AFCEA NOVA Small Business Breakfast, Department of Defense (DoD) Industrial Policy

AFCEA NOVA held a Small Business Breakfast event on Tuesday, July 9, 2019 in Reston, VA. Originally, Ms. Ellen M. Lord, Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment was scheduled to be the highlight speaker at this event, but due to other commitments, she was forced to cancel. Ms. Jen Santos, Deputy Assistant Secretary Defense for Industrial Policy, was then selected to take her place, but she also had to cancel due to other commitments. The replacement speakers at the event included:

• Mr. Scott Baum, Principal Director of Industrial Policy
• Mr. Dennis Bartow, Director for the Department of Defense (DoD) Office of Small Business Programs (OSBP)

Mr. Dennis Bartow, Director for the Department of Defense (DoD) Office of Small Business Programs (OSBP), was recently appointed in June 2019. He is the first appointed Director since 2014. Mr. Bartow leads a network of over 700 small business professionals, and is principal advisor to the Secretary of Defense, the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisitions and Sustainment, and the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Policy for matters relating to small business. Small business procurements represent approximately 20% of all procurements with the Department of Defense. One of the talking points of Mr. Bartow’s presentation was that the DoD failed to meet the Small Business target goals for Woman Owned Small Business (WOSB) and HUBZone. Another talking point was the drastic decline of Small Business within the defense space since 2011-2012, with close to 100,000 fewer small businesses.

The next AFCEA NOVA Small Business Breakfast is anticipated to take place on Tuesday, August 6, 2019. Ms. Elizabeth Mudd, Small Business Program Manager, of the recently created Defense CounterIntelligence and Security Agency (DCSA), will be the keynote speaker.