Louisville District hosts virtual open house for prospective contractors

USACE - Louisville District
Published Jan. 31, 2022
Updated: Jan. 31, 2022

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Louisville District hosted a virtual open house Jan. 27, 2022, for businesses seeking to work with the federal government. The free annual event is open to businesses, large and small, interested in working with the Louisville District. The event included briefings from Louisville District Commander Col. Eric Crispino and other members of district staff and opportunities to network with district leadership throughout the event.
The event began with opening remarks from Col. Crispino as he welcomed more than 200 participants who attended the event. 
Crispino acknowledged that life has been busy for the district, but said he was excited for the year to come. 
“The Corps has a record sized program ahead of it. We are looking for similar sized programs in the future. We have a lot on our plate, but it is a good thing,” said Crispino, who also went on to discuss the overall mission of the Louisville District and how we define winning as a district. “We define winning as finishing quality projects ahead of time, under budget, and safely.”
After Crispino’s opening remarks, other program leaders, including Cristie Mitchell, Reserve Branch Project Management Chief, and Rachel Haunz, Chief Military/IIS Project Management Branch (P3MD), discussed the reserve and military programs within the district. 
Following the program briefings, contractors were able to participate in different networking break-out sessions. This allowed them the opportunity to discuss upcoming work with different offices, including engineering, project management, contracting division and small business.
Candi Burchel, Acting Deputy of Small Business, who organized the event, stated that even through the challenges of conducting a completely virtual event, the event was a resounding success. 
“The feedback that I have received from contractors is that they really enjoyed the set up and how easy it was to find the link, presentations, and the networking sessions,” said Burchel. “The contractors stated that they liked the amount of time that was dedicated to the networking sessions as it allowed them to attend multiple different offices. The overall feedback was that the contractors found value in the information provided for the office presentations and networking sessions.”