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SPAWAR to enhance outreach to local businesses
By Dan McCue
Staff Writer
The Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center in North Charleston is reaching out to technology businesses in the region interested in being considered for future subcontracting work with the agency.
The initiative, which is scheduled to formally begin May 1, stems from a partnership between SPAWAR, the Charleston Defense Contractors Association and the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association.
It will include a streamlining of businesses’ ability to communicate with SPAWAR online and quarterly sessions that will allow company officials to meet with agency technicians and representatives at locations in the community away from its secured facility.
“Small business is the backbone of our economy and a very important element in SPAWAR’s business model,” said Ann Howell, deputy of the agency’s small business program.
“On one level, this will provide a greater opportunity for us to do some networking with small technology companies in the area, (and) at the same time, I think our off-site programs will provide a great opportunity to educate local companies about doing business with SPAWAR and, by extension, with the federal government as a whole,” she said.
Howell and her staff are currently in the process of developing a “company-at-a-glance” online data sheet that will help small businesses communicate their qualifications for future contracting and subcontracting opportunities to the agency in a more efficient manner.
The quarterly sessions, held in various communities around Charleston, will also provide businesses with a second opportunity to communicate their qualifications to SPAWAR decision-makers and project supervisors.
But Howell, who recently received the Small Business Administration’s National Leadership Award, said the half-day sessions will, more importantly, provide small business owners with a form of basic training.
“One of the basic tenets of business is “know your customer,’” Howell said. “You’d be surprised how many people who contact us don’t really have a clue about what we do.”
In short, Howell said, “We buy information technology.”
Still, she doesn’t discourage any small business owners from attending the educational portion of SPAWAR’s off-site presentations.
“There is, in all this, a very big component of giving back to the community,” Howell said. “So by all means, we’re encouraging everybody to come for the training of topics ranging from how to write an adequate subcontracting plan, to marketing tips, to teaming approaches and government contracting success stories.”
For more information about the initiative and to find out when and where in-community sessions with SPAWAR representatives will be held, visit the agency’s Web site at http://sscc.spawar.navy.mil i>
Dan McCue is a staff writer for the Business Journal. E-mail him at dmccue@charlestonbusiness.com.
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