Army secretary recognizes small business director

By Daniel. P. Elkins, Mission and Installation Contracting Command Public Affairs OfficeMay 9, 2019

Army secretary recognizes small business director
Mark Massie earned the Secretary of the Army Award for Small Business Utilization for his direction of the command's program in 2018. He is the director of small business programs for the Mission and Installation Contracting Command at Joint Base San... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas (May 9, 2019) -- The Mission and Installation Contracting Command director of small business programs earned the Secretary of the Army Award for Small Business Utilization for his direction of the command's program in 2018.

Mark Massie, who leads a team of 19 assistant directors and small business professionals across the country, was recognized for outstanding leadership that resulted in notable improvements in the overall operation of the Army Small Business Program.

In fiscal 2018, the MICC achieved a total small business percentage of 53.35% against a goal of 45% with $2.44 billion awarded to small businesses. The command accounted for 11.45% of $22.3 billion small business dollars spent by the Army and 22.13% of $11 billion small business dollars spent by the Army Materiel Command.

"Contributing most to this award are the people and resources that I have on my staff who are dedicated to what they do," Massie said. "They're passionate about what they do, and the numbers really speak for themselves. I just can't say enough good things about the staff."

Having led the MICC Office of Small Business Programs at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, Texas, since 2013, fiscal 2018 marked the fourth consecutive year the command has exceeded all five of its small business socioeconomic goals. Those categories include small business, small disadvantaged business, service-disabled veteran-owned small business, woman-owned small business and historically underutilized business zone small business.

"Through keen focus, industry engagement and constant monitoring, the MICC is able to consistently exceed its small business goals," said Brig. Gen. Bill Boruff, MICC commanding general. "As a result of Mark's leadership, the command plays a critical role in supporting the American economy by identifying our mission requirements early in the acquisition life cycle so that small businesses can plan to compete for and win Army contracts."

Massie, a native of St. Paris, Ohio, led multiple initiatives during the award period that not only contributed to the command's success in exceeding its goals but also ensured small business compliance. Chief among those were outreach efforts aimed at bringing small business representatives to the Army at a time of constrained budgets to learn about contract opportunities. For the fiscal year, the command conducted 20 no-cost acquisition forecast open house events supporting all 30 MICC contracting offices at installations across the Army reaching more than 2,000 small business representatives. Contracting offices conducted these forecast events in conjunction with local procurement technical assistance centers, the Small Business Administration and local chambers of commerce.

"Those are critical not only to provide small business an opportunity to learn about our requirements, but also we want to be as transparent as we possibly can," the small business director said. "The primary reason for conducting these events is to continue to build our industrial base and contribute to a prosperous American economy. That's just one way of doing that by finding those small businesses that can meet the requirements of what we buy to meet our mission."

He added that these events also enhance community relations and increase competition across the small business socioeconomic spectrum, particularly evident in the command's success with its HUBZone contract awards. Massie said contract awards to HUBZone vendors typically makes up more than half of the dollars spent across the AMC enterprise in that category.

"The focus of HUBZone has been primarily in support of construction requirements, but through outreach events, we've been able to locate other HUBZones capable of ensuring contract opportunities in all arenas," Massie said.

Massie also led an effort to secure funding through the Defense Acquisition Workforce Development Fund for training and development at MICC offices where no small business presence existed. This initiative allowed small business professionals to train contracting officers and contract specialists on critical updates and changes on a number of topics affecting small businesses, to include limitations on subcontracting, and consolidation and bundling.

Through a variety of initiatives, Massie makes clear that the efforts by his team of small business professionals throughout the MICC remain committed to the Army's priorities.

"What we do impacts the industrial base and all of the Army," he said. "Small businesses do support Army readiness efforts, and our numbers show that small businesses are out there doing what they need to do to allow us to meet our mission."

About the MICC:

Headquartered at JBSA-Fort Sam Houston, Texas, the Mission and Installation Contracting Command consists of about 1,500 military and civilian members who are responsible for contracting goods and services in support of Soldiers as well as readying trained contracting units for the operating force and contingency environment when called upon. MICC contracts are vital in feeding more than 200,000 Soldiers every day, providing many daily base operations support services at installations, facilitate training in the preparation of more than 100,000 conventional force members annually, training more than 500,000 students each year, and maintaining more than 14.4 million acres of land and 170,000 structures.

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