Text/HTML

Small Business News

Arlington, VA –

Greetings from Small Business Training Week (SBTW24) in Chicago where 800+ federal small business and acquisition professionals convened for a week-long intensive training event.

Next week we will have a recap of SBTW24, and as National Small Business Week wraps up we extend a hearty congratulations to the Vanguard Award Winners who were recognized at a luncheon here on Wednesday.

Established in 2015, the DoD Small Business Vanguard Awards Program recognizes the exceptional contributions of the Department's small business professionals and members of the acquisition community that influence small business participation in Defense procurements. The awards process is managed on behalf of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment (USD(A&S)) by the Director, Office of Small Business Programs (OSBP).

The nominees selected for the awards demonstrated excellence and significantly contributed to the small business mission during the period of October 1, 2022 through September 30, 2023. This year's winners are:

Revolutionary Leadership Award: Thaddeus L. Martin, Director, U.S. Army Materiel Command
Tracy L. Pinson Small Business Professional of the Year Award: Paul Ward, United States Army Special Operations Command, OSBP
Verdure Award: California National Guard Contracting Enterprise
Vanguard Award: Department of the Navy Office of Small Business Programs

DoD Small Business News

Get even more small business news from defense.gov.

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.