The U.S. Army has launched a center of excellence dedicated to helping small businesses pursue opportunities with the service branch.
The Army said Wednesday that its SBIR Contracting CoE will issue and manage awards for the service's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program and streamline the associated contracting processes.
The center will handle contracting resources for phases one and two of applied Army SBIR projects, centralizing 80 percent of the service's SBIR portfolio under a single office.
The Army Applied SBIR Program Office of the service's assistant secretary for acquisition, logistics and technology manages the newly established CoE. The service expects the CoE to reduce the time spent for contract execution by 75 percent.
“We want to be expeditious in our approach, and this new center is a tremendous step forward in helping us fulfill our goal to modernize our world-class military and transition life-saving technology into the hands of our soldiers," said Matthew Willis, director of Army prize competitions and the Army Applied SBIR Program.