Department of Defense News Release (March 28, 2007): Department of Defense hosts 2007 Mentor-Protege Conference and presents Nunn-Perry Awards.Department of Defense large prime contractors and small businesses that participate in the DoD Mentor-Protege Program recently joined DoD representatives at the 2007 Mentor-Protege Conference in Temecula, Calif., March 5-8.The conference provided an opportunity to share ideas and celebrate 17 years of success. More than 500 attendees received information on initiating a mentor-protege agreement, ways to overcome challenges, best practices, and rules and regulations pertaining to DoD contracting and procurement. Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Technology James 1. Finley delivered the keynote address March 6 focusing on the theme "Building Strategic Partnerships for National Defense." When the Mentor-Protege Program began in 1991, there was only one mentor-protege agreement. Now industry participants have formed nearly 1,000 more agreements. The scope of the program now includes women-owned, Service-disabled veteran-owned, and historically underutilized business zone concerns. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In a recent Web-based survey of 48 former proteges conducted by the Government Accountability Office The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is the audit, evaluation, and investigative arm of the United States Congress, and thus an agency in the Legislative Branch of the United States Government. , most reported that the program was a valuable experience that enhanced their business development and helped increase their contracts and revenues. Verifying the value of the Mentor-Protege Program, 98 percent of the proteges reported that they would recommend the program to other eligible small businesses. Presently, more than 230 firms participate in the program, representing the manufacturing, service, construction, and research and development industries. DoD honored eight mentor-protege teams, consisting of large DoD contractors (mentors) and their small business proteges. The acting director for the DoD Office of Small Business Programs, Linda B. Oliver, presented each team with the 2007 Nunn-Perry Award on March 7 during the conference. The winning teams represent six different states and almost all of the small business sub-groups, including women-owned small businesses, Service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses, and Native American-owned small businesses. This year's winners are the following mentor-protege teams: * Jacobs Engineering Group Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. (NYSE: JEC), a publicly traded company with annual revenues approaching $7 billion, provides professional technical services. Headquartered in Pasadena, CA, Jacobs offers support to industrial, commercial, and government clients across multiple Inc. and Cabrera Services Inc. * Lockheed Martin MS2 and Epsilon Systems Solutions Inc., Products Sector * Lockheed Martin MS2 and Geodetics Inc. * Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control Lockheed Martin Missiles & Fire Control (LM MFC) is a Lockheed Martin business unit based in the Dallas suburb of Grand Prairie, Texas. The unit's offensive and defensive arsenal includes air-to-air and air-to-ground missiles, naval rockets and missiles, fire control and sensor and R & D Electronics Inc. * Northrop Grumman and Hi-Tech Electronic Manufacturing Inc. * Raytheon Missile Systems Raytheon Missile Systems Company is a subsidiary of Raytheon Company. Headquartered in Tucson, Arizona, its president is Louise Francesconi. Formerly, known as Hughes Missile Systems Company before acquired by Raytheon Company The division's products include: * Science Applications International Corporation and Oak Grove Technologies LLC (Logical Link Control) See "LANs" under data link protocol. LLC - Logical Link Control * Science Applications International Corp. and Oberon Associates Inc. In addition to the winning teams, the DoD honored 12 historically black colleges and universities/minority institutions, and procurement technical assistance centers with a brand new award. The award honored the dedication of the following institutions to the mentor-protege program: Alabama A & M University; California State University Enrollment  , Long
Beach; Central Missouri State University Missouri State University is a state university located in Springfield, Missouri. It is the state's second largest university in student enrollment, second only to the University of Missouri. From 1972 to 2005, Missouri State was known as Southwest Missouri State University. ; Florida International
University Florida International University, primarily at University Park, Miami; coeducational; chartered 1965, opened 1972. A research university, it has 18 colleges and schools and many specialized centers and institutes, including those in biomedical engineering, database ; George Mason University Named after American revolutionary, patriot and founding father George Mason, the university was founded as a branch of the University of Virginia in 1957 and became an independent institution in 1972. , Mason Enterprise Center; J.F. Drake
Technical College; North Carolina Central University HistoryNCCU was chartered in 1909 and opened in 1910 as the National Religious Training School and Chautauqua under the leadership of President James E. Shepard. ; Prairie View A & M University; Southern University and A & M College; Southwestern College; The University of Texas at El Paso The University of Texas at El Paso, popularly known as UTEP, is a public, coeducational university, and it is a member of the University of Texas System. The school is located on the northern bank of the Rio Grande, in El Paso, Texas, and is the largest university in the ; and Tuskegee University. In January the review panel for the Nunn-Perry Award recommended eight teams for the award. The basis evaluation was based on how well each mentor-protege team worked together to achieve cost-efficiencies, enhance technical capabilities, and increase DoD prime contracting and subcontracting opportunities for small business. One hundred nine other mentor-protege teams have been honored with Nunn-Perry Awards since 1995. The Nunn-Perry Award is named in honor of former Sen. Sam Nunn and former Secretary of Defense William Perry. For additional information on the program, call 800-540-8857, visit online at <http://www.acq.osd.mil/osbp/mentor_protege/>, or send an e-mail to programinformationmp@osd.mil. |
|
||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion