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Small Business News

Small Business News

News | Nov. 17, 2023

Spotlight: Empowering Native-owned Businesses

By Suzanne Zurn DoD Office of Small Business Programs

November 2023  –  

The Indian Incentive Program (IIP) fosters new opportunities for Indian organizations, Indian-owned economic enterprises, or Native Hawaiian small business concerns. Established in 1997 under the Indian Financing Act of 1974, the IIP seeks to be an economic multiplier by motivating government contractors to use their best efforts to give Native-owned businesses the greatest opportunity to participate in federal contracts. IIP incentivizes prime contractors by providing them with a five percent rebate on subcontracted work performed by Native-owned businesses, in accordance with the governing program regulation (DFARS Clause 252.226- 7001).

Benefits of the IIP include: economic multiplier for Native communities; expansion of industrial base with Native-owned businesses; promotion of a secure and diverse industrial base; introducing healthy competition for growing companies; and boosting economic growth through subcontract generation.

DoD Small Business News

OSBP and NIST Partner for Small Businesses

The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) Office of Small Business Programs (OSBP), the principal advisor to the Secretary of Defense on small business matters, and  U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership Program (MEP) signed a memorandum of agreement on May 02, 2021 to collaborate on strengthening the national security of the small business industrial base.

The new partnership links two DOD organizations with a common mission to assist small businesses and  to achieve shared objectives:

  • Provide training and technical support to small-and-medium U.S. manufacturers engaged or planning to engage with the defense sector.
  • Promote and co-sponsor joint training events beneficial to national security, with an emphasis on cybersecurity for defense manufacturing.
  • Establish direct and consistent relationships at multiple organizational levels within both Parties to document and share complementary assistance best practices.  
  • Develop clear objectives, benchmarks and goals to measure success, added value, and synergy of collaborations between NIST MEP and OUSD(A&S) OSBP.

The OSBP and NIST partnership enables more DOD collaboration and support of small and medium manufacturers (SMMs). They will Collaborate to support the ongoing development and security of the Defense and Industrial Base.

This partnership will combine OSBP’s expertise in leveraging small businesses to close capability gaps for our armed forces with the MEP National Network.  The MEP operational base provides an opportunity for OUSD(A&S) OSBP to serve as a resource for the MEP Program of MEP Centers engages defense sector and defense-relevant manufacturing clients to promote and provide technologies, prototypes and products for National Security missions.