Small business integral part of Air Force operations

  • Published
  • By Martie Cenkci
  • Air Force Outreach Program Office
BROOKS CITY-BASE, Texas (AFPN) --  When President George W. Bush declared April 9 to 15 National Small Business Week, he noted that “small businesses create most new jobs in our country, and small businesses have been a driving force behind America’s tremendous economic growth and job creation.” 

Translated into impact on the U.S. Air Force, that means small business is one of the primary strengths of our defense industrial base, with numerous ripple effects for support to the warfighter and sustainment of Air Force operational capability. 

Many Air Force members are not aware of the role of small business because it is seldom identified as such, said Joseph Diamond, director of Air Force Small Business Programs.

“Small business plays a role in virtually every aspect of Air Force life,” Mr. Diamond said. “It might be the guard at the gate, the provider of parts for our Air Force aircraft, or the information technology support services that keep our IT infrastructure up and running. These vital components of Air Force operations remind us that small business does not mean small capabilities.

"America’s small businesses deliver support to the warfighter at every turn, whether we are talking about major weapons systems or parts of pieces of major systems, or subsystems that are supporting and rendering our Air Force capability as the best in the world,” he said.

Another widely recognized characteristic of small businesses is innovation. 

“Small business is recognized as the sector of our society that really delivers innovation,” Mr. Diamond said, “and innovation is the life blood to a high-tech institution like the U.S Air Force. In turn, the freedoms that we enjoy because of the great efforts of our military services create the environment for small business entrepreneurs to bring us that innovation so characteristic of American society.“ 

Small business is also a reflection of the diversity that characterizes and strengthens American society. The Air Force -- in fact, the entire federal government -- has annual goals for small business contract awards established by the Congress in several special emphasis programs.

Of particular interest at this time are woman-owned small businesses (5 percent), service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses (3 percent), and historically underutilized business zones (3 percent). The Air Force exceeded their goals in all three programs in fiscal 2005. 

Small business is a growing business in the Air Force. In fiscal 2005, almost 17 percent of all Air Force procurements went to small businesses, or more than $8 billion out of the Air Force total of more that $48 billion. This represents a steady increase in the last five years that reflects an emphasis by Air Force leadership as well as by Congress.

The record has been so good that the Air Force was recently recognized as having the best small business program in the Department of Defense. 

“Being recognized as the best small business program in DOD is great, for it officially validated the superb efforts of our small business specialists, contracting personnel, and commanders and leaders," Mr. Diamond said. "But knowing that we help sustain operations for our Air Force is what really is important to all of us. It brings us a true sense of ‘mission accomplished’ -- during National Small Business Week and every other week of the year.”