Georgia Tech Procurement Assistance Center

March 28th webinar to address how small businesses can support US DOT’s research needs

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The United States Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU) is inviting small businesses to participate in a webinar on the Department’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program.  The webinar will be held on Thursday, March 28, 2019 at 2:00 pm (EDT).

Here’s what participants will learn:

  • How you can apply your expertise and support U.S. DOT’s research goals through SBIR.
  • Updates on the Department’s FY19 SBIR solicitation.
  • How the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) participate in the SBIR program.

U.S. DOT’s SBIR program has awarded $50 million during the past five years to small businesses. Webinar participants will be able to hear from U.S. DOT SBIR program managers about their agency’s research needs and how they use the SBIR program.

Please confirm your participation by registering clicking this link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/QGFYB9Q no later than COB Monday, March 25, 2019.   By close of business Tuesday, March 26, 2019 registrants will receive an email communication with instructions on how to join the webinar.

U.S. DOT’s SBIR Program Director Rachael Sack, along with the FHWA R&T Program Development & Partnership Team Director Jack Jernigan, and FRA SBIR Program Manager Jeffrey Gordon, will be in attendance.  Please make your reservation through the link above as space is very limited.

If you have any questions, or concerns, please call Mr. Duphresne at 202-366-9507. You can also reach the Office of Small Disadvantaged Business Utilization at 202-366-1930.

Camden County’s development authority to host event for prospective submarine suppliers

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A submarine supplier recruitment event will be held May 1 and 2, 2019 at the Jekyll Island Convention Center.

The conference is being hosted by the Camden County Joint Development Authority and sponsored by the Submarine Industrial Base Council (SIBC) which represents 5,000 companies in nearly all 50 States producing components used to manufacture two Virginia-class attack submarines per year.

Suppliers who are interested in learning more about opportunities associated with the upcoming construction of the Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine are encouraged to attend.

This event is particularly appropriate for:

  • Established manufacturing companies in the Southeastern region with experience fulfilling Department of Defense (DoD) contracts for Mil-Spec manufactured components.
  • Established companies without DoD contract experience are also encouraged to attend in order to learn how to become a sub tier supplier to a SIBC supplier and expand the market share for your products.

Features of the supplier conference include a panel session featuring representatives from General Dynamics-Electric Boat and Huntington Ingalls Industries-Newport News Shipbuilding and a panel consisting of several existing SIBC suppliers in the Southeast Region.  Each panel will discuss the unique requirements and challenges potential suppliers will face and the process to become a component supplier.

Complete details, including registration, can be found at: https://spark.adobe.com/page/ezcqkBTaqfhff/

Fort Stewart to hold acquisition open house on April 4th

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Fort Stewart is inviting interested vendors to attend a “Forecast Forum” on April 4, 2019 to meet with units and representatives of the Mission Installation Contracting Command (MICC) about this year’s anticipated contracting opportunities.

The event will be held at  the SFC Paul R. Smith Education Center, 100 Knowledge Drive, Fort Stewart, GA 31313.  Fort Stewart is located just a few miles southwest of Savannah.

Pre-registration may be accomplished in any one of the following three ways:

Sign-in for the event begins at 8:00 am.  The event itself runs from 8:30 am until 12:00 noon.

Very important location and access information: This event is located outside Gate 1, so no gate access required.  Make a right turn onto General Stewart Way and a left onto Knowledge Drive.

If you have a Military or Civilian ID or CAC Card, you can gain access to Fort Stewart through any gate.  If you do not, visitors can gain access to the Fort only through Gate 1 where you will need to show current driver’s license, auto registration, and auto insurance.  Also, extra time should be allowed for vehicle inspection.  No speeding on the installation.  Use of non-hands-free cell phones while driving on Fort Stewart is illegal.

DARPA’s pilot project aims to increase funding opportunities in SBIR and STTR programs

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Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) are the principal set-aside programs for small business participation in federal research and development funding, yet the requirements for administering and managing these programs have not changed significantly in decades.

To keep pace with discovery in science and technology worldwide, DARPA now intends to release SBIR/STTR opportunities on an out-of-cycle basis, separate from the three pre-determined announcements traditionally issued directly through the Department of Defense (DoD). The change is expected to reduce the overall time from opportunity announcement to contract award.

Prior to the change, the timeline for SBIR/STTR funding opportunities was managed independently of DARPA’s primary technology programs, which resulted in small businesses being isolated from the benefits associated with integration into established program communities. Under the terms of the pilot program, however, DARPA will institute timesaving measures to speed program integration, such as Direct to Phase II authority, which allows the agency to bypass Phase I research requirements once performers provide satisfactory documentation of feasibility, and/or proof of scientific merit, technical merit, and commercialization potential.

DARPA will also seek to identify SBIR/STTR Phase II awardees with a compelling go-to-market strategy for participation in a newly created commercialization accelerator. The DARPA accelerator will provide additional funding to employ one entrepreneur-in-residence or business development lead who will offer the awardee direct support for activities including, but not limited to, customer engagement planning, market analysis and mapping, competitive analysis, techno-economic analysis, IP securement strategy development, and financial plan creation.

“It’s essential to change our acquisition practices to mirror the commercial marketplace if we hope to attract revolutionary companies that normally avoid working with the federal government,” said Dr. Steven Walker, director of DARPA. “This move will provide DARPA the flexibility to operate at a much faster pace than traditional SBIR/STTR contracting cycles have historically allowed.”

Congress established the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program in 1982 to provide opportunities for small businesses to participate in federal government-sponsored research and development. Since that time, DARPA has leveraged SBIR awards to promote and sustain small business innovation as well as foster the development and transition of critical national security capabilities.

Full details regarding DARPA’s SBIR/STTR programs and associated Broad Agency Announcements are available at: https://www.darpa.mil/work-with-us/for-small-businesses.

Source: https://www.darpa.mil/news-events/2019-03-01

See DARPA’s 10 focus areas for small businesses here: https://www.nextgov.com/emerging-tech/2019/03/darpa-highlights-10-focus-areas-innovative-small-businesses/155279/

Here are the Georgia businesses who won federal contracts in Jan. 2019

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Ever wonder who’s winning federal contracts in Georgia?
Wouldn’t this information be helpful if you are looking for subcontracting prospects?  Or when you’re trying to figure out who your competitors are?  Or when considering who might be a good partner on an upcoming bid proposal?

federal-contract-award-winners-in-georgiaEach and every month, the Georgia Tech Procurement Assistance Center (GTPAC) compiles and publishes a list of federal contracts awarded to Georgia businesses.  The list comes complete with point-of-contact information on the awardees, the name of the awarding agency, the dollar value of the contract, and much more.

Download details on the federal contract award winners in Georgia during JANUARY 2019 right here: FEDERAL CONTRACT AWARDS IN GEORGIA – JAN. 2019

Earlier years are archived below:

To see award winners in Calendar Year 2018, see: https://gtpac.org/2019/01/02/here-are-the-georgia-businesses-who-won-federal-contracts-in-2018

To see award winners in Calendar Year 2017, see: http://gtpac.org/2018/01/01/here-are-the-georgia-businesses-who-won-federal-contracts-in-2017

To see award winners in Calendar Year 2016, see: http://gtpac.org/2017/01/02/here-are-the-georgia-businesses-who-won-federal-contracts-in-2016

To see award winners in Calendar Year 2015, see: http://gtpac.org/2016/01/04/here-are-the-georgia-businesses-who-won-federal-contracts-in-2015

To see award winners in Calendar Year 2014, see: http://gtpac.org/2015/01/here-are-the-georgia-companies-who-won-federal-contracts-in-2014 

DoD is now taking applications for 2019’s Rapid Innovation Fund

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The Department of Defense has opened applications for the 2019 edition of its Rapid Innovation Fund (RIF) — a program that offers up to $3 million in funding for “innovative technologies” that “meet critical national security needs.”

The defense agency posted its broad agency announcement on FedBizOpps on Jan. 11, 2019 and will be taking white paper submissions until March 8, 2019.

What’s the DOD looking for?

Per the announcement, the agency is seeking tech solutions to support the ambitions of the National Defense Strategy.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.fedscoop.com/rapid-innovation-fund-2019/

Gain insights into this development by visiting resources posted at https://gtpac.org/training-video from GTPAC’s Jan. 14th Defense Innovation Conference.

See an explanation of DoD’s Rapid Innovation Fund (RIF) at: https://business.defense.gov/Programs/RIF/

String of infrastructure investments underway hints at big 2019

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Infrastructure work may be heating up again with whisperings of President Donald Trump’s administration reinitiating the $1 trillion infrastructure plan promised during his 2016 presidential campaign. The administration claims to be willing to increase the federal share of the infrastructure program significantly from the 20% referenced in previous iterations — a move that may draw Democrats back into negotiations.

Whether federal legislation will come to fruition or not in 2019, investments nonetheless are being made in the space. A December Wall Street Journal analysis of state and local revenue collection and spending found that public agencies are increasing their infrastructure investments and making headway on long-delayed projects. Much of that money is tax revenue stemming from increased consumer spending.

Although it’s hard to predict what 2019 may bring, Construction Dive has rounded up some of the biggest infrastructure initiatives already underway across North America as the year begins.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.constructiondive.com/news/string-of-infrastructure-investments-underway-hints-at-big-2019/545131/

Here’s how technology vendors can navigate the legislative branch

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Congress can be a difficult place for technology vendors to do business.

The legislative branch’s “unique, fragmented and opaque rules” set a barrier to entry that can keep even vendors with experience in other areas of government out of the loop. But a new white paper from Future Congress aims to lay out the rules of the road for vendors and civic hackers who’d like to help Congress function better.

The paper gives a little information on everything from the governance structure of IT in the House and Senate to the acquisition rules and practices that govern the $288 million in IT spending Congress does each year.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.fedscoop.com/future-congress-tech-vendor-white-paper/

State, local governments using higher revenues to increase infrastructure spending

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According to a Wall Street Journal analysis of state and local revenue collection and spending, public agencies are increasing their infrastructure investments and making a dent in projects that have been on back burners for many years.

A strong economy has resulted in an increase in consumer spending, and all that new tax revenue is helping to drive not only infrastructure spending but municipal borrowing as well. In fact, according to October 2018 data, the latest available from the Commerce Department, total state and local construction spending — based on a seasonal adjusted annual rate — was up 9.7% from October 2017 to more than $288 billion. Commercial construction was up the most year over year at 62%, followed by amusement and recreation (30%), water supply (22%), public safety (18%) and transportation infrastructure (15%). Tax revenue, adjusted for inflation, grew by 6% in the second quarter of 2018 from the second quarter of 2017, according to a Tax Policy Center report.

Year-to-date state and local government borrowing through October 2018 was up 19% from the same period in 2017, driven in part by a desire to take advantage of current interest rates in case they continue to increase. The pipeline of publicly funded construction projects, including those much-needed upgrades and repairs that have been shelved due to a previous lack of money, according to the newspaper, could make up for potential industry slowdowns.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.constructiondive.com/news/state-local-governments-using-higher-revenues-to-increase-infrastructure-s/544741/

Air Force to host first small business pitch day, with $40 million up for grabs

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Like departments and agencies throughout government, the Air Force is tuning its acquisition methods to get closer the speed of technology, and will be holding its first live pitch day in March, with an available funding pool of $40 million.

The Air Force’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program has issued a call to start-ups and small businesses—those with fewer than 500 employees—to offer pitches on innovative technologies for secure communications, down-range battlefield operations and digital technologies.

“Mind-blowing ideas are being birthed in U.S. start-up companies, but the Pentagon largely misses out on them,” Will Roper, assistant secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, said in a release announcing the pitch day. “We have to do business at the speed of ideas so we can both inspire and accelerate start-up creativity towards national security challenges. The only way we’re going to do that is by making sure partnering with the Air Force is easy and energizing.”

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/emerging-tech/2019/01/air-force-host-first-small-business-pitch-day-40-million-grabs/154114/

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