Air Force pushes "Beyond Goals" for small firms.Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne Michael W. Wynne is the Secretary of the Air Force, Washington, D.C., U.S.. Biography Born in Clearwater, Florida and raised in Melbourne, Florida.[1] Younger brother of 1st Lt. has endorsed a new drive to meet the 23% small business procurement The fancy word for "purchasing." The procurement department within an organization manages all the major purchases. goal. The initiative, called "Beyond Goals," is spearheaded by Ron Poussard, director of small business programs. In a letter to major commands, Wynne said the Air Force has awarded 15% to 17% of its prime contract dollars to small firms in recent years. In contrast, he said operational commands have sent 40% to 75% of their dollars to small contractors. However, many of those commands declined in 2007. "While our major systems acquisitions do not lend themselves to small business prime contracts, we can and must do more across our entire acquisition portfolio to grow and strengthen the Air Force Small Business Program and improve our contribution to achieving DOD's [23%] goal," he wrote. At the February Air Force Small Business Conference in Destin, FL, Poussard said, "We don't exist to meet a goal. It is not about percentages. What happens to our customer if we hit our goal and feel we're done?" Writing in his office's newsletter, Poussard said, "A necessary step is to put small business solutions first in the Air Force initiative to regionalize re·gion·al·ize tr.v. re·gion·al·ized, re·gion·al·iz·ing, re·gion·al·iz·es To divide into regions, especially for administrative purposes. re installation contracting. A regionalized contracting structure is not good for small businesses, local businesses and Air Force installations unless we make it good for small business, local business and the installation. The Air Force plans to establish five regional centers that will handle most contracting for domestic installations. The first one stood up at Randolph Air Force Base Randolph Air Force Base (Randolph AFB) is a base of the United States Air Force located in Universal City, Texas, near San Antonio. Randolph AFB was dedicated in June 20, 1930, as a flying training base and continues in that mission today. It serves as headquarters of the U. , TX, to take over procurement for bases in Texas, New Mexico New Mexico, state in the SW United States. At its northwestern corner are the so-called Four Corners, where Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah meet at right angles; New Mexico is also bordered by Oklahoma (NE), Texas (E, S), and Mexico (S). and Arizona Arizona (âr'əzō`nə), state in the southwestern United States. It is bordered by Utah (N), New Mexico (E), Mexico (S), and, across the Colorado R., Nevada and California (W). . Four others will be established over the next four years at or near Langley Air Force Base Langley Air Force Base, U.S. military installation, 3,195 acres (1,293 hectares), SE Va., N of Hampton; est. 1917 and named for aviation pioneer Samuel P. Langley. in Virginia, Robins in Georgia, Scott in Illinois and Peterson in Colorado. Poussard said a new Small Business Solutions Center at Brooks-City Base, TX, will seek opportunities for small firms. |
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