Evan Vitale Consulting: WFEDC hears from aerospace consulting firms

Corporations often enlist the services of consultants to help develop a road map to lead them down a path to success.

The Wichita Falls Economic Development Corp. heard four presentations Thursday afternoon from groups hoping to win a contract from the organization that would develop a plan for the WFEDC to recruit the aerospace industry to North Texas. The presentations came as a result of a request for qualifications developed after six months of deliberations on the possibility of hiring a consulting firm to aid the group.

“The main thing here is we’re really in the aerospace industry right now,” said Dick Bundy, chairman of the WFEDC. “What we need to do is see where we really are in that industry and how we compare to other communities and see what we need to do (and) develop a plan. We’ve been in the aerospace industry, in the flight industry for almost 100 years.

“We’ve got some great manufacturers here, some people in the industry right here. We’ve got the greatest Air Force base in the world for pilot training, so it just makes sense that we need to assess where we are and develop a plan to move forward and really concentrate on aerospace.”

The groups pitching their services to the WFEDC on Thursday include:

Teal Group out of Fairfax, Virginia;
Bruce Facility Planning Consultants from the Atlanta, Georgia, area;
Solomon Bruce Consulting LLC out of Fort Worth, with marketing services provided by J.O. Designs, also in Fort Worth;
Barber Business Advisors in Dallas, with other services provided by Hamman Consulting Group in Vermilion, Ohio, and Heard Technical Services.

Henry Florsheim, president and CEO of the Wichita Falls Chamber of Commerce & Industry, said there was a significant amount of economic development and aerospace expertise knowledge represented by all of the presenters Tuesday that he has possibly seen during his career. He said he is confident that one of the presenters provided the information needed for the WFEDC to select one and point the city in the direction of success.

But, it’s not just about being handed a plan. It’s acting on it.

“The whole point of this is to really figure out what our strengths are and how to best market our community to this very specific market that we’ve already identified as our primary target,” he said. “The real important piece is not during this relationship with a consultant, and not that they’re guaranteed to bring us a prospect, but, what do we do with information after this marketing strategy that’s built out of this process.”

The WFEDC will meet in City Council chambers Feb. 18 to discuss and possibly vote on a consulting firm. Bundy said he thinks the cap on the cost of the services should be about $150,000.

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