Hundreds of business representatives from companies small and large descended on the Davidson Center for Space Exploration in Huntsville, Alabama, to attend the U.S. Army Engineering and Support Center’s annual Small Business Forum, Oct. 18.
The event provides an opportunity for small business representatives to discuss their capabilities with Huntsville Center contracting officials and program managers and learn about upcoming opportunities to work with the Corps of Engineers.
Networking gatherings like the annual Small Business Forum can provide valuable information that helps small businesses, program managers and contracting professionals identify needs and industry capabilities in support of Huntsville Center’s many programs.
In fiscal year 2017, Huntsville Center directed awards valued at more than $637 million to small businesses, many of these businesses were local to the Huntsville area, according to Rebecca Goodsell, Huntsville Center Office of Small Business chief.
Goodsell said Huntsville Center’s policy is focused on providing ‘maximum practicable’ prime and subcontracting opportunities to small firms.
That, she said directly impacts not only on the services Huntsville Center provides, but also on the success of women-owned small businesses, small disadvantaged businesses and service disabled veteran-owned small businesses.
“Small businesses are the economic growth engine for America,” Goodsell said. “Small businesses provide jobs, innovation and competition in industry.”
Small businesses represent 29.6 million companies in the U.S., create 63.3 percent of new jobs, export 34 percent of all U.S. exports, employ more than half of all private sector employees and generate more than half of our Gross Domestic Product, according to Goodsell
Col. John S. Hurley, Huntsville Center commander, opened the forum by telling those in attendance that the day’s events were fundamentally about finding ways for solving common problems.
“Engineering in my mind is just the process of coming up with nuanced and sophisticated solutions to the toughest problems before you,” Hurley said. “And that requires the entire team to do that. That requires the government. It requires industry. It requires large business. It requires small business.
“We’re counting on you to be great stakeholders and help us ask the right questions up front, help us make the right assumptions, and help us figure out what the nuanced and sophisticated solutions are,” Hurley said.
One of the collaborative solutions Huntsville Center employs to tackle engineering and acquisition challenges is via a holistic approach and the use and development of Project Delivery Teams, said Albert “Chip” Marin, Huntsville Center programs director.
“You’ll find the whole PDT sitting together, in a cubicle arrangement, so they all can hear the conversations that each is having day in and day out so they maintain situation awareness,” Marin said.
Col. Hurley left reminding the participants about what’s really at stake when business and industry come together to find the best and most fiscally sound ways to meet the Corps of Engineers and America’s unique engineering needs.
“At the end of the day there is a soldier, a sailor, an airman, a Marine, a family member, or a veteran at the back end of this counting on us to get the best quality at the best price,” Hurley said. “And you are an instrumental part of that work!”