AIT Builds Technology Portal to Billions of Contract Dollars.

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. -- AIT (http://ait.com), a North Carolina hosting company, has developed technology to make it easier for businesses to bid on the $250-billion that the US military spends each year with civilian contractors. More than half of the money is for non-weapons items ranging from textiles to furniture, food contracts to professional services, money that is frequently left on the table. "We find most businesses - even those that could win contracts - either don't know what is available or don't understand the process," said Bill Martin, President of the Cumberland County Business Council, the principal industrial recruiting agency in Fayetteville, North Carolina, where Fort Bragg is located.

GovTide powers a technology portal that connects registered contract holders and qualified vendors from the convenience of a laptop or desktop computer. AIT is talking with officials in other communities near a military presence about the benefits of GovTide, but the technology's utility is not limited to defense contracts. "This is about economic development and increasing the odds that local projects are done by local businesses," according to Kirk deViere, AIT's Chief Operating Officer and a former Army captain. "Communities don't grow when dollars are siphoned away and taxpayers lose when contractors have to be brought in from out of state."

North Carolina is the first state to use the technology, under the name MatchForce, with the specific goal of landing more defense contracts. The state has the nation's 4th highest number of active-duty personnel but ranks poorly in terms of defense contracts awarded to in-state companies. Leaders created the Military Business Center (http://ncmbc.us) to do something about that, and GovTide is a key component of that strategy. "In a matter of months, several thousand contracts worth more than $1-billion have been posted in our database," said Scott Dorney, the Center's Executive Director. "There is no guarantee that all of the contracts will be awarded to in-state businesses, but without the portal, I can guarantee that few of them would be."

AIT, Inc supports more than 190,000 domains in 107 countries and is a two-time Inc 500 Company. AIT operates from a 93,000 square foot data and service center in North Carolina. Founded in 1996, AIT offers e-commerce, data storage, software development, IP telephony, application hosting, and a technology training center.