KAYSVILLE — Another milestone in a statewide effort to get more Utah companies involved in government contracting was reached Wednesday with the grand opening of a program that could result in thousands of jobs.

Dozens of people attended the kickoff ceremonies for Utah Bid Development Solutions, also known as UBiDS, a partnership among the Utah Defense Alliance, the Davis and Ogden/Weber chambers of commerce and Logistics Specialties Inc. to help Utah businesses land federal, state and local government contracts. Housed on the Davis Applied Technology College campus, UBiDS received a financial go-ahead thanks to a $250,000 legislative appropriation for a procurement technical assistance center. The Governor's Office of Economic Development received the funds and contracted with the Utah Defense Alliance, which then subcontracted with LSI.

"I think UBiDS is the greatest single economic development initiative in the state," said Sean Slatter, LSI's president. "We've identified the opportunity to secure 4,000 new jobs under this program. That's amazing. A lot of these jobs will be based in northern Utah to support Hill Air Force Base and the other military and industrial centers in the state."

Slatter said the Roy W. and Elizabeth E. Simmons Entrepreneurship Center is "dedicated to creating an environment where defense contractors — government contractors in general — can come and be mentored and grow their businesses."

Kori Ann Edwards, UBiDS director at LSI, said LSI has been matching company products and capabilities to federal contracts for 34 years. "Through the UBiDS contract, we will be able to take this expertise and to share it with Utah businesses who are interested in doing business with the federal government."

She cited Hill Air Force Base as an example of opportunities, noting that the base contracts out about $3 billion annually.

"The objective of the UBiDS program is to help work with Utah businesses to ensure that our Utah economy is able to capture as many of these dollars as possible. ... Through this effort, the state of Utah will realize significant growth in job creation and corporate business expansion," Edwards said.

Rick Mayfield, chief executive officer of the Utah Defense Alliance, noted that the organization had worked to keep Hill Air Force Base open during two rounds of base closings.

"Now we want to kind of move away from that aspect because, at this point in time and hopefully in the future, our bases aren't threatened. But there's a lot of changes in the defense industry, and our community organization has stepped up and said, 'We want to take advantage of those opportunities,"' he said.