Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD) Deputy for Small Business Kris Parker speaks with II Corps Consultants, Inc., executive Earnest King at the command's Small Business Opportunities Fair and Conference. NSWCDD received the 2012 Office of Small Business Programs Sarkis Tatigian award for outstanding small business programs by a Naval Sea Systems Command field activity, the NAVSEA Small Business Programs Office announced May 22. “We create an organizational climate that advances small business opportunities through well-managed small business programs and challenging initiatives,” said Parker.
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division has earned the 2012 Office of Small Business Programs Sarkis Tatigian award for outstanding small business programs by a Naval Sea Systems Command field activity, NAVSEA announced May 22.
“This is a very significant award which represents leadership's commitment and outstanding execution by your acquisition team,” said Seán Crean, director of the NAVSEA Small Business Programs Office in a correspondence to Capt. Michael Smith, NSWCDD commander.
The award is named after NAVSEA Small Business Associate Director Sarkis Tatigian who has served the Navy for more than 70 years, primarily as a civil servant since leaving active duty shortly after World War II.
“We create an organizational climate that advances small business opportunities through well-managed small business programs and challenging initiatives,” said Kris Parker, NSWCDD deputy for small business. “This honor is the direct result of four factors that empower our small business programs to success.”
The first factor is the command’s success at exceeding the annual Department of Defense small business percentage goal for the past five fiscal years by an average of 3.7 percent.
The command exceeds the annual DoD small business program goals by ensuring small businesses are considered from the earliest stages of acquisition pre-planning through the award, said Parker.
The second factor he cited is the command small business program's outstanding performance, especially in training and outreach.
“Training provided to contract personnel and contracting officer representatives increased awareness of our small business program, initiatives and outreach opportunities,” said Parker. “Outreach initiatives include face-to-face meetings and counseling sessions with small business entities, averaging 83 individual sessions per year, enabling their awareness of small business opportunities at Dahlgren, the Navy, and DoD at large.”
The third enabling factor is a strategy to issue pre-solicitation announcements for advance notice to industry about upcoming opportunities.
“Wherever possible, we issue capabilities requests to locate capable small business entities and provide greater awareness for technical and acquisition professionals for potential small business participation,” said Parker. “These efforts have resulted in a number of large efforts being broken up and specific areas being set-aside for small business.”
The fourth factor is the command’s acquisition process development team, chartered in May 2012, that Parker credits with fostering a culture to continually cultivate a myriad of small business initiatives and opportunities.
NAVSEA and its warfare center divisions can assist small businesses, including veteran-owned, service-disabled veteran-owned, HUBZone, small disadvantaged, and women-owned small business concerns in marketing their products and services to NAVSEA.
Small business owners, partners and executives are encouraged to visit the following DoD, Navy, NAVSEA, and NSWCDD websites regarding programs for small businesses:
-- DoD Office of Small Business Programs: http://www.acq.osd.mil/osbp
-- Department of the Navy Office of Small Business Programs: http://www.donhq.navy.mil/OSBP
-- NAVSEA business opportunities webpage: http://www.navsea.navy.mil/Organization/Business%20Opportunities.aspx
-- NSWCDD small business webpage: http://www.navsea.navy.mil/nswc/dahlgren/SBI/
NSWCDD is a premier research and development center that serves as a specialty site for weapon system integration. The command’s unique ability to rapidly introduce new technology into complex warfighting systems is based on its longstanding competencies in science and technology, research and development, and test and evaluation.