On Wednesday, April 12, 2017, the FAA Small Business Development Program Group (SBDPG) held its 3rd Annual Small Business Industry Day outreach event at the Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center (MMAC) in Oklahoma City, OK. The event consisted of requirement briefings from eight of the Aeronautical Center’s major program and tenant organizations, including the eFAST Contracting Team (AAQ-430) from FAA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. Participants were offered a one-on-one matchmaking session with procurement officials, representing fourteen FAA program organizations, including the SBDPG (ACQ-21), eFAST (AAQ-430) and the Aeronautical Center Acquisition Divisions (AAQ-700 and 800).
Meeting appointments for the matchmaking session were scheduled in advance by request from the registered vendors. The attendance event consisted of 151 attendees, representing 95 small business concerns. Welcome remarks and greetings were provided by Michelle Coppedge, Director, FAA MMAC (AMC-1), and Kelvin Solco, Regional Administrator for the FAA Southwest Region (ASW-001), Ft. Worth, TX. The event was organized by Gerald A. Lewis, Sr. MMAC Small Business Liaison (ACQ-21), with assistance from Jeri Bird, Small Business Liaison (ACQ-21), Central Service Area, Ft. Worth, Texas, Aeronautical Center Acquisition Services Divisions (AAQ-700/800), and the MMAC Quality Systems and Business Resources Staff (AMC-3).
Since 2015, the FAA SBDPG has annually hosted Small Business Industry Day events throughout the Western, Central, and Eastern Service Areas, including locations such as the William J. Hughes Technical Center, the Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center, and FAA Headquarters. The feedback about this event has been outstanding. Spence Wharton of RX3 Communications, Inc. of Reno, NV wrote “I would like to thank you for all your efforts in putting this event together. Also Jeri was a good “gatekeeper” keeping us vendors under control at the match session! These meetings help us vendors understand not only the processes, but who is managing the projects we are interested in. Our challenge is finding out what you buy, how you buy it, and when it will be bought. And we know it’s not as simple as that!”
Last year, MMAC Contract expenditures totaled $405 Million (compared to a total agency expenditure of $4.3Billion) with 50% of those dollars going to Small Businesses compared to 29.40% nationally. The agency’s annual goal is 25%. Outreach activities such as this contribute to the attainment of the FAA Small Business Development Program Goals while providing transparency to our federal procurement process.
