It was yesterday when Joint Region Marianas Commander Rear Admiral Benjamin Nicholson announced the Department of Defense will be spending billions of dollars in construction on Guam over the next several years.

The news comes right before the start of Industry Trade Fair and Expo hosted by the Guam Contractors Associations

Fifty-one exhibitors came out today for day one of the two-day event. The goal of the exhibit is to showcase the island’s construction and trades industry and how it’s vital in Guam’s growth. James Martinez is the president of the Guam Contractors Association.

"We want to make sure that our local contractors get a piece of that pie so we try to help them navigate through the RFP process," he said. "We have a big face-to-face meeting with the big general contractors like Black Construction and DZSP 21, Reliant Global and Hansel Phelps and so these are the guys that have the big contacts already and so now, they have a goal to meet the small business utilization so we’re trying to encourage our small contractors to come and meet face to face with these guys submit their capabilities statement and just get the foot in the door to avail these opportunities for our smaller contractors."

But it's more than services for the military. The Industry Trade Fair and Expo also aims to connect with island residents who may need the services of construction or trade companies.

"So this is a one-stop shop if you’re a contractor or if you’re looking to do some renovations in your houses or if you’re a business and want to expand or build an extension to your business, then this is the place to come and see what’s going on in the industry," Martinez said.

The expo also had forty Career Tech High Academy Charter School students visit earlier today to learn about the island’s construction and trades industry. Action PAC executive director Phillip Leddy II was excited about what he saw.

"That was actually my favorite part of the day, was seeing the Career Tech students," he said. "I’m a father myself and it’s something I want my kids to get interested in or at least explore because it is a very viable third option. There’s college, there’s military, but to explore the Trades Academy or the GCC Trades Academy on island and we can build our local talent and then just put them into our local workforce. That’s a great thing to see and I hope that more students, as well as more schools are interested in participating in future events."

The expo continues tomorrow from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Phoenix Center on the campus of Father Duenas Memorial School.