IT’S ALL IN THE DELIVERY
Pinson led OSBP from 1995 until mid- 2014, when she retired to go to work for the Small/Diverse Business & Strategic Alliances unit at Boeing Defense, Space & Security. Shortly after her retirement from public service,
she was diagnosed
with cancer and died in December 2014. During her tenure, the share of total Army contracting dollars awarded to small business increased from 25 percent to 32 percent.
Perhaps most notable was her impact on service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses (SDVOSBs). She launched the National Veteran Small Business Confer- ence and Expo in 2005, which grew to become the biggest event of its kind and led the Army in exceeding the statutory 3 percent contracting goal for SDVOSBs for the first time in 2012. Marks said of his predecessor, “Tose are some tough stilet- tos to put my feet in and follow.”
We interviewed Marks on Oct. 20 2015, shortly after the Association of the United States Army (AUSA) Annual Meeting & Exposition, at which OSBP held its third Army Small Business Seminar.
Army AL&T: You’ve been on the job with the Army Office of Small Business Programs since April 2015, so you’re the new kid on the block. Do you fore- see changing direction in any way? For example, some of your stated priorities are outreach to small businesses and increased internal business
involvement
advocacy for small in
what else should we stay tuned for?
Marks: Let me start by saying this: Number one, what I inherited from my predecessor, Ms. Tracey Pinson, was really a solid foundation for the Army, which has led the small business commu- nity in DOD for years.
contracting—
I’m not changing anything, really. I’m just emphasizing what senior leadership— which includes [Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology (ASA(ALT)] Ms. [Heidi] Shyu, as our acquisition executive—and the Army look for us to do: focus on the four pillars of mission, compliance, out- reach and training, which is in line with Better Buying Power.
So, added to that, what we’re trying to do is establish some in-house training that will be provided both to industry
and to our acquisition professionals— including the latest legislative updates affecting small businesses, which are a moving target sometimes. (See “Training Possibilities.”)
Army AL&T: What is the return on investment for the Army Office of Small Business Programs?
In the discussion
at AUSA regarding the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR, rhymes with
“fibber”) program, it was said that the taxes paid by Qualcomm, which got its start as a SBIR, could fund the program. Do you consider the Army Office of Small Business Programs a “profit center” for the Army or the government?
TRAINING POSSIBILITIES
Here are some of the topics on which the Army OSBP is contemplating in-house training for industry and the acquisition workforce.
• Using the federal procurement system as a market research tool for small businesses.
• Army OSBP website tools. • Army Procurement 101. • Effective proposal writing.
• Women-owned small busi- ness program basics.
• Long-range acquisi- tion forecast.
• Army command spotlight. • Mentor-protégé program. • HUBZone utilization. • 8(a) training series.
• Small business profes- sional boot camp.
Marks: Well, I think when you couch it in those terms, return on investment, that’s really what everyone is looking for, and, of course, we’re not a profit center in the government.
But the return on investment can be
defined as other than just profit centers. So, for us, the industrial base—which is most important to our mission support in order for our warfighters to do their mission—is where we look for return on investment. Do we have the right mix of companies that can come to the table and do the things that we need done to provide those weapon systems, those services and the maintenance that covers the weapon systems after production? Small businesses take part in that. So that’s really the foundation.
It’s not that we just give contracts to them. What we do is ensure that those small businesses with the right capa- bilities, that can support our mission requirements, get a fair shot at provid- ing their products and services to the Army. (See Figure 1, Page 19, for a breakdown of small business spending by portfolio.)
16
Army AL&T Magazine
January-March 2016
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