ADELPHI, Md. -- Army small business specialists received the prestigious Verdure Award from the U.S. Department of War in June for creating a tool that makes the acquisition process more accessible to non-traditional vendors and allows the Army to partner more easily with small businesses to meet mission needs.
The U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command, or DEVCOM, Army Research Laboratory collaborated with the U.S. Army Contracting Command - New Jersey to create a streamlined digital template for the Justification & Approval form, which the Army must prepare to award a non-competitive contract to an eligible small business.
This user-friendly template accelerated the Army’s acquisition timelines by eliminating the need for contract officers to write a J&A document from scratch, saving hours of work.
Among the recipients for the Verdure Award were ARL small business specialists Anne Carman and David Christ, who identified the J&A document as a significant barrier in the use of small business direct awards.
“At ARL, we recognize that delivering new capabilities into the hands of the warfighter requires pursuing innovation in our business practices in addition to innovation in our scientific research,” said Dr. Abby West, chief of ARL’s Financial and Acquisition Management Division. “By making it easier for the Army to collaborate with small businesses, our scientists and engineers can work with companies that best meet the Army’s unique needs without worrying about how the administrative burden and complicated paperwork might slow down their progress.”
The Verdure Award is presented annually as part of the DoW Small Business Vanguard Awards Program, which honors the exceptional contributions of individuals and teams who enhance the participation of small businesses in military procurements.
Bestowed on behalf of the Under Secretary of War for Acquisition and Sustainment, this award recognizes the impact that this tool had in advancing acquisition reform, expanding the industrial base and expediting the delivery of critical capabilities to the warfighter.
The team also received the Vigor Team Award from the U.S. Army Office of Small Business Programs for their achievement in increasing small business participation in Army contracts.
“This effort demonstrates ARL’s commitment to expanding the Army’s network of partners and removing obstacles that hinder collaboration with industry,” said Wendy Leonard, chief of ARL’s Acquisition Management and Tech Transfer Branch. “The work conducted by Anne and David with ACC-NJ directly contributed to Army readiness by enabling small businesses to enter the supply chain faster and help the Army meet the needs of the warfighter sooner.”
According to Carman and Christ, the task to reshape the J&A document stemmed from observations that Army researchers would devote extensive market research to identify non-traditional companies with whom they wanted to collaborate, but the researchers felt the contracting process was too challenging to surmount.
“We wanted to provide Army scientists and engineers with easier access to innovative small businesses by using existing direct award contract authorities that were being underutilized,” said Christ, ARL senior acquisition advisor. “By replacing the difficult-to-write Justification & Approval document with a drop-down selection form with pre-filled statutory justifications, we were able to increase the use of these authorities and shorten the acquisition lead time.”
The new J&A template enables contracting officers to more rapidly execute direct awards to small businesses under various socioeconomic categories, including Women-owned, Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned and HUBZone small businesses.
After the ARL team developed this document with ACC-NJ, the U.S. Army Materiel Command’s Office of Small Business Programs incorporated the new tool into its “Did You Know” training campaign, which reached more than 1,000 acquisition professionals and industry partners.
“We championed this project because we understood three things: speed is of the essence, cumbersome J&A requirements were deterring the use of small business direct awards, and our small business industrial base is experiencing severe decline,” said Carman, ARL contract administrator. “This massive reduction in processing time means our contracting officers are now eager to utilize small business direct awards, rapidly advancing the Army’s mandate to accelerate the delivery of technology to the warfighter.”
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
DEVCOM ARL is the Army’s sole fundamental research laboratory serving as the nexus of science between the military, academia and industry. Operating under U.S. Army Futures and Concepts Command and the U.S. Army Transformation and Training Command, ARL executes globally recognized research to accelerate delivery of war-winning, disruptive technologies for tomorrow’s Army.
For information, visit the Army Research Laboratory website.
Social Sharing