ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Maryland--More than 800 business and industry representatives from across the country gathered here Nov. 18-20 for a view of potential contracting opportunities across the installation.
Bryon Young, executive director, Army Contracting Command -- Aberdeen Proving Ground, provided the opening remarks for the event and echoed the sentiment of APG senior mission commander, Maj. Gen. Bruce T. Crawford, that fostering trust and mutual relationship building will empower the success of future opportunities.
During his briefing to the Advance Planning Briefing for Industry attendees, Young said ACC-APG executed 36,000 contracting actions in fiscal year 2014, totaling $12 billion. In addition to providing contracting statistics, Young also shared business process initiatives and discussed the upcoming solicitation of the Responsive Strategic Sourcing for Services, an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract for command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, or C4ISR, requirements with an estimated ceiling of $37 billion.
"It's our intention to make RS3 a small business-friendly contract, recognizing the importance of our relationship with small business partners," Young said. "Small business is critical to the C4ISR and the Aberdeen missions. It is important that we maintain the health and the vibrancy of this industrial capacity."
According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, the Army awarded $17.4 billion to small businesses in 2013. In 2014, ACC-APG awarded $2.3 billion to small businesses, Young pointed out.
The first day of the APBI was reserved for small business training. Danielle Moyer, branch chief, ACC-APG Division B, and Kari Schoerner, procurement analyst, ACC-APG Contracting Operations Division, discussed lowest price technically acceptable, or LTPA, procurements to the forum, followed by a question-and-answer session.
"I discussed the misconceptions of LPTA," said Moyer. "I felt this was a beneficial topic for APBI participants based on the substantial feedback I received after the presentation. It gave the participants a greater understanding of the LPTA source selection process."
Young also announced at the APBI that ACC-APG will host an RS3 Industry Day Dec. 16, from 8 a.m. to noon at the Mallette Auditorium, Building 6008 here. Young said the purpose of the event is to provide potential offerors with information regarding the program objectives, to walk through the draft solicitation, and to answer questions regarding the draft solicitation. A draft of the entire solicitation will be posted to FedBizOpps on Dec. 10.
Statutory regulations require acquisition organizations who execute more than $50 million in contracts present their business opportunities to industry each year. The 2014 Team APBI meets this requirement for sharing information and takes it a step further by offering a face-to-face event to enhance communication between government and industry leaders.
The format of this year's APBI was based off of feedback from an industry survey of last year's event. The event was scaled down to be more affordable while maintaining its value to industry. There were more opportunities for networking with the small business team members as well as detailed information regarding the potential contracting opportunities. In addition to the presentation of opportunities, the APG Small Business team dedicated the first day of the event to business training with speakers and interactive plenary panels. These sessions were designed to enhance understanding of the processes involved with doing business with Team APG.
This article consists of information from an article by Marissa Anderson, CECOM Public Affairs Specialist and Betsy Kozak-Howard, ACC-Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md.)
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