Success Story: DT Search & Designs LLC
St. Joseph, Mo.

Above: Bill Junk (left) and Dean Thompson (right) flank members of their development team at DT Search & Designs ... Tim Pollard and Mike Dragoo ... and the distribution box of their Relia-Com™ military communications system.
Below: Bill Junk, president of DT Search & Designs, found the knowledge and advice of UMKC-based MO PTAC procurement specialist Donna Leonard to be invaluable in the company's effort to win government contracts.

From the flags and torches of the mid-19th century U.S. Army Signal Corps to modern-day communications satellites, military operations have always depended on the most reliable communications systems available. That's one big reason the folks at DT Search & Designs LLC in St. Joseph are succeeding in business.

One of their primary product lines is the Relia-Com™ communications system for military applications. Bill Junk, president of DTS, and Dean Thompson, vice president of research, teamed up nearly six years ago to make and market the communications distribution boxes and cables that comprise Relia-Com.

Bill focuses on marketing and administration. He brought to DTS more than 25 years of marketing, finance and operations experience with Scott Co. and Research Seeds Inc. Bill, a U.S. Navy veteran, also founded and operated Twelve Oaks Consulting before starting DTS.

Dean concentrates on engineering and development. His background includes 16 years in electronics and satellite dish technology development with the Marine Corps. Later Dean worked as an engineer for the state of Kansas and with the Sherwood Medical Instruments Corp. He also owned and operated a telecommunications company.

Their experience, along with the talents of their two cohorts — Tim Pollard and Mike Dragoo — combine to design, produce and market communications devices to meet the demands of 21st century warriors.

"Our communications system saves time, saves money, and — most importantly — saves lives in dangerous combat situations," says Dean.

After starting the business the guys at DTS ultimately discovered it was relatively easy for them to produce complex communications devices, but much harder to sell their wares to government agencies. Attempting to navigate the convoluted maze of the federal purchasing bureaucracy almost brought their progress to a halt.

Dean Thompson, director of research for DTS, brought years of engineering and military communications experience to his position with the St. Joseph-based company.

"We were total neophytes when it came to working with the government procurement system," admits Bill. "Neither one of us had any idea how to deal with the government. We thought if you had a product, you go to the government and they buy it. They didn't tell us you had to fill out gobs of forms first."

Running a small company, the guys at DTS were spread pretty thin, says Bill. While searching for advice, Bill received a suggestion to contact the Small Business and Technology Development Center at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

"So we did, and they said we should talk to Donna Leonard," said Bill.

Leonard, Kansas City-area procurement specialist with the the Missouri Procurement Technical Assistance Centers (MO PTAC), encouraged Bill and Dean to attend the Rep. Ike Skelton Procurement Conference on the campus of the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg. The annual conference is designed to introduce small businesses to the federal government procurement system.

After working with Leonard, DTS obtained its first government contract from the U.S. Air Force in September 2007. But before submitting their successful bid, Bill had to complete several multi-page forms including CCR (Central Contractor's Registration), UCC (Uniform Commercial Code) and ORCA (Online Representations and Certifications Application).

"Having never filled those out before, it was quite an adventure," admits Bill. "Without Donna's help, we probably wouldn't have filled them out correctly."

Dean points out some of the features of the DTS Relia-Com™ communications system.

The communications experts at DTS have come to appreciate the depth of Leonard's knowledge of the government procurement system: "Her knowledge is virtually unlimited. And if she doesn't have an answer, she finds one and gets back to you quickly."

Bill knows firsthand that one of the biggest drawbacks of a small business is a lack of resources. He has found the assistance he's received from Leonard (and from such SBTDC specialists as Larry Lee in Kansas City and Rebecca Evans in St. Joseph) has helped fill that void.

"The resources of MO PTAC and MO SBTDC, where they can just give you advice to save you days of searching ... you cannot measure that in dollars."

This story was featured in the Oct. 2009 newsletter

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