Since taking the helm as senior procurement executive and head of U.S.Coast Guard contracting activity, Michael Derrios has elevated the small-business outreach and outreach to industry generally to help achieve not only the USCG acquisition command strategic vision, but also to help the USCG with its Relevant, Economical, Advanced, Deliverable, Yielding — or R.E.A.D.Y — state industrial base.
As part of that strategy, Derrios brought on Dwight Deneal, formerly of the Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization for the Department of Health and Human Services, as director of small business and industry liaison programs to help increase the outreach and understanding of the small-business community that is serving – or is interested in serving — the Coast Guard mission.
Acquisition Command held the industry expo – the first of its kind – to share their FY 2018-20 Small Business & Industry Engagement Strategic Plan and their vision of creating a USCG Contracting Enterprise culture that views small businesses and industry as 1) relevant – where industry is a valued partner to the USCG contracting enterprise, 2) economical – that industry understands and is aware of competitive and innovative pricing and that the USCG communicates the business needs for mission outcomes, 3) advanced – that industry and the USCG contracting enterprise embrace innovation and risk together with business value metrics, 4) deliverable – that communication between industry and USCG clearly conveys milestones for mission outcomes and that activities are actionable, measurable and result in intended outcome, and finally, 5) yielding – that achieves mission. That’s R.E.A.D.Y.
The event drew more than 120 personnel from USCG acquisition and more than 30 vendor companies ranging from small businesses to large, covering everything from cloud solutions to cybersecurity to radios and underwater protective barriers.
“This was an amazing day talking to the relevant program managers and contracting officers at the USCG,” said Cathy Simpson, a vice president at TWD, a technology solutions provider. “The interaction was extremely valuable for me to understand the mission needs and explain what services we offer that could help achieve them.”
The Government Technology & Services Coalition, a nonprofit organization devoted to the homeland and national security mission, organized the event and ensured that companies of all sizes, and companies not currently doing business with the USCG, had an opportunity to learn more. “This is a very positive step for the communication with industry and we were proud to be of assistance,” said Kristina Tanasichuk, CEO and founder of GTSC. “There are many providers with solutions that can fit the Coast Guard missions and we are happy to see such an open and welcoming atmosphere.”
The expo was part of an expanded plan to increase the understanding and engagement of industry in the Coast Guard mission. For a copy of the USCG FY18-20 Small Business Industry Engagement Strategic Plan, click here.
