AFCEA - Los Angeles

USAF LA AFB Outreach to Smalls and Micros?

Compare how the US Navy SPAWAR-San Diego's Office of Small Business and the USAF LA AFB Small Business Operation/Office is staffed and how each do small business outreach.

Please look at how each organization attempts to inform and involve the small and micro defense industrial business base in their respective regions of each organization's potential business contracting opportunities.

In the below link, from 2009 last QTR presentations from both organizations; included is the contact information for both organizations' Small Business Offices or operations:

http://www.nasbc.org/nsbfcs-wc-1109-presentations/

Observation:

SPAWAR-SD's Office of Small Business; [has a web presence and a staff of full time persons and works with a vibrant and supportive group of organizations which it anchors.]

USAF's LA AFB's Office of Small Business; [has no web presence and two part time staffers and by comparision seems dysfunctional in its' small business outreach activities.]

SPAWAR-SD Office of Small Business contact information is also at the San Diego PTAC:

http://www.ptac-sandiego.org/dodsmbus.html

LA Air Base's Office of Small Business posts no information at the Los Angeles County PTAC Office:

http://www.aptac-us.org/new/Govt_Contracting/find.php?what=search&State=CA

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Another example of communication from the SPAWAR-SD Office of Small Business:

05 March 2010

Dear Small Business Supporters,

I received the attached email from Faye Esaias who recently took
over as the Small Business Deputy at SPAWAR. The request speaks for
itself and I am forwarding it to both the Small Business Distribution
List as well as the Chapter Distribution List as inputs should be
submitted by both Small and Large Businesses. Please see the survey
attached and respond directly to Faye.

All the best,

Jim

From: Esaias, Faye L CIV SPAWAR, 88000 [mailto:faye.esaias@navy.mil]
Sent: Friday, March 05, 2010 2:15 PM
To: Lasswell, James [NDIA-San Diego; Small Business Committee Chairman] [Note: NDIA-SD Small Business Committee often holds events with AFCEA-SD Small Business Section http://www.afcea-sd.org/small-business/]

Good afternoon Jim, I was looking forward to attending the SB Committee
meeting next week, however, it has been cancelled so I am sending an
email regarding the topic I wanted to raise. I am contemplating
resurrecting an informal roundtable meeting event most likely on a
quarterly basis. Our office will host it and I am contemplating
inviting representatives from government, and small & large businesses.
I thought a starting point would be to identify the things we are doing
well as a Office of Small Business Program across Team SPAWAR as well as
the areas where we can improve on. I have asked vendors that have
stopped by this week the same questions, am already seeing a trend such
as better forecasting. I have a attached a form which I hope will be
easy to complete and will generate some feedback. Please let me know if
you can circulate this to your committed members. Have a nice weekend.
Regards,

Faye Esaias
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Now the Reader of my two blog posts, maybe interested as to why I am bringing all this up here under the SMC Industry Day Blog section.

I have several reasons:

First, my company has participated other Industry Days on the USAF's LA AFB in past years and yet we are not on any local mailing lists to be informed of what is going on at the base---instead if we are lucky, we get our information about local area base events through San Diego and SPAWAR-SD or word of mouth. This is a common grip that many small and micro businesses have with LA AFB's Small Business Outreach Operation.

The second reason, is I happened to attend the 8th Responsive Space Conference in LA a couple of weeks back and some of attendees and the keynote speakers at the conference seemed to be perplexed as to why there was not MORE local area Small and Micro Business participation in SPACE CONTRACTING ACTIVITIES....
These speakers and attendees feel that smalls and micro have lots to contribute to the SPACE effort for they say that is where much of the innovations are coming from ....

Finally, I suspect Congressional Decision makers on the HILL may also be worried and wondering about other problems such as highlighted here:

New GAO Reports: Defense Acquisitions, Space Acquisitions, Challenges Remain in Developing Space Systems, GAO-10-447T, March 10, 2010 .

Maybe we small and micro defense Industry Partners could help with such things, if only we were given information in a timely manner, a way in the door and a place at the table by the USAF Space Command's LA AFB Office of Small Business.

The SPACE World has changed since the end of the COLD WAR, in case you did not notice, and the folks at USAF SPACE COMMAND really need every member of the national security defense industrial base to participate in the new SPACE WORLD ORDER!

Pamela de Liz
ZILED GROUP
Santa Monica, CA 90405
www.connectory.com
[A local AFCEA micro business member.]