned inside that house. So, being more intentional with that, meaning like if we have construction bids out there,

103working with our people that's qualified to do architectural work, and saying, this is what I want it to look like. >> [clears throat] >> So, and then what was the other question? I'm sorry. Okay. We do have inclusion goals, but you know what the way the world is now, most of it is really we cannot actually give points out like we used to. >> [clears throat] >> It's more about um, that's why we're doing this workshop participation. We're trying to get, and you're doing if you do our little link and get in with In-Vendor, that's how we get kind of spread the news of who you are in our district, but we cannot, because of law, do what we used to do, honestly. Could I say something? >> Yes, yes, yes. So, we had a

104uh, one of the other ways that we got into the schools is we also provide design services. So, we design fire alarm systems as well. And I stamped the drawings. So, one of the things that we had to do before the bid went out with 20 days left to bid it was uh, I created a training deck for architects, engineers, and building officials. And went to the four main architectural engineering firms that Cincinnati Public Schools uses and did lunch and learns. Bought them all lunch, had them all come in, and said, I'm Eric Ruffin, here's my system, here's what it does, you need to use Honeywell, you need to put me in the specifications, and if you'll let me, I'll write the specification for you, so that when your customer bids it, I'll be in

105there. And when you're not the one that's doing that, it sounds like cheating, right? But, the reality of it is, to your point, relationships. So, because I had to go ahead with the architects and engineering firms and tell them that I would offer them that service to help them to write the specifications for the fire alarm systems and the camera systems and the monitoring at the Cincinnati Public Schools, that's how, because if I wouldn't have done that pre-work, I would've been excluded from the final bid that I got to do like nine years later. So, it it's it's like it's it's a terrible terrible game that's played, and I agree that when those bids come out, I think there is an apparent winner to the person that's putting it out. But, you got to make

106I had to make 12 steps to every one step that these national companies were making. And it didn't pay off, well, it did pay off. It's paying off now, but it took we do we do all the alarm monitoring and for the city of Cincinnati. And it took me nine years to get the people who were writing the spec to listen to me and just put in there what I needed. Because they issued the contract to one company for the whole 60-year history of the city of Cincinnati and never bid it. And the only other contractor that ever bid that nine years ago against them was me. So, to your point, yes. But, at the same time, it's because the rules of of engagement have been established, which require some people to have to just

107get in there a little bit deeper. Right? Uh to gain that access, if that I don't know if it makes you feel better, but >> [laughter] >> it's it's it's it's it's the I UNDERSTAND. YES. I YOU KNOW, I WE We It was a fight. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's a lot of work. I went to every single building. Um talked to every single plant operator. Um found out every single system because they wouldn't tell me in the bid cuz they didn't know. It It wasn't the guy's job that was doing the bid to know. Um for the city of Cincinnati, got the police called on me, got almost arrested, uh had the bid in my hand because people are not used to different. They are not used to you deciding that you going to

108be 10 toes down, and you going to get your shot. And you're going to take it. And that is the only way to do this because it is not fair, it is not equal. The people that's got the money going to keep the money, and they're going to make sure that you don't get none of it. And that's their job. And that's fair cuz this is America. And it's your job and my job to understand that whatever I have to do and whatever method I have to use, as long as it's within my belief system, especially in the contracting world. You got to You You have to be it it's it's It's horrible. It's brutal. It is It But, it's competition. It's a basketball game. When you go to the court and you play the

109game, you hurt the person that's in front of you. And when the game is over, you go away. But, the difference with a lot of small contractors is that it's not a game to us because if we lose, we don't eat. But, you're playing against people that when they lose, they just get one of the other 15 jobs that they already have. But, when we lose, it's not no game because I just spent this money on this contract, and I just put this money walking around, going in all these buildings, almost getting arrested, people talking to me, looking at me funny. And then I lose? But, I will say, 26 years in, people know our company, they know what we stand for. And our first hit rate 26 years ago was 357 bids to one.

110We would win one out of 357. I counted. Now, we win one out of five. But, >> [applause] >> it's not friendly out there. Okay. Yes. >> [laughter] >> Okay, I I can give you a hug, right? I mean, but but but but but the deal is you know. And And the chamber helps a lot with that. You know, there was just a job the other day. The chamber helps a lot with that. They do. But, um you know, we we we got to You knew the answer when you asked the question. [laughter] I mean, I RIGHT. OKAY. And And I'm not saying the CPS is unfair, I'm just saying the way the world is set up is the way it's set up. It is. It is. To be honest, I asked the question not

111for self, but for the room because I have benefited from the same question I asked. Truth. So, I'm sorry, but we have to kind of wrap up, but I I'll let you answer your question. Um we have someone that's taking over this room around 6:15. >> [laughter] >> So, we are very busy here in this district, so someone else is coming in with the students, and they're going to take over this room, but I just want to be very respectful of their time, so I'm going to let you go ahead and answer your question, but First, I want to say congratulations to Brandy, Eric, and Sonya for getting this contract, continuing relationship, congratulations. >> [applause] >> Tommy is with the consulting. We've done a lot with the city of Cincinnati and CPS for some years.

112My question is, if you've had the experience of winning a contract, say multiple years, developing a relationship within the district, losing the contract, and then regaining or re-winning the contract. What was that process of winning the contract, building relationship multiple years, losing and getting it back? >> [clears throat] [laughter] >> Well, I can speak. So, as I said, I started in 2008, and um a lot of my work depends on legislation at the federal level and the state level. So, um in 2012, um when President Obama came in, they decided to reauthorize um No Child Left Behind, um and so funding was a cut. Um it was given back to the states, and states and districts could decide how they wanted to utilize that funding. So, it was a hard hit. Um it was a

113time where I had to sit down, um reconfigure my business think. I went into um different opportunities, tried to expand my business, and I just kept grinding. I just kept going back to the drawing board, um getting an idea, and as I said, um understanding what the districts needed, right? I had a service, but not everything that I was trying to offer the service, the district, they needed. So, I really had to start getting in tune with what was happening in the education landscape. Um I am now 100% always following what's happening at the state level, um what type of services are mandated in some of our house bills, whether it is professional development that is around crisis management, about around behavior management, high-dosage tutoring. So, making sure you stay locked in with what's happening

114um at the state and at the federal level, um networking, as I said, as we said, getting with other vendors or other organizations, and really just staying on the drawing board and continuing to reinvision my business and what I can offer and how I can grow and how I can fit fill a need because again, as we said, your business has to fill a need um for that district. And for me, it was a tough time. Um it did take me some time to become hybrid, um finding other business opportunities, making sure I had multiple um streams coming in because that is a tough thing to lose your funding. It is very discouraging, but God is good, and I gained, you know, years later, there were opportunities for me. So, just making sure that your

115business is prepared for that, especially if you are reliant on some type of federal or state or local funding. That is part of the game. Sometimes, they may not have the funding for you anymore, and you have to be ready to go and adjust. So, I say it is a It is a terrible place to be, but you also have to brace yourself and be preparing yourself and your business for those loss of fundings. And I'll just quickly add to that for me, it was the the renewal didn't occur cuz there was a shift in administration. Literally, I was talking to Trina and getting ready to ink yet another contract that would have been game-changing for my business again, and then she said, "Everything's frozen." Yes, that was devastating, but I had multiple revenue streams

116already coming in for my businesses. So, my advice is have multiple revenue streams. Try not to have one source that's funding your entire business for just that reason because the rug will get pulled from underneath you unexpectedly. It will at some point. Be prepared. And yes, it was devastating for me, but I already had other revenue streams, and I just amped up those other revenue streams, adjusted my revenue or my business model a bit, and my goal is to eventually get back in at some point, but being prepared for the unexpected is key, and that's the sustainability. We uh we lost a uh one of the buildings um just about 2 years ago, and it was the best thing that could have happened because we had this company bid. There were three companies. CPS said,

117"Oh, we're going to bid this job." And they bid it out. I had won every one, just every building. So, this one came out, they put it out to bid, and another company beat me on it. And it was a national company, and they came in It was a fire alarm system for I want to say it was school, but it was for a school. And um there's a lot of small things that our company can offer to We're local. I don't want to go anywhere else. I like it here. So, uh there's a lot of small extras that we offer to Cincinnati Public Schools that are value-added that you can't really write into a specification. So, the other company got the job. They started working, and then they sent CPS a extra, a change

118order. And then they sent them another change order. And then they sent them another change order. Well, then CPS calls me and says, "We're getting all these change orders. I mean, why why are we getting Because one of the things that I have always done, I don't do it as much as I used to, but one of the things that I do, especially if it's a major client and I lose a project, I wait about a month, and then after that month, I say, "May I please have a copy of who beat me who of their contract?" This company left so much little stuff out that I do for CPS that I don't write in the contract, that's not in the specification. We replaced that system. Brand new, went in, replaced it, redid the engineering,

119redid the design, did everything, and they said, "We will not do this again." And it it it it it sometimes is good for some competition to beat you out because people get to understand what happens when you're not home. Right? So, it it it was good for us in in the end. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Yes, thank you so much for my three propellers. Thank you so much. Thank you. THANK YOU. YES. THIS IS GREAT. SO, I WANT TO WRAP up by saying thank you for coming and thank you African American Chamber and Minority Business Assistance Center for having me. for doing this hosting this cuz they actually had y'all come. So, that was great. Thank you so much. Oh, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait 1 second. Wait 1 second. I need

120you guys to do um this last thing. QR code. Please do the survey. Please click the QR code to do the survey. Please. Please. Please. It helps us