By Michelle Berry
Reporter
The Borger Economic Development Corporation has approved funds to aid a local business with a retention project.

During its regular meeting Tuesday, the Borger EDC board of directors voted to give Provenance Consulting $219,000 to assist in the development of software.
The project was originally presented to the board during its regular July meeting. Patrick Nonhof, a partner with the company, made the presentation to the board.
Borger EDC CEO Dan Redd said under the agreement, the company is required to hire 13 new employees over the course of the next three years. He said he doesn’t think the company will have any difficulty meeting this quota, and the board expressed great enthusiasm about the project.
Provenance Consulting provides data management and process safety management service to the oil, gas, and petrochemical industry.
The company’s clientele includes Valero, BP, Chevron Phillips, and ConocoPhillips. The majority of its business comes from outside Hutchinson County.
The company has been in operation for two years and began with five employees, but now has 23 on staff, with each full-time employee having a full benefit package. The majority of the company’s employees, approximately 80 percent, live in the Hutchinson County area.
In his presentation to the board in July, Nonhof said the company would bring in a return on Borger EDC’s investment with jobs, with plans to create the 13 additional positions, which for the most part will be based in Hutchinson County.
The company is hoping to market its products at trade shows and in industry publications through the help of marketing and is also wanting to continue increasing its functionality throughout by continual improvement of its software.
At the July meeting, Nonhof said the only way to stay ahead of your competitors is to continually improve your product, which in the case of Provenance Consulting is its software. He said the company’s competitors were nowhere near them, and it wants to keep it that way.
The company is also exploring operator certification programs at chemical plants. All operators must be certified on a certain frequency. Nonhof said a couple of the company’s clients have asked the company to get involved, and he said there must be a certain type of software that manages all of this information.
For the development of new software, the company has $372,000 in its budget to invest in the project, along with the money approved by the EDC.
The Borger EDC also aided Provenance Consulting with some funding last year. With the support, there were two components, one having to do with staffing obligations. The company was required to have 17 employees on staff by 2010.
Nonhof said the obligation was met a few months ago. The company was able to staff up due to the business needs of clients and the assistance of the Borger EDC and met the requirement two years ahead of time.
The company also received a loan for a period of 36 months and is current on its payments and has been able to stay current since it began. According to Nonhof, the money from the Borger EDC was used for software development.
Provenance Consulting has invested about $500,000 in software development, about $80,000 of that coming from the Borger EDC. The money was invested in ARTS software for the management of assets, which is its premier software. Clients can view all of their associated data, documents, and equipment in one spot.