The SBTC sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and the Small Business Administration commending Navy SBIR Program Manager John Williams, Director of Transformation at Navy RDT&E Nickolas Guertin, and others work in drafting the new comprehensive Phase III guidebook for contract officers and small business professionals. This guidebook is an essential reference to have for any company that does business with the Navy and is interested in pursuing a Phase III contract. We further asked Secretary Hagel to consider adapting this guidebook for all branches and agencies of the DOD that have a an SBIR program.
Letter to Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel
Letter to SBA Associate Administrator Javier Saade
We also asked the SBA to consider John Williams and co. for a Tibbetts Award for this resource. The Navy has always done a terrific job of running their SBIR program, and a lot of credit should go to Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Navy (RDT&E) Nickolas Guerton, Director of Navy SBIR and STTR Programs John Williams, and Director of Navy OSBP, Sean Crean for the work they put into this guide. We hope this can be a reference for other branches of the military to follow, and possibly put out their own guides for the benefit if their PMs and small businesses.
We have already had at least one member company use this resource in negotiations with the government that resulted in a no-competition Phase III award, and others are also starting to use it. If your company is interested in pursuing a Phase III contract and you haven’t yet had a chance to look at it, we strongly suggest you do so, even if you don’t do business with the Navy.