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event, become a protégé rm to a successful mentor
to obtain business development support, engage their
local APEX Accelerator to get counseling and idenfy
contracng opportunies, compete for an SBIR or STTR
contract, and commercialize their technology with DoD
through support from RIF with help from small business
acquision preferences.
1.2. Train and Credential a Unied Small
Business Professional Workforce
Training the Department’s acquision workforce on
small business maers is a priority for senior acquision
leadership across the Department. An acquision
workforce with small business training increases the
Department’s ability to leverage small business specic
programs and authories for a wide variety of small
businesses to meet current mission objecves and
access crical innovave technologies, agile soluons,
and value-added improvements needed to develop and
advance warghter capability and infrastructure.
DoD has specially trained small business professionals
across the Department that contribute at all stages of
the acquision process to raise the visibility of small
business contribuons, capabilies, and experse. These
small business professionals assist acquision teams
with requirements generaon, solicitaon preparaon,
acquision strategy and plans, and other required
documentaon to ensure that appropriate priories
are given to small businesses, including non-tradional
small businesses and small businesses who are eligible
for acquision preferences. Small business professionals
conduct outreach to small businesses, large businesses,
nonprots, and academic instuons to facilitate strong
relaonships between the government stakeholders
and the small business community. They also assist
with market research and raise the visibility of how a
certain industry sector can contribute to all phases of
the acquision process. Small business professionals
execute and support small business programs, such as
the DoD MPP and SBIR/STTR programs, and advise on
small business preferences, priories, instruments, and
acvies of other DoD small business programs.
It is imperave that small business professionals
connue to parcipate in acquision strategy
development and peer reviews when appropriate.
This parcipaon supports idencaon of
commercializaon opportunies in future procurements
from programs such as SBIR, STTR, RIF and others and
increasing awareness for creang small business acvity
in consolidated acquisions. Although contracng
ocers are responsible for ensuring compliance
with acquision requirements for small business
parcipaon, the involvement of small business
professionals helps ensure that small business soluons
for defense missions are fully considered at the prime
and subcontracng levels and that the Department is
not overpaying for duplicave development, excessive
overhead, or unnecessary product or service oerings.
With the broad set of roles that small business
professionals play, they should be trained as a
professional community to ensure that small businesses
have the maximum praccal opportunity to parcipate
in DoD acquision and programs. Further investments
in small business training for the acquision workforce
would support and enhance the ability of the acquision
workforce to support small business.
1.3. Streamline Entry Points and Improve
Small Business Access to Decision-Makers
Small businesses today face a myriad of entry points
into the defense marketplace that are scaered
throughout the DoD Components. These entry points
are of varying quality, and the processes can be
confusing—an unnecessary challenge for a business that
is trying to understand where to go rst, who to contact,
and where to nd informaon on available programs
and opportunies. In addion, the Department also
ulizes a variety of procurement and non-procurement
instruments, such as contracts, grants, cooperave
agreements, Other Transacon Authories (OTAs), and
Cooperave Research and Development Agreements
(CRADAs), among others, each of which has dierent
qualicaon, compeon, and publicaon requirements.
DoD small business oces also receive unsolicited
proposals and capability statements and refer them to
appropriate contracng ocers and acquision program
managers for consideraon as appropriate.
With the many dierent opportunies and opons
available to small businesses, partnering with the
Department results in high search costs (i.e., takes
signicant me that many businesses do not have)
even for those companies with which the Department
has worked in the past, and an even higher cost for
new entrants. Small businesses are seeking help. In
accordance with 10 U.S.C. § 4901, DoD will ensure clear
idencaon of points of entry into the defense market
and ensure small businesses are able to have access to
program managers, contracng ocers, and end users,
to the extent necessary to inform these persons of
emerging and exisng small business capabilies.
The Department must priorize reducing barriers to
entry and high search costs for small businesses. A
focused strategic communicaons plan and outreach
will be a key objecve of this eort to address this
external confusion. The communicaons plan will
support the DoD Components and be targeted for
small businesses across the DIB to highlight market