OPEN Washington DC hosted a terrific Roundtable event with Farooq Mitha, President of Imbue Group, on Feb 22, 2020 at the McLean Community Center. Farooq’s works within the Office of Small Business Programs at the Department of Defense. The event included 45-50 participants, a great presentation and great discussion. As a result of this event there are a number of specific follow up interactions between Farooq and individual participants to discuss or advance specific business ideas. As one attendee shared feedback following the event:
Thank you for hosting another great OPEN event. Farooq Mitha was a wonderful speaker. While he was going over the content, I was thinking, I wish someone had shared this information with me early in my career. Boy could I have used it! 15 years directly working in the industry and I learned more in one day about how the business is done than at any point in my career. I walked away more informed (and here I thought I knew everything!). So thank you for bringing in folks that are subject matter experts in their field/industry. It is especially nice to see folks in our network that are working and thriving in this sector.
Farooq covered many topics during his presentation including: technology priorities across the DOD, the innovation ecosystem within DOD and the kinds of opportunities available to small businesses. His presentation highlighted the following key points:
- As a government contractor it is important to find your niche. Don’t try to be everything to everybody. You should only market your products and services to potential customers that buy what you sell.
- It takes at least 18 months of planning before a contractor wins a first contract.
- DoD has a support network for government contractors that contractors should use. DoD created the Procurement Technical Assistance Program (PTAP) to help small businesses learn how to do business with DoD. The PTAP’s Procurement Technical Assistance Centers (PTACs) help small businesses compete for and execute contracts with DoD and other federal agencies. Most PTAC services are free.
- Register your company SAM. It’s important to keep your SAM registration current because Contracting Officers and Small Business Professionals use SAM to search for small businesses that have capabilities in specific NAICS codes.
- Identify potential buyers of your services by searching the Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS), which contains detailed information about federal government contract awards. The system identifies who bought what, from whom, for how much, when and where.
- DoD’s Small Business Professionals (SBPs) are advocates for small businesses. A SBP should be your first point of contact inside an agency, but only request a meeting with an SBP if the agency they support buys what you sell.
- SBPs help you prepare for meetings with Contracting Officers and Program Managers. Contracting Officers have the legal authority to make large purchases on behalf of the federal government. Program Managers use the products and services that vendors provide.
- If you are approaching DOD for the first time, you may wish to start with simplified acquisitions. Procurements worth $250,000 or less are typically set aside for small businesses under simplified-acquisition procedures.
- Explore possibilities with the Mentor Protégé Program which in the past 5 years has helped 190 small businesses fill unique niches and become part of the DOD supply chain: https://business.defense.gov/Programs/Mentor-Protege-Program/.
- One of several areas to explore opportunities is the SBIR/STTR: https://business.defense.gov/Programs/SBIR-STTR/Commercialization/, the Small Business and Technology Partnership Program: https://rt.cto.mil/rtl-small-business-resources/ and the Small Business Technology Transfer Program: https://www.dodsbirsttr.mil/submissions/login
- Read and be familiar with these two documents as you develop your strategy and proposals: National Defense Strategy: https://dod.defense.gov/Portals/1/Documents/pubs/2018-National-Defense-Strategy-Summary.pdf and the DOD Small Business Strategy: https://business.defense.gov/Portals/57/Documents/Small Business Strategy.pdf?ver=2019-11-19-115847-510
Thank you to all the participants who joined this Roundtable including Charter Members Rehan Rashid, Habeeb Syed and Usman Zafar and OPEN DC Board Members Craig Cofrancesco and Rahul Jindal. Thank you to Umar Hameed for videotaping the session. We especially want to thank Farooq Mitha for joining us and sharing his insights. It was clear to all attendees that Farooq has deep knowledge into the acquisition process at DOD and presented an articulate, insightful and substantive presentation.
The Roundtable was hosted in the McLean Room of the McLean Community Center . We appreciate the staff or creating such a warm and hospitable space for us and look forward to additional events at this venue. Please join us for future events in 2020. The calendar is summarized below and will provide updates as new events and locations are added. We look forward to hosting you!
2020 OPEN DC Calendar
- Thursday March 26: “The Unique Opportunity of SBIC Funds and Investing in Small Businesses”: Faraz Abbasi, Senior Partner, Centerfield Capital Partners, and Chairman, Small Business Investor Alliance, 6 PM – 9 PM, location TBA
- Saturday March 28: Essentials of the C-Suite Workshops Series: “Do Strategy the Right Way and Accelerate Your Career to the C-Suite,” Shafiq Khan, former EVP, Marriott Corporation, 10 AM – 1 PM, Mclean Room, Mclean Community Center, 1234 Ingleside Avenue, Mclean VA 22101
- Saturday April 4: “An Entrepreneur’s Success Building a Business at the Frontier of Artificial Intelligence and Quantum Computing,”, Michael Brett, Founder, CEO QxBranch and SVP, Rigetti Computing, 10 AM – 1 PM, Mclean Room, Mclean Community Center, 1234 Ingleside Avenue, Mclean VA 22101
- Saturday, April 18: “How to Grow Wealth through Alternative Investment Strategies” Rizwan Ibrahim and Panel, 10 AM – 1 PM, Mclean Room, Mclean Community Center, 1234 Ingleside Avenue, Mclean VA 22101
- Saturday June 13: OPEN DC Annual Picnic with Family and Friends, 11:00 AM – 4:00 PM ET
- Saturday October 17: Semi Finals of OPEN DC Annual Pitch Competition, 11:00 AM – 3:00 PM ET
- Saturday November 7: OPEN DC Annual Event, Tysons Corner Marriott, Tysons Corner VA, 8:30 AM – 4:30 PM ET
