That’s the motto of the NAVAIR Small Business Office and in NAWCAD we take it seriously.  Last week several of us from NAWCAD travelled up to Frederick, Maryland, to participate in the 10th annual Strengthening the Mid-Atlantic for Tomorrow (SMART) Procurement Conference and Expo hosted by U.S. Congressman Roscoe Bartlett. 

There were approximately 900 registered attendees, mostly small businesses, with about 120 exhibitors and 30 federal agencies represented.  We had a NAWCAD led panel discussion on how to do business with us and spent most of the day talking with individual business owners about their products and services. We also talked about how small to mid-sized businesses can develop strategies to meet the Navy's mission needs. 

Earlier in the month, NAWCAD folks from Pax River and Lakehurst attended the Counter Network and Illicit Trafficking Program Industry Day in California, Maryland. More than 250 representatives from Industry were on hand.  NAWCAD also attended the 2011 Navy Energy Forum, where Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus and Small Business Administrator Mills announced the launch of the Green Portal II, which consolidates federal green energy information in one location (http://green.sba.gov) providing a consolidated way for small businesses to look for Department of the Navy opportunities. 

Small businesses are essential to our success.  They are agile, innovative, and “hungry.” However, when we talk to small and mid-size business owners and employees we are frequently challenged about why we must have so much information that is only tangentially related to the end product.  At SMART this week, one co-owner, literally a mom-and-pop business that offers laboratory equipment and micro-electromechanical systems, told me she was somewhat intimidated looking at the scope of what it will take to respond to requests and execute a contract with us.  Still, it was her and her husband’s second year attending SMART and they are preparing to do business with us.  Our deputy in NAWCAD Small Business was able to meet with them and give information and advice to help them get their foot in the door.  While we must comply with the laws, we try not to make it any more challenging than it has to be and the NAWCAD Office of Small Business Programs is here to assist.

As I’ve said to many folks during this Centennial of Naval Aviation year, we should remember that the first contract for a Navy aircraft was with a small business run by a former motorcycle racer named Glenn Curtiss. 

In a typical year NAWCAD contracts with small businesses for about $1.5 billion worth of goods and services.  Here are samples of some recent awards:

• NAWCAD Lakehurst: $66.8M to small businesses on several contracts for R&D and support services, boresight adapters, aerostats and Persistent Ground Surveillance System components.
   
•  NAWCTSD: $6.9M for 60 Meter Off-Shore Support Vessel to a small business in Virginia Beach, VA; $2.4M for modification upgrade of CH-53 training devices to a small business in Orlando, FL; $1.4M for modification upgrades to training devices to a small business in Broken Arrow, OK.
   
• NAWCAD Pax: $276K to small business for logistics support services; $100K for engineering, technical and program management support services; and a $463K Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Phase III contract for anti-tamper development and manufacture.

Looking for more information?  At the NAWCAD home page click on the “Partnering With Us” tab then scroll down to the link for the Office of Small Business Programs (OSBP).  That will get you started. 

By the way, NAWCAD holds over 50 active patents and we’ll be happy to consider licensing those to businesses who want to apply the technology. 

– RM