Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Governor Mary Fallin and Oklahoma Department of Commerce Secretary Dave Lopez today welcomed The Boeing Company as the first participant accepted into the state’s PrimeWIN program.
PrimeWIN is a first-of- its- kind incentive program designed to match qualified Oklahoma subcontractors with federal prime contractors. PrimeWIN is a feature of the nationally acclaimed Oklahoma Quality Jobs Program.
The announcement was made at the 11th annual Oklahoma Aerospace Summit and Expo held in downtown Tulsa.
"Once again, Oklahoma leads the nation in crafting a performance-based incentive that will deliver increased jobs and investment throughout our state," Fallin said. "We’ve made it easier for federal prime contractors to increase their profitability and cost competitiveness while benefiting from quality subcontractors with small and mid-sized Oklahoma businesses."
The unique PrimeWIN Contractor Incentive Program provides both a cash benefit and a qualified subcontractor base for primes. It offers prime contractors a cash rebate of up to 2% of the Oklahoma workforce qualified labor costs. The cash incentives are paid quarterly for a maximum of 10 years by the Oklahoma Tax Commission. The program is revenue neutral to the state.
"In essence, this program incentivizes prime contractors – no matter where they are located – to subcontract work in Oklahoma,” explained Lopez. “The prime contractor receives the incentive, and the Oklahoma businesses get the work and are able to maintain and create new jobs."
Lopez said expansion for companies currently doing business in Oklahoma is the top priority for the agency.
Under the program, Boeing is expected to subcontract aerospace engineering work on the E-4B National Airborne Command Post aircraft in Oklahoma City. Boeing anticipates approximately 34 engineers and support personnel will qualify to participate in the PrimeWIN incentive as a result.
"Having a solid and reliable supply chain is very important in our business," said Mike Emmelhainz, Boeing Oklahoma City site director. "We must meet schedule requirements for critical defense aircraft, as well as keep them ready to fly for our U.S. Air Force customer, and we rely on our subcontractors to help us meet those deliveries and standards."
Contract assistance and oversight of the program is provided by the Oklahoma Department of Commerce, the Oklahoma Tax Commission, and the Federal Contract Verifier, which is currently the University Multispectral Laboratories PrimeWIN Program Office. Qualified labor hours worked in fulfillment of the federal contract are tracked and reported by both the prime/subcontractors and Federal Contract Verifier.
According to Al Goodbary, Executive Director of the PrimeWIN Program Office, the incentive program provides contractors with an easy-to-access conduit to hundreds of pre-verified subcontractors assuring productivity and quality while meeting schedule demands.
Goodbary said Oklahoma already has a significant subcontracting network comprised of at least 600-700 companies with capacity to qualify for increased subcontracting work with the federal prime contractors.
Oklahoma’s strong subcontractor network provides a quality workforce in key prime contractor business segments, including:
•Aerospace
•Defense, intelligence, and homeland security
•Medical, biotechnology and nanotechnology
•Energy, agriculture and weather
•Information technology and telecommunications
•Research and Development
•Engineering and Technical Support
•Management Support Services
The current program was enacted by House Bill 1468 (2009) with amendments in House Bill 2128 in July 2010. Rules and processes were then established and marketing of the program began this past year.
The PrimeWIN website, www.primewin.org, provides additional information on the program, or interested companies may contact the PrimeWIN Program Office at (405) 509-6071.