Bend company gets loan

Published 4:00 am Wednesday, December 22, 2010

A Bend company that develops regulatory software for government agencies is the latest business to receive a forgivable loan from Deschutes County. The $50,000 loan, awarded Monday, is to help the company expand and move to a larger office.

GL Solutions is in the process of hiring 39 new employees, which will more than double its staff. The company produces database systems that can be adapted to individual agencies to manage inspections, licensing, permitting, compliance and enforcement.

One development fueling GL Solutions’ expansion is a $9 million contract with the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. GL Solutions will develop a new software system for the department’s Office of Medicaid Management Information System Services and Division of Health Service Regulation, according to a company news release.

“We’re in the process of doubling the size of our company here in Bend, to work on this project for the next several years,” marketing specialist Brian Bennett said Tuesday.

Over the next six months, GL Solutions plans to add 39 jobs with an average salary of $65,724, according to its loan application. Those jobs range from managers to software developers to quality assurance specialists who will test the software, according to the application.

The county loan will help GL Solutions move into the former Unicel office on Merchant Way near Mt. Washington Drive. The 19,600-square-foot facility was also once the home of Rudy’s Awbrey Butte Market.

The loan also could help pay for new employee training, which is taking place at Central Oregon Community College. The training is being done there in part because GL Solutions’ existing office near Southwest Colorado Avenue is too small. College faculty are providing some of the training in computer software and other skills, Bennett said.

The loan will help GL Solutions bridge the gap between the investments it must make now to expand the company and the payments it will receive later for delivering services, said Roger Lee, executive director of Economic Development for Central Oregon.

“They have to do a lot of this stuff upfront, and they get paid upon delivery,” Lee told the Deschutes County Commission on Monday afternoon. “That’s a reason they came to the county.”

It is the third forgivable business loan that Deschutes County commissioners have approved since September, although a Redmond manufacturer of barbecue sauces, spices and rubs has not accepted the county’s award.

The county and the City of Bend created the business loan fund over the summer. They will forgive loans to businesses that create the number of jobs they promise. Loan agreements include a claw-back provision that allows the county and city to recover part or all of their money from any business that creates fewer jobs than promised, or none at all.

The city and county partnered with EDCO to administer the program, which is aimed at companies that export goods or services outside the region. Deschutes County used approximately $300,000 in one-time foreclosure-related revenue to create the fund.

Lenders pay the County Clerk’s Office to record documents preceding foreclosures, and then pay off delinquent tax bills when they take possession of properties. Since foreclosures increased dramatically in Deschutes County after the real estate market crashed, the county has received more of this money.

GL Solutions was founded in 1997 by Bill Moseley and Eric Staley. They previously worked for the Oregon Department of Justice and built an early version of their software system there to organize and automate some of the agency’s work, Bennett said. GL Solutions now has 45 clients in 18 states.

The company’s regulatory software helps governments manage licensing and inspections to ensure people have safe buildings and doctors they can trust, among other things, Bennett said.

“GL Solutions is committed to helping agencies get a little better at doing those things,” he said.

Want to work at GL Solutions?

To learn more about job openings at GL Solutions, visit the company’s website at www .glsuite.com, then click on “About us” and “Careers.”