ALBANY — New York's two U.S. senators are calling for federal assistance in the establishment of a permanent assistance center to help area businesses gain access to contracts and business at Fort Drum.

In a statement released Tuesday, Democrats Charles E. Schumer and Hillary Rodham Clinton urged the Defense Logistics Agency, a division of the Department of Defense, to create a Procurement Technical Assistance Center. The center would offer support to businesses in Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence counties, and assist them in creating and maintaining effective commercial relations with the federal government.

"The continued growth of Fort Drum has the potential to be an economic gold mine for local business and residents across the Watertown area," Sen. Schumer said. "It is absolutely vital that the federal government step in here and support efforts at the local level to ensure our businesses know how to best take advantage of the opportunities being presented to them by the presence of such a thriving, ever-expanding Army base right in their back yard."

The senators' efforts come in response to a grant application filed Tuesday by the Greater Watertown-North Country Chamber of Commerce to the Defense Logistics Agency to create a Procurement Technical Assistance Center, or PTAC, office. The chamber estimates "there are 896 businesses in the region that have the potential and interest necessary to contract with Fort Drum, but are not doing so."

In its April newsletter, the chamber reported that in 2006 Fort Drum contracted with area businesses for more than $46 million in construction, services and supplies. This number, while significant, represented only 54 percent of Fort Drum's contracting expenditures for that year. In 2007, Fort Drum's contract spending totaled $320 million.

In an effort to capture more of that business, the chamber partnered with the Fort Drum Regional Liaison Organization, Empire State Development Corp., the Watertown Small Business Development Center and the New York Business Development Corp. to fund a temporary PTAC office, which opened in Watertown in January.

"We've already met with 16 clients and have gotten five registered in the bid-match system," said Karen K. Delmonico, the chamber's president and chief executive officer, referring to the final level of certification to do business with the military.

"We're really pleased with the support we've received from our senators and from Congressman McHugh," Ms. Delmonico said, referring to John M. McHugh, R-Pierrepont Manor.

Before the opening of the Watertown office, the closest PTAC to the area was in Rochester.

"With local businesses across the north country working to contribute to the region's economic growth, we only have to look as far as our own backyard to see the potential that Fort Drum has to offer," Sen. Clinton said. "Establishing a PTAC in the region is the critical first step in a process that has the potential to benefit both the base and the regional economy."