The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is coming to Providence – and bringing its deep pockets along for the ride. The 5th Annual NASA Mentor-Protégé Conference will be held Tuesday, August 15, at the Rhode Island Convention Center. On Wednesday, August 16, the 9th Annual NASA Technology and Business Conference will be held at the Convention Center and on Thursday, August 17, the NASA ISO 9000 Conference and Workshop will be held at The Westin Providence.
For the first time, according to NASA, small, disadvantaged and women-owned businesses will learn how to do business hands-on with the federal agency.
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The conferences will feature one-on-one counseling sessions for small businesses with NASA prime contractors and small business specialists. In addition to the one-on-one sessions, panelists will discuss information technology (IT) opportunities with NASA.
At the Mentor-Protégé Conference, NASA will provide guidance on how small businesses may secure new business relationships. At the Technology and Business Conference, learning sessions will feature NASA Field Center representatives and help woman-owned business capitalize on opportunities. The ISO 9000 event will feature a mock audit, hands-on training, and case studies of ISO 9000 certified firms.
The series of conferences could mean big business for Rhode Island’s small businesses, disadvantaged businesses and women-owned businesses.
In fiscal year 1999, NASA awarded more prime and subcontract dollars to small businesses than at any time in its history – more than $3.2 billion, representing 30 percent of the agency’s total contract and subcontract dollars.
Prime and subcontracts to small disadvantaged businesses have more than doubled from $865 million in fiscal year 1992 to $1.76 billion in fiscal year 1999 representing 16.1 percent for small disadvantaged businesses, the highest in the agency’s history. During the same time period, according to NASA, the agency tripled prime and subcontract dollars to women-owned businesses from $156 million to $527 million.
Glenn W. Wright, director of small business development programs for the NASA Business Outreach Program, said the emphasis on doing business with small businesses come directly from the top, from NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin.
“When he arrived in 1992, Mr. Goldin recognized that small business was on the leading edge – and he wanted to bring that to NASA,” Wright said.
The result of that approach, said Wright, was the development of what has become a mantra at NASA, “cheaper, better, faster.”
And NASA, he said, has gone beyond any and all federal mandates. For example, Congress mandates a goal of 8 percent contracts with small disadvantaged businesses. Last year, 16 percent of NASA contracts were with such businesses.
Nowhere is that commitment clearer than with NASA’s Mentor-Protégé program. It is designed to enhance the capabilities of socially and economically disadvantaged businesses to perform NASA prime contracts and subcontracts.
The idea is for small, disadvantaged and women-owned businesses to get a leg up in securing contracts with NASA or the agency’s prime contractors.
Companies do so by partnering with existing contractors. Certain qualifications must be met, and the commitment must be taken seriously – but the rewards and long-term relationships can prove profitable.
NASA describes one key to success for the program this way: “One of the keys to a successful mentor-protégé relationship is flexibility. This must be exhibited by both sides. What exists today may not exist tomorrow, and each side must be prepared to adapt along the way. No matter how good the contract negotiations were in the beginning, things change. Companies must be prepared to accept that and use it to their advantage. The purpose of the program is to assist the protégé in developing skills, knowledge, and abilities in government contracting, specifically with NASA and in the area of high technology.”
Wright is hoping that Rhode Island businesses take advantage of the opportunities being presented to them during the series of three conferences. He said businesses should come away with the understanding that they can in fact do business with NASA and other federal agencies and that doing that kind of business makes good business sense.
“Doing business with a federal agency is no longer an arduous task,” he said.
