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Kevin Narcomey, president and CEO of Osceola Consulting, speaks at a grand opening ceremony in Cabazon on Thursday.(Photo: Rosalie Murphy/The Desert Sun)Buy Photo

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Osceola Consulting, a Bay Area-based consulting company, has opened an office on the Morongo Band of Mission Indians’ reservation near Cabazon and hired its first 20 local employees.

The company, based in Tiburon, Calif, provides software and technology services to utility companies. Employees take on specific projects in information technology, quality assurance testing, software development and geographic information systems — jobs companies often contract out rather than look in-house to fill.

“We’re delighted that Osceola is bringing new high-tech jobs to our region, and obviously it’s always gratifying for our tribe to provide support to Native American-owned ventures,” said Morongo tribal chairman Robert Martin at the facility’s grand opening Thursday. “We’re pleased to see that Osceola celebrates its heritage and that it maintains a commitment to diversity and economic development.”

Traditionally, Osceola’s employees have spent time in the offices of the companies they’re assisting — Southern California Gas Company and San Diego Gas and Electric, for example — and then move on when projects end. But Kevin Narcomey, who founded the company in 2006, said the industry is trending toward companies that keep these people in consulting offices, where their services cost less and where they can work on several projects at once.

So, two years ago, Narcomey started talking to tribes all over the country. As a member of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, he wanted to open the office on tribal land, where it could bring in revenue for the tribe and help educate tribal members.

The Morongo already boast a diverse economic portfolio, and Narcomey said the tribe was open to his idea. The tribe has ventured into finance, manufacturing and agriculture, chairman Robert Martin said, and they hope to build an office complex on the tribe’s land near I-10 in coming years. Ideally, Martin said that would include Osceola and medical offices, along with any other companies who want to move in.

Narcomey said Osceola’s business model provides for “career opportunities in technology and business… in both tribal areas and disadvantaged communities, while it also supports broader societal development and economic growth of these areas.”

Further, the positions Narcomey’s company offers are genuine technology jobs. They require bachelor’s degrees and offer high salaries. Workers in engineering and management jobs earned an average of $48,000 in 2013, according to the Coachella Valley Economic Partnership (CVEP) — well above the region’s average pay of $36,400.

“The partnership with our tribal nation is critical to not only diversifying business opportunities for the region, but at the same time bringing forward necessary jobs,” said state assemblymember Eduardo Garcia (D-Coachella), who represents the eastern Coachella Valley and chair’s the Legislature’s jobs committee. “Any time an area like Riverside County can attract high-tech jobs that traditionally are expected to go to places like Silicon Valley, we certainly have hit a home run.”

Engineering and management, the economic sector that includes consulting, is one of the Coachella Valley’s smallest. Just 2,365 of the valley’s 131,400 working residents — around 1.8 percent — performed this kind of work in 2013, according to CVEP data.

CVEP does not collect data about Cabazon. The unincorporated community 15 miles from North Palm Springs had just 2,500 residents noted 2010 census data. But it offers a framework for understanding how rare jobs like these are in California’s Inland Empire.

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An office at Osceola Consulting. The office is inside the old Morongo Casino building, which most recently housed a bowling alley and bingo hall. These were once the casino’s executive offices. (Photo: Rosalie Murphy/The Desert Sun)

The Cabazon office currently employs around 20 people, Narcomey said, and he hopes it will “go big” — if companies need more services, he has no cap on the amount of employees he’ll hire.

Osceola is housed in the old Morongo Casino, which most recently served as a bingo hall and bowling alley. Staff converted halls of casino executive offices into rooms filled with engineers and managers. Before the lobby was renovated four months ago, it was the old casino’s “cash room,” with floor-to-ceiling metal gates to protect the casino’s money. There’s still a stretch of warehouse space that the company could grow into, before it eventually builds its own facility.

“We’ll grow through 2016 organically and expand here in the Morongo casino. We do have phase two lined up with the tribe to go big,” Narcomey said.

Osceola is also exploring partnerships with local universities in the hopes of hiring local workers, but haven’t started programs yet.

If the Cabazon office succeeds, Narcomey also hopes to open Osceola sites on tribal land in the Midwest and on the East Coast.

Rosalie Murphy covers real estate and business at The Desert Sun. Reach her at rosalie.murphy@desertsun.com or on Twitter @rozmurph.

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