The Business In Development (B.I.D.) Academy | Fall 2026 Cohort
About this Event
Most businesses fail not because they aren't good enough. They aren't successful because they aren't ready.
The Business In Development (B.I.D.) Academy is a free nine-week program from Prairie View A&M University Extension that gets your business ready for the work. It is about building a business that lasts, one that knows its numbers, has its paperwork in order, and can deliver on a promise, so a contract becomes something you are ready for, not something that breaks you.
Contracting is the goal, not the whole point. Everything you build here serves your business whether or not you ever submit a bid.
What you walk away with
This is not just "another" certificate program. You leave with a working file, the same set of materials a buyer, a bank, or a prime contractor asks for:
- A capability statement
- Your business codes (NAICS, NIGP, FSC) and SAM.gov registration
- A completed CMBL registration
- Insurance and bonding identified, and a compliance checklist
- A certification path and a real solicitation selected and outlined
- A cost model and a defensible pricing sheet
- A ninety-day cash flow plan
- A Master Services Agreement
- A full proposal draft
Taught by working professionals
Your facilitators are practicing experts from across North Texas: attorneys, accountants, bankers, marketers, procurement specialists, and business owners who do this work every day. You learn it from the people who live it.
This is for you if
- You have a business, or you are close, and you are serious about growing it.
- You want to work with government and large institutions but do not know where to start.
- You are tired of hearing what to do and want to actually build the materials, with help.
This is not for you if you are looking for a quick certificate, or you are not ready to do the work between sessions. Come ready to build.
The details
- Free. Seats are limited.
- Core sessions: Wednesdays, September 2 - October 28, 2026, 12:00 to 2:00 PM.
- Location: Spark Arlington. Graduation and the Vendor Showcase TBD.
- Register here to save your seat. We will follow up with everything you need before we begin.
A note before you register: the cohort opens with a preview session, 'Are You Really Ready to Do Business in Texas? ' on Friday, August 28, 2026. It is an honest look at where your business stands before you commit to nine weeks. Details in your confirmation.
QUESTIONS?
Contact: Chelse Lilly, M.S., EA-PV-CED
Learn more about PV Extension CED Tarrant County:
https://www.pvamu.edu/cafnr/extension/community-and-economic-development/
https://linktr.ee/cedtarrantcountyextension
This institution is prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, age, or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity in any program or activity conducted or funded by USDA. Persons who require language services or a reasonable accommodation, please contact [email protected] by email or call 936-261-5166 a minimum of 21 days before the event.
Sept 2
🕑: 12:00 PM - 02:00 PM
The Ninety-Second Decision
Host: Jared Raines
Info: A buyer decides whether to take you seriously in about ninety seconds. This opening session is about making those seconds count: your positioning, your brand, the one line that says what you do, and a presence someone can actually find. You start building the foundation that eventually becomes your capability statement.
Sept 9
🕑: 12:00 PM - 02:00 PM
What's Your Number?
Host: Malcolm Davis
Info: Every business that sells to government has a set of numbers that route work to it. Learn what NAICS, NIGP, and FSC codes are, how to choose yours, and how to register correctly, including SAM.gov. Then you make the choice that shapes the rest of the cohort: build solo or join a team.
Sept 16
🕑: 12:00 PM - 02:00 PM
Get on the List
Host: Queen Kima
Info: Get on the List
Learn how Texas buys - and how to confidently position your business to participate. During this hands-on workshop, you will complete your Centralized Master Bidders List (CMBL) registration live in the room, gain a clear understanding of HUB Subcontracting Plans, and identify where your business fits within the state buyer landscape.
Queen Kima will also help you move beyond the internal barriers that keep many qualified business owners from pursuing larger opportunities. You will learn how to overcome analysis paralysis and imposter syndrome, leverage rejection as information rather than defeat, and move forward with greater clarity, confidence, and intention.
Sept 23
🕑: 12:00 PM - 02:00 PM
Read Before You Sign
Host: Heather Jefferson
Info: Two things get a new vendor thrown out before anyone reads their bid: the wrong coverage and a missed requirement. This session covers both. Learn what insurance and bonding your work requires and how to get it, then hear directly from the buyer's side of the table about what an office checks before it will even score you.
Sept 30
🕑: 12:00 PM - 02:00 PM
Prove It on Paper
Host: Dr. Cassandra Bradford
Info: Now you put it on paper. Finish the capability statement a buyer will actually read, map your path to certifications like HUB, MBE, WBE, DBE, and 8a, and pick up the real solicitation the whole cohort will work from. You read it end to end and learn to see every requirement hiding in it.
Oct 7
🕑: 12:00 PM - 02:00 PM
The Real Price of Doing Business
Host: Dom Lewis
Info: Winning work you cannot afford to deliver is how businesses go under. This session gives you the numbers: clean books, a cost model, and pricing that holds up under a buyer's scrutiny. You also learn what a lender actually needs, and what capital is available before you ever sign a contract.
Oct 14
🕑: 12:00 PM - 02:00 PM
Scale Up Without Falling Apart
Host: Wendell Jean Jules
Info: Winning is one thing. Delivering without burning down your business is another. Learn to build a pipeline that does not depend on an RFP being posted, and the systems and automation that let a small team deliver on a real promise. This becomes the part of your proposal that shows a buyer you can actually do the work.
Oct 21
🕑: 12:00 PM - 02:00 PM
What It's Worth, What It Takes
Host: Booker T. Spencer Jr.
Info: In the core session, you get the Master Services Agreement every business needs with any client, plus the basics of contracts and licensing, and you learn what your business is worth and how to make the case for it.
🕑: 02:00 PM - 05:00 PM
The Proposal Lab
Host: Queen Kima
Info: The working lab, where you finish your proposal and rehearse the pitch you will give at graduation.
Oct 28
🕑: 12:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Graduation and Vendor Showcase
Info: This is not a speech and a photo. It is a trade show. You set up a table with everything you built, and real procurement officers and prime contractors walk the room to meet you. Nobody is scored. Everyone leaves with names and next steps. Open to the community.
Sept 5
🕑: 09:00 AM - 05:00 PM
[SPECIAL SESSION] Call Time
Info: [Optional session. Open to cohort members, can serve as makeup for a missed week.] A full mock production day for creative businesses. Work a real project from call time to wrap, on a deadline, with a team. If your business lives or dies by delivering creative work on time, this is the day you find out how you actually operate under pressure.
Oct 3
🕑: 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
[SPECIAL SESSION] Who's Going to Do the Work?
Host: Katrina Hawkins
Info: [Optional session. Open to cohort members, can serve as makeup for a missed week.] You cannot deliver a contract alone, and hiring the wrong person is expensive. This session covers apprenticeships, workforce pathways, and building a team you can actually afford, plus how prime and subcontractor relationships work in practice.
Oct 15
🕑: 06:00 PM - 07:30 AM
[SPECIAL SESSION] Paid in Ninety Days, But the Bills Are Due Now
Host: Ervin Hughes Jr.
Info: [Optional session. Open to cohort members, can serve as makeup for a missed week.]Join us to learn the 7 Simple Steps to Funding for Your Startup or Growing Business. No minimum operating history, No strong personal credit scores required, No loan debt created, No investors, No cash flow requirements, and No use of funds restrictions! This virtual session covers factoring, receivables financing, and lines of credit: what each costs, when it helps, and when it is a trap. Build the cash flow plan that gets you through the gap.
Where is it happening?
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