The Department of Defense Office of Small Business Programs will strengthen financial support of its projects, including the Rapid Innovation Fund and Project Spectrum, Farooq Mitha, director of the DOD’s Office of Small Business Programs, said in an interview with Forbes magazine, published Thursday.
Mitha discussed the unit’s small business strategy for 2023, as well as other opportunities and resources that small enterprises can use to grab a share of the defense contracting market.
DOD created a small business office in each service and branch within the agency, which exceeds 25 divisions. Mitha said that OSBP is working to make it easier for companies to communicate and partner with those branches.
The office established the business.defense.gov website, which integrates SB industry and government entities for information sharing and acquisition opportunities.
This year, OSBP will ramp up activities of the Rapid Innovation Fund to increase the commercialization rate of technologies or prototypes developed from DOD’s small business contracts, Mitha explained. The program had a 60 percent commercialization rate for eight years before it stopped receiving funding in 2019, and OSBP intends to revive it by taking advantage of the budget earmarked by the Biden administration.
Under his leadership, Project Spectrum will also become a one-stop cybersecurity shop for SBs, helping them protect intellectual property and sensitive government data.
