By Pacific Island Times News Staff
Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC) Pacific awarded over $1.87 billion in federal contracts to U.S. small businesses during the federal government’s fiscal year 2021. The amount represents more than 45 percent of NAVFAC’s total $4.17 billion in small business awards, exceeding all socioeconomic goals.
The $1.87 billion includes contract awards in the following categories, each of which exceeded individual command goals: Small Disadvantaged Business at $1.3 billion; Women Owned Small Business at $317 million; Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business at $159 million; and Historically Underutilized Business Zone at $614 million.
“While the COVID-19 pandemic had a devastating impact on the nation’s economy, the commitment and dedication shown by NAVFAC Pacific’s program managers, contracting professionals, field activities, and Small Business professionals and representatives made this achievement possible,” said NAVFAC Pacific Commander Rear Adm. Dean VanderLey. “It is evident that the team worked cohesively to overcome barriers for small business programs in order to meet our fiscal year 2021 goals.”
The NAVFAC Pacific Office of Small Business Programs mission is to maximize opportunities for small business, expand our industrial base, and stimulate competition to advance the Indo-Asia-Pacific Maritime Strategy by supporting of the Navy’s premier engineering and infrastructure experts in the Pacific. This is accomplished by ensuring we structure our acquisition strategies to reduce barriers for small businesses to participate as prime or subcontractors.
According to the Small Business Administration (SBA), the country’s nearly 30 million small businesses represent 99.9 percent of all U.S. businesses.
“Small businesses contribute to local economies by bringing in growth and innovation to the community in which the business is established,” said NAVFAC Pacific Deputy for Small Business Regina Pasqualucci. “In addition, small businesses tend to bring innovation and agility to the Navy and the warfighter, while sparking competition leading to reduced cost for NAVFAC programs.”
NAVFAC’s dedication to the Navy’s “Small Business – The First Option” is a policy that maximizes opportunities for small businesses that are contributing to national security in providing combat power to our troops and economic stability for our nation.
During fiscal year 2021, NAVFAC Pacific participated in five virtual industry forums, which were critically important to industry, as they provided the opportunity to learn more about NAVFAC’s mission to determine what they can bring to the fight.
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The next industry event in which NAVFAC Pacific will be participating is the Society of American Military Engineers Small Business Conference, which is being held this week, Nov. 15-19, 2021 and in Dec. 2-3, 2021 as a hybrid event with both virtual and in-person attendance at Atlanta, Georgia.
“NAVFAC will have a strong representation at the event with key leadership speaking engagements, NAVFAC small business booths, along with virtual business briefings and matchmaking networking opportunities,” said Pasqualucci.
The SBA assigns small business performance goals to all government agencies every year. The NAVFAC Pacific Command Small Business goal for fiscal year 2022 is 44 percent. (NAVFAC Pacific)
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