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Small Business Training Week
Small Business Training Week is an annual premier training event sponsored by the Defense Department’s Office of Small Business Programs. It is specifically designed for members of the department’s acquisition workforce.
The event took place in Baltimore last month and attracted over 700 attendees from 72 agencies representing 45 states. The participants engaged in skill-building workshops that covered a wide range of topics, including enhanced acquisition strategies, legislative and regulatory updates, and leveraging small businesses like HUBZone, small disadvantaged businesses, and women-owned small businesses to rebuild the defense industrial base.
More than 30 speakers, including leaders from the DOD, the White House, the Small Business Administration, General Services Administration, and the Minority Business Development Agency, shared their expertise during the event.
Highlights of the Event
Farooq Mitha, director of DOD’s Office of Small Business Programs, delivered a briefing on DOD’s small business strategy and objectives. He outlined three main objectives:
- Create more opportunities
- Align small business with defense and national security mission objectives
- Provide more resources to small businesses
Mitha expressed excitement about the partnerships formed at the event to achieve these objectives. He also highlighted the progress made in making the Mentor-Protégé Program permanent, which had been a successful pilot program since 1990.
Additionally, Mitha discussed the 96 APEX accelerator locations that serve as the front doors to industry, providing technical assistance to businesses interested in selling products or services to federal, state, and local governments. He also provided an update on the Market Research Center of Excellence, which aims to support a streamlined process for requirements inception, supplier identification, and market research report creation.
Training Highlights
The training agenda consisted of more than 30 general and breakout sessions that covered a wide range of topics. These included specific programs and hot topics such as facility clearances, small business risk, subcontracting plans, and intellectual property.
Attendees expressed their satisfaction with the training sessions. For example, Bianca Henderson, director of the Naval Facilities Engineering Command Office of Small Business Programs, highlighted the importance of in-person training to better understand small business programs and engagement. She particularly looked forward to learning about the change from PTACs to APEX Accelerators.
DOD Small Business Vanguard Awards
The event also recognized the winners of the 8th annual Vanguard Awards, which honor the exemplary contributions of defense acquisition individuals, teams, and component organizations in promoting small business participation in defense acquisitions.
The recipients of the 2023 Vanguard Awards for performance during the period of Oct. 1, 2021, through Sept. 30, 2022, were:
- Revolutionary Leadership Award: Myaleca R. Malone, Department of the Air Force
- Tracey L. Pinson Small Business Professional of the Year Award: Heather I. Scherer, Army Materiel Command
- Small Business Innovation Research Award: Army Applications Laboratory, Army Futures Command
- Verdure Award: Defense Threat Reduction Agency
- Vanguard Award: Department of the Air Force Office of Small Business Programs
