More than 225 representatives of technology-focused small businesses joined a webinar, Oct. 23, to learn the ins and outs of the contracting process for awards through the Office of Naval Research.
Alonzie Scott III, Director, Mission Support, welcomed the participants, urging them to stick around for some valuable insight on how to move forward with their proposals for Broad Agency Announcements (BAA).
“I’m really excited that we have all these folks from the different commands within the ONR portfolio and our small business folks online today,” he said. “I’m very, very excited that PTAC [Procurement Technical Assistance Center] got involved with us and look forward to having a fantastic webinar.”
The Office of Small Business (OSB) at ONR initiated the webinar with the help of Virginia PTAC, an APEX Accelerator program that is partially funded through the Department of Defense (DoD) and administered by George Mason University. Lisa Wood, statewide director of the Virginia PTAC, moderated the event after giving an overview of the PTAC program, which offers free training and counseling to current and potential government contracting companies.
The PTAC program has about 100 offices across the United States so the Virginia PTAC covers just the state. However, Ellen Simonoff, director, Office of Small Business Programs, said the webinar, ““R&D Business Opportunities for Small Biz with ONR” was open to any U.S. based small company and it was heavily promoted in the weeks leading up to the webinar.
Judging from the amount of questions asked – and answered – during the two-hour webinar, Simonoff said she believed many of the participants were getting answers for the first time about how to do business with ONR.
“Working with a government agency can be difficult for any company so imagine how daunting it must be for a small business to figure out not just the paperwork involved, but how to fill it out properly in order to win a government contract” she said.
“That’s why the Office of Small Business Programs (OSBP) and SBIR exists at ONR. And programs like PTAC. But before a small business can take advantage of these avenues – they have to know about them,” Simonoff said. “I’m engaging industry and I’m trying to engage ONR program officers with the idea of using small business when the ONR mission is supported. So I’m an influencer.” she said.
That influence appears to be working. The webinar featured presentations from all five ONR departments about their research and development, and what programs or projects that may be open to opportunities for small business. ONR representatives included department leads from Ocean Battlespace Sensing; Warfighter Performance; Naval Air Warfare and Weapons; Sea Warfare and Weapons; Command, Control, Computing, Communications, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance and Targeting.
The Naval Research Laboratory Small Business Office, the Department of the Navy Technology Transfer Program, and Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) also participated in the webinar.
Although the webinar focused heavily on research and development, Simonoff said there are two streams of contracts for small business at ONR – science and technology, and support services. While the webinar offered information about both types, science and technology services were emphasized, as well as where to find information online about funding opportunities.
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ONR’s Office of Small Business Programs advises contracting officials and program managers, as well as small businesses owners, on the contracting process for small business awards. It advocates and advises on behalf of small business contracts, including those of small, disadvantaged businesses, historically underutilized businesses (HUBZone), veteran-owned small businesses, service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses, women-owned and minority-owned small businesses.
For more information about identifying and contracting with small business, contact Ellen Simonoff, director, Office of Small Business Programs. ONR.SmallBiz@us.navy.mil