By Sarah K. Miller, NSWC Crane Corporate Communications
Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division (NSWC Crane) Small Business Program was recognized by the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) Small Business Program (SEA 00K) for “contributions toward the NAVSEA Enterprise outstanding Fiscal Year (FY) 21 small business performance,” which included a 35M-dollar increase in small business awards from the previous FY.
The achievement letter from NAVSEA continues, “NAVSEA executed $3.9B in prime small business awards, reflecting a 10.5% increase over FY20 achievements. Under the leadership of your Small Business Deputy, Mr. Matthew Burkett, your Command increased overall small business obligations from $381M in FY20 to $416M in FY21 and successfully achieved assigned goals in all of the small business socio-economic categories.”
NSWC Crane awarded contracts to businesses in 43 states plus the District of Columbia. From FY17 to FY21, the total awarded amount increased each year. Matt Burkett, the Deputy for Small Business at NSWC Crane, says this achievement was a collaborative effort with the contracting and technical teams at NSWC Crane.
“This is the most we’ve ever done at NSWC Crane and the first time in seven years we’ve met all our small business goals,” says Burkett. “For the past few years, we’ve set records. It is kind of amazing. We have been able to be successful due to the buy-in we have from the top, down; Command understands building out the ecosystem is a collective effort. The NSWC Crane contracting team did a lot—the amount of work and how we’ve found ways to move forward is amazing, and we are still pushing forward. Everyone in our ecosystem has been engaging.”
The letter also states small businesses are “key contributors as we modernize our Navy to meet the demands of the maritime environment, today and in the future.”
Burkett describes how small businesses impact the Navy’s mission in several ways. He says NSWC Crane leverages their unique expertise in supply/product-based and service-based business.
“Supply and service businesses play a huge part in mission support,” says Burkett. “On the product or supply side of the house, NSWC Crane supports a lot of ‘legacy’ systems, which many larger businesses are moving away from. Small businesses play a role in creating hard-to-procure parts, which are parts that may need reverse engineering or machining. On the service side, those businesses provide expertise in critical technology areas such as cyber, information technology, and machine learning as well as expertise of software engineers and developers.”
In FY21, remote work was a factor in conducting small business engagement.
“Remote work is great, but there are a lot of challenges,” says Burkett. “Most or all business was done remotely and business development can be challenging. I try and be as engaging as I can and do as much outreach as I can by traveling as well as setting up virtual Teams meetings—we overcame these challenges and met or exceeded all of our goals.”
The Tri-Service Maritime Strategy states that maintaining the advantage at sea while the Navy faces rapidly evolving threats requires modernization. This includes “new platforms, new thinking, and new technologies that enhance distributed naval operations, and develop our people and culture to meet the challenges of a complex security environment,” as stated in the strategy document.
In order to maintain the Navy’s advantage at sea, Burkett says the expertise of small businesses impact Crane’s needs within its mission areas of Expeditionary Warfare, Strategic Missions, and Electronic Warfare—which serve a crucial role in maintaining the Navy’s advantage at sea.
“Small businesses provide everything we need to fulfill the mission,” says Burkett. “They provide expertise across all mission sets and touch what we’re doing across command. There is a wide reach as far as capabilities and performance we are getting from small businesses, including successful engagement through acquisition tools such as Other Transaction Authorities (OTAs). Small Businesses include non-traditionals and innovators, who are agile and can move faster than larger businesses.”
The Department of Defense defines ‘non-traditional’ businesses differently than traditional small businesses, where non-traditional businesses may be much smaller and have not worked with the government before.
Burkett says future success relies on strong relationships within the innovation ecosystem, including government partners within the state.
“We’ve leaned on our State partners such as the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) and Indiana Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC),” says Burkett. “With the Governor’s defense initiatives and NSWC Crane being the only federal laboratory in Indiana, engagement is critical—especially to meet future Small Business Program goals.”
Burkett says there is still room to grow to meet mission needs.
“This achievement highlights the good work being done throughout the ecosystem—it all ties in together to meet the mission. Many people, partners, and organizations laid groundwork from the previous few years to get where we are now. We will continue to have conversations, engage the ecosystem, and find opportunities for small businesses and how they can support the Navy and our Nation.”
To learn more about how you may do business with NSWC Crane, you can reach out to Burkett: matthew.j.burkett2.civ@us.navy.mil
About NSWC Crane NSWC Crane is a naval laboratory and a field activity of Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) with mission areas in Expeditionary Warfare, Strategic Missions and Electronic Warfare. The warfare center is responsible for multi-domain, multi- spectral, full life cycle support of technologies and systems enhancing capability to today's Warfighter.
Join Our Team! NAVSEA employs a diverse, highly trained, educated, and skilled workforce - from students and entry level employees to experienced professionals and individuals with disabilities. We support today's sophisticated Navy and Marine Corps ships, aircraft, weapon systems and computer systems. We are continuously looking for engineers, scientists, and other STEM professionals, as well as talented business, finance, logistics and other support experts to ensure the U.S. Navy can protect and defend America. Please connect with NSWC Crane Recruiting at this site - https://navsea.recsolu.com/external/form/jmR6cUhZKZ_qD5QUqyMk8w or email us at crane_recruiting@navy.mil
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