SBAIC’s second membership meeting of the year was a success with over 50 members in attendance in person and via conference call. The 2-hour meeting gave SBAIC members an opportunity to provide USAID feedback on the Agency’s partnering and procurement reform currently underway and to also have an introductory discussion with a distinguished speaker from the Department of Defense (DoD) Office of Small Business Programs.

During the first hour of the meeting, members provided direct input to senior leaders of USAID, which included Gloria Steele, (Senior Deputy Assistant Administrator and Senior Leader Champion of Effective Partnering and Procurement Reform), Randy Tift (M/OAA & Senior Leader Champion of Effective Partnering and Procurement Reform), Mauricio Vera (Director of OSDBU), Paul Burford (CO/OAA), and Mark Walther (M/OAA Acting Director), as part of USAID’s listening tour on procurement reform. The USAID officials used the time with SBAIC members to collect information on challenges and strengths in the USAID procurement process for small businesses working with USAID and to gather information on areas to consider and avoid in procurement reform. This was an amazing opportunity for our members to help shape USAID’s ongoing reorganization and reform.

The second half of the meeting featured for the first time at SBAIC a speaker from the DoD Office of Small Business Programs: Dr. James Galvin, Acting Director of DoD Office of Small Business Programs. Dr. Galvin leads a network of 700 full- and part-time Small Business Professionals across DoD. He ensures they leverage DoD’s small business industrial base to contribute to military readiness, introduce innovation to build a more lethal force and provide timely and cost-effective products and services.

The work of DoD’s Small Business Professional workforce annually results in more than $50 billion in prime-contract spending and over $40 billion of subcontracts spending for small businesses. He gave members a thorough overview of how to do business with the DoD. SBAIC Members were able to provide confidence to Dr. Galvin and his supporting team that international contracting firms are ready and able to support Defense agencies!