Riverside County is one of the largest public employers and buyers in the region, alongside a distinctive mix of agriculture, healthcare and fast-growing municipal demand. GERC helps businesses and nonprofits here register, certify and win work.
Guidance is not the same as implementation
A great deal of free advice exists for businesses that want to sell to government. Workshops, guides, counselling sessions, webinars. What is scarce is somebody who will actually complete the registration, prepare the certification application, write the capability statement and submit the proposal.
That is what GERC does. We are a hands-on implementation firm, not a general business consultancy. You can get told what to do in a lot of places; we do it with you.
What Riverside County buys
- The County itself. One of the region’s largest public organisations, purchasing across health, social services, public safety, facilities and technology, with its own vendor registration.
- Rapid municipal growth. Riverside, Moreno Valley, Corona, Temecula, Murrieta, Menifee and Jurupa Valley are expanding, and growth means construction, infrastructure and services procurement.
- Agriculture and food systems, including the Coachella Valley — a sector with its own federal funding streams through USDA that are unrelated to contracting.
- Healthcare and community services, with a substantial nonprofit sector competing for county, state and federal programme funding.
- Transportation and infrastructure, with regional transportation and transit agencies as continuing buyers of construction and professional services.
Services most used in this market
- SAM.gov registration and entity validation
- California SB and SB-PW certification for the construction and public works demand
- Grant writing — heavily used here by nonprofits, agricultural applicants and community organisations
- Nonprofit formation and 501(c)(3) for new community organisations
- Proposal and RFP responses for county and municipal solicitations
- Feasibility studies supporting infrastructure and housing funding applications
The sequence we take clients through
- Register — SAM.gov for federal work, Cal eProcure for California, plus the local agency portals that matter in your market
- Certify — California SB, Micro, SB-PW and DVBE, federal socio-economic programmes, and the local certifications that carry preference where you bid
- Position — a capability statement a contracting officer can act on, and codes chosen for the work you want
- Pursue — proposals and RFP responses, and grant applications where funding rather than contracting is the route
- Maintain — renewals and ongoing compliance, because eligibility lapses quietly
How we work with you
Most of what we do is delivered remotely, by phone and video, because registrations, applications and proposals are built from documents rather than site visits. Where an in-person meeting genuinely helps — a kickoff, a proposal review, a board presentation — we travel from our San Bernardino office.
Common questions
Are you local to Riverside?
We are in San Bernardino, immediately adjacent, and work across Riverside County routinely. In-person meetings are straightforward.
We are an agricultural business. Does government contracting apply to us?
Contracting sometimes. Grant funding more often — USDA runs a wide range of programmes for agricultural and food system applicants, with different eligibility rules and match requirements. Choosing the wrong programme costs a full cycle.
We are a new nonprofit. Where do we start?
With formation and exemption, in the right order. Federal grant funding also requires an active SAM.gov registration, which catches many new organisations at the point of application. We handle both, sequenced so the registration is ready when the exemption is.
Schedule a Consultation
- Call (909) 454-7076 — the fastest route. Monday to Friday.
- Book a consultation — pick a time that suits you.
- Email us about Riverside County — opens a message already titled, so it reaches the right person.
If you only want to know whether you need this at all, ask. There is no charge for that conversation.
GERC is a woman-led advisory firm led by Dr. Shirley Ayangbah, a PhD legal economist with more than 14 years of experience. Registered in SAM.gov under CAGE code 11SD2, certified as a California Small Business (Micro) and for Public Works. NAICS 541611, 541618 and 541690.