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CANADIAN INDUSTRY ONLINE - JANUARY 2014
with Aboriginal Affairs and North-
ern Development Canada (AANDC)
under the Procurement Strategy for
Aboriginal Business (PSAB) policy, a
policy that helps facilitate transfer into
the Government through awarded
contract vehicles.”
In Canada, there are over 37,000
Aboriginal owned businesses, the
Government developed the Procure-
ment Strategy for Aboriginal Business
(
PSAB) to increase the number of Ab-
original firms participating in the fed-
eral procurement process.
Under the strategy, qualified
Aboriginal firms are able to bid on
government contracts through several
business arrangements, such as sub-
contracting and joint ventures with
other firms. The PSAB is open to all
Aboriginal businesses, including sole
proprietorship, limited companies,
co-operatives, partnerships, and not-
for-profit organizations. According to
AANDC, more than 100,000 contracts
have been awarded to Aboriginal sup-
pliers (with a total value of $3.3 billion)
since 1996.
“
Although the federal procure-
ment strategy has been the way we
built the business, the landscape for
contracting to the federal space has
significantly changed. The first 5-6
years of the business was focused on
hardware and software contracts but
we then saw our clients had needs in
the professional services market,” Yeo
says. “In 2007-2008 we increased our
capacity of awarded contracts to in-
clude professional services as well as
the traditional products we had pro-
vided. We learned how to maneuver
in this market and be incredibly agile,”
Yeo adds.
PRODUCTS AND SERVICES
According to its website, Dalian
“
defines innovative and cost-effective
business solutions tailored for its cli-
ents in business sectors.” The company
has been representing a range of prov-
en industry-leading technologies and
services that help clients focus on their
own core competencies, for over a de-
cade.
Dalian clients can count on the
company to build IT infrastructure
that will be robust and secure. The
company helps clients become more
adaptable to changing technological
environments by supplying the best in
IT related products and services.
“
Our clients know that we bring
value-added services to the table. We
have the ability to fulfill needs that
other competitors can’t,” Yeo says.
Dalian prides itself on having subject-
matter experts on hand to offer clients
expertise that isn’t available anywhere
else. “We have a strong value proposi-
tion and our clients can see that right
away.” Dalian has experienced accoun
executives and practice leads on hand.
Although the company only employs
12
people full time, Dalian has over 30
consultants in various capacities: “We
have the top 20 networking and secu-
rity professionals in Canada working
for us,” Yeo notes.
Dalian offers consulting services,
installation and configuration services
and technical services along with their
exceptional platform of products. “Ou
pillars of business growth have been
IT Security, Networking , Data Centre
and Virtualization, and of course our
full range of Professional Services to
complement those pillars.”
THE FUTURE
With an expert staff ready to offer
the best in integrated services, Dalian
sees the most potential in offering so-
lutions that encompass a full range of
software, hardware and professional
services going forward. “We see the
company growing to another level tha
will allow us to operate outside the
country on a global platform, while
continuing to enhance transactions for
the Canadian government,” Yeo says.
“
We want to grow with the Cana-
dian government internationally in all
areas of security.”
Dalian has many key messages
for future customers. “Companies in
