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About Johnny Forbes, Compu-Tune Up Founder and Owner
Forbes gained computer experience during
four years service in the Air Force, in intelligence. He
moved to Charlottesville in 1998 and worked for BI, Inc., a
home and electronic monitoring company. In 1999, he
launched Compu-Tune Up, with help from an important advisor
and investor, Henry Weinschenk, owner of Express Car Wash.
Having paid off all his investors within the first year,
Forbes has grown the business to a staff of six, primarily
serving small businesses in a wide variety of fields in the
Charlottesville area. Forbes and one of his staff members
are fluent in Spanish. He donates IT services to
Charlottesville’s Boys & Girls Club. For more information
on Compu-Tune Up, please visit
www.computuneup.com.
Compu-Tune Up of Charlottesville Becomes
First IT Company in Central Virginia to be Eligible for
Federal Contracts
(Charlottesville, VA) Compu-Tune Up is
pleased to announce it has just received federal 8-(a)
certification to provide information technology services
under federal contracts. In addition, Compu-Tune Up also
has federal “SDB,” or Small Disadvantaged Business, status
since the firm’s owner Johnny Forbes is a first generation
American, the son of Hispanic immigrants. With both 8-(a)
and SDB status, Compu-Tune Up is among a very small group of
businesses with both designations. Compu-Tune Up is the
only IT company in Central Virginia with 8-(a)
certification.
“This means our business will explode,”
says Forbes, who expects to expand throughout the region and
add employees in a wide variety of positions over the next
year. “A lot of credit for our certification belongs to
Charlottesville’s Center for Innovative Technology office.
Without CIT’s Greg McMullin, I might not have realized that
I qualified for 8-(a) certification.” For federal
contracting, Compu-Tune Up will now be listed specifically
as an IT Service Provider and a Value-Added Reseller.
“Johnny and his staff are good networkers
and that is how this all got started,” says McMullin, who
met Compu-Tune Up business development manager Richard
Johnson at a local business event. After some initial
meetings, McMullin began advising Compu-Tune Up last
November. They did market research with big government
contractors in the IT field and found that these companies
needed 8-(a) contractors in order to fulfill federal
contracting requirements. The CIT guided and advised Forbes
regarding the paperwork he needed to submit and how to best
present his company in his application. “Their willingness
to work with us and follow our instructions really led to
their success,” adds McMullin. Compu-Tune Up received
notice it had been certified with 8-(a) status last week
(3/28/05).
This week, Forbes will travel to
Washington, D.C., to attend a Technology Exposition, where
he will meet representatives from government agencies,
including the Department of Defense, seeking contractors
with 8-(a) certification. “Compu-Tune Up offers experienced
IT service, and as both a minority and veteran-owned
business, we fill a critical category for them,” says
Forbes.
In addition to federal certification,
Compu-Tune Up qualifies for Virginia State contracts
reserved for businesses with 250 or fewer employees and
those owned by women and minorities, called SWAM contracts.
Virginia Governor Mark Warner has pushed to increase the
number of contracts reserved for SWAM businesses, in an
effort to bring Virginia closer to the average for SWAM
contracting among other states. Virginia is among those
with the lowest SWAM contracting percentage.
Local Entrepreneurs
Visit
USDA Official
By Tribune Staff Reporter
Richard Johnson of Compu-Tune Up,
Incorporated and David White, president of Exit 10
Advertising and another Charlottesville native along with
Information Consultant, Sherman White, meet with USDA
official, Dana 'Danny' Covington,
Thursday, October 16, 2007.
At the invitation of Covington, all three
were given valuable insight into the procurement process of
the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) and the
opportunities therein for Minority-owned businesses for
government contracts and minority set-asides.
Covington, a high level Bush appointee,
and native of Vicksburg, Mississippi, is a seasoned Black
bureaucrat assigned to the Department's RUD agency as a
special consultant to an Undersecretary of the Department.
Like its sister agency, HUD, RUD's
primary responsibility is to provide services for America's
rural communities. Such services as electrification,
intra-structure development and maintenance, internet and
cable services, police cars, fire trucks and etc. are
provided by RUD - Rural Urban Development agency.
During the visit, Richard Johnson, made
Covington - a former Postal Commissioner and candidate from
Mississippi for Congress - aware of the multitude of
computer services his firm could provide in the most remote
areas of the country in such areas as hardware procurement,
systems integration, IT maintenance and training.
David White, a seasoned advertising
executive and president of his own agency, Exit 10
advertising, described the communication products that would
benefit such agencies as Homeland Security, the Department
of Agriculture, and a host of other government agencies that
are mandated to utilize Minority-owned firms in the
completion of their missions.
Over the meeting's duration, Covington
identified key contacts in the Department of Agriculture and
other government agencies he thought would benefit from the
services and products offered by both White and Johnson.
Undoubtedly, both Compu-Tune Up and Exit
10 will be busy in the weeks and months to come pursuing the
many sales leads provided by Covington.
CHARLOTTESVILLE FIRM COMPU-TUNE UP LANDS
CONTRACT
WITH ASHBURY INTERNATIONAL GROUP
(Charlottesville, VA) Compu-Tune
Up of Charlottesville, Virginia, has secured a three year
contract with Ashbury International Group to provide
comprehensive IT service, including purchasing, networking,
service and training. Compu-Tune Up provides turn-key IT
support to Ashbury International, a Charlottesville based
defense contractor. Ashbury International is an equipment
systems integration specialist with a business emphasis in
the intelligence, homeland security, infantry and special
operations communities.
Morris Peterson, President
and CEO of Ashbury International, chose Compu-Tune Up for
Ashbury’s IT needs because he says, “our internationally
mobile small business, depends on reliable, high performance
IT, and we need an IT support firm we can absolutely rely
on, without question. We have been extremely satisfied with
the way Compu-Tune Up seamlessly maintains and upgrades our
IT system, responds to situations 24/7 and equips us to do
our business with unparalleled IT support.”
Ashbury International Group
Inc. a small minority owned business is a Prime Contractor
for the US Army, US Navy, US Marine Corps, US Special
Operations Command (US SOCOM) and the US Army Special
Operations Command (USASOC) and numerous other federal
agencies. The company provides advanced integrated
equipment systems to American warfighters in support of the
global war on terrorism and national security.
Ashbury's has three business
units that include Tactical Systems Integration, Training
and Security. The firm works with its global partners to
provide total systems solutions for the US Armed Forces in
various areas of technology to include lasers, thermal
imagers, night vision, optics for reconnaissance,
surveillance and target acquisition.
Johnny Forbes, President of
Compu-Tune Up, is developing his business around its core
strength: providing comprehensive IT service, particularly
preventive maintenance, for individuals and businesses. “We
cater to businesses that do not need their own IT
departments or full-time staff but rely on high performance
from their IT and require regular maintenance, farsighted
purchasing, networking, and training.”
Compu-Tune Up was founded in
Charlottesville, Virginia, in 1999, and specializes in
providing a full range of IT services and equipment to small
businesses. The company’s clients include medical and
dental practices, real estate firms and a wide array of
other small businesses. In 2006, Compu-Tune Up received
federal 8-(a) certification to provide information
technology services under federal contracts. In addition,
Compu-Tune Up also has federal “SDB,” or Small Disadvantaged
Business, status since the firm’s owner Johnny Forbes is a
first generation American, the son of Hispanic immigrants.
Compu-Tune Up is among a very small group of businesses with
both designations, and is the only IT company in Central
Virginia with 8-(a) certification. Compu-Tune Up also
qualifies for Virginia State contracts reserved for
businesses with 250 or fewer employees and those owned by
women and minorities, called SWAM contracts.
Compu-Tune Up was founded in
Charlottesville, Virginia, in 1999, and specializes in
providing full IT service and equipment to small
businesses. The company’s clients include medical and
dental practices, real estate firms and a wide range of
other small businesses.
Last year, Compu-Tune Up received federal
8-(a) certification to provide information technology
services under federal contracts. In addition, Compu-Tune
Up also has federal “SDB,” or Small Disadvantaged Business,
status since the firm’s owner Johnny Forbes is a first
generation American, the son of Hispanic immigrants. Compu-Tune
Up is among a very small group of businesses with both
designations, and is the only IT company in Central Virginia
with 8-(a) certification. Compu-Tune Up also qualifies
for Virginia State contracts reserved for businesses with
250 or fewer employees and those owned by women and
minorities, called SWAM contracts.
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