FedCon Spring 2026 | Application Deadline

Ready to Make the Federal Government Your Next Big Client? Join Illinois APEX Accelerator at WBDC’s FedCon Program!

Do you want to expand your business in 2026 with the Federal Government as your client? The Illinois APEX Accelerator at the WBDC has developed a unique federal government training opportunity available for your business. The program is called FedCon and is a 8-week cohort training program for established businesses to learn how to grow their business with the Federal government as your client.

THE BENEFITS OF PARTICIPATION

This program will help you to find and target the right opportunities that offer the highest probability for your company to win a government contract. It will help you make the right connection with the Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU) manager for your industry.

It will help you understand the maze of government regulations, clauses and provisions.

FedCon was designed to provide insights on the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) which will cultivate and ultimately sustain successful federal contractors.

Additionally, we are cultivating a cohort of other like-minded business owners in different industries. You will have the opportunity to learn from your fellow cohort participants and network with them as you all work toward the common goal of working with the federal government.

Our ideal cohort participant will have most (but not all!) of the following characteristics:

• Has completed multiple (3-5 minimum) government contracts at the state/local level or a high volume of corporate contracts.
• A small business with annual gross receipts $300,000
• Been in business for more than 5 years
• Has at least 5 employees
• Have a product/service that lends itself to federal contracting (IT, engineering, construction, consulting, logistics, manufacturing)

PROGRAM DETAILS

When: Every Friday, Friday, March 20, 2026 to Friday, May 8, 2026 | 10:00 am to noon | 8- Week Cohort

Where: The program is a mix of in-person and virtual events.

Cost: Thanks to generous sponsorship from Capital One/Discover and the Illinois APEX Accelerator
at the WBDC, there’s no cost to participate.

Facilitator: Donna Beasley | dbeasley@wbdc.org