My client, an architect and demolition contractor by trade, received an award letter/blanket purchase order with the USDA’s Forest Engineering Road Maintenance (FERM) division.

These are repair and preventative maintenance assignments to reduce forest fires or deal with the aftermath. Because it is a blanket purchase agreement, the sizing of the invoice can be difficult as it can range from $25K to $500K and then have recurring add-ons because of what they find on-site.

This guy hit the jackpot as there are only 3-5 approved contractors in each region of the State of California. There are lots of fires out here, so he will be busy.

The client would need to mobilize subs and rent large equipment, etc to complete the jobs and needs cash flow to start in order to make it happen as it might take 30-60 days to get paid from the USDA.

We're talking to his home bank, but they're been slow to respond.

Contract receivables are difficult to get past underwriting with the Republic's or Celtic's of the world given the repercussions of not completing the contract and the risk of not collecting on receivables that they potentially are lending on. This is a large scope of an award that the Company received and most cannot get comfortable with it.

I'm trying to avoid SBA7(a) as it's such a long process and he's ready to submit for his first project.

Any thoughts?