New Year's Message

As we say farewell to 2014 and welcome the New Year, we all reflect on what has transpired over the last 12 months and brainstorm new resolutions for the next 12 months.  We all look for improvements in our successful endeavors, however, let’s also look at our weaknesses so we can emerge stronger than ever. 

The NASA Office of Small Business Programs will continuously look for new innovative and creative ways to promote the development and management of NASA programs that assist all categories of Small Business. 

As you think about your 2015 New Year’s Resolutions, consider your local small businesses and think of ways to support them! We are looking forward to seeing the new ways that small businesses will help NASA achieve its mission next year.

I want to wish you and your families a happy holiday season.

Holiday Message

From the NASA Office of Small Business Programs, we would like to wish everyone a Happy Holiday. With the winter holidays quickly approaching, we hope everyone has a joyous holiday break celebrating and spending time with family. If you are travelling to visit family or friends, please travel safely.

I would like to thank the Office of Small Business Programs Team and the Small Business Specialists at each of the NASA centers for their hard work this year. Happy holidays to all!

A Year in Review: 2014

As the year 2014 comes to a close, I would like to take the time to reflect on some of the amazing accomplishments and events for NASA as an agency as well as the NASA Office of Small Business Programs.

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden gives a speech at the announcement of the FY 2013 SBA Procurement Scorecard.

As you may know, NASA received the grade A on the Small Business Administration (SBA) Scorecard for FY 2013. I am proud of the efforts of the entire NASA Small Business team, as well as the Office of Procurement for helping us achieve this goal for the second year in a row. We look forward to continuing this success in the years to come.

The setup of the NASA booth at the Marshall Space Flight Center HUBZone Industry Day on June 11, 2014.

The NASA Office of Small Business Programs also successfully executed four Industry Days this year that were focused at increasing small business participation in three set-aside categories. The events took place at:

·      Armstrong Flight Research Center, February 4, 2014, Women-Owned Small Business Industry Day, 283 attendees

·      Marshall Space Flight Center, June 11, 2014, HUBZone Industry Day, 508 attendees

·      Langley Research Center, August 13, 2014, Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business Industry Day, 322 attendees

·      Kennedy Space Center, October 28, 2014, Women-Owned Small Business Industry Day and Expo, 318 registered attendees, 611 attendees

At the KSC WOSB Industry Day and Expo, we had the highest participation rate to date and we hope to continue this succes. For 2015, there are two Industry Days planned that I would like to encourage you to attend:

·      Stennis Space Center, February 3, 2015, Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business Industry Day – to register visit http://bit.ly/1yhkdPL.

·      Johnson Space Center, August 11, 2015, HUBZone Industry Day

A photo of some of the attendees at the October NIF meeting.

The Office of Small Business Programs also successfully hosted the inaugural NASA Industry Forum (NIF) Meeting in March in Washington, D.C. and the second at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas in October. The goal of the NIF meeting is to ensure that the Office of Small Business programs remains engaged with each of the ten centers spread across the country; representatives from NASA headquarters meet with small business representatives from each of the ten centers along with the centers’ large and small business contractors to discuss the business environment and address any concerns. I am happy to celebrate a successful second year.

A shot of the filming for the HBCU/MSI video.

The NASA Office of Small Business Programs also held its first ever Historically Black Colleges & Universities and Minority-Serving Institutions (HBCU/MSI) Partnerships Meeting at Marshall Space Flight Center in September. NASA is the only government agency with a goal for doing business with HBCU/MSIs and has reemphasized the HBCU/MSI One Percent Goal, so we were proud to host this event in order to encourage these institutions to do business with NASA. View the video we filmed for the HBCU/MSI Partnerships Meeting at http://bit.ly/1pUQ3DY.

I’d like to thank everyone for their contributions to NASA and the NASA Office of Small Business Programs this year, and we hope that we can continue to develop and grow in the year to come.

The Launch of Orion Delta IV Heavy Exploration Flight Test-1

NASA's Orion Delta IV Heavy Rocket being set up on the launchpad.

As we prepare for the launch of the Orion Delta IV Heavy rocket tomorrow for Exploration Flight Test-1, we are excited to celebrate the small businesses that have contributed to this project. The uncrewed Orion spacecraft, launching out of Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, takes the human dream of visiting Mars one step closer, and it brings the United States toward reaching President Obama's goal of having men on Mars by the 2030s.

The Orion Project is a huge success for small businesses as there are over 1,000 small business suppliers that are contributing to this effort in 45 of the 50 states across the United States. Many high-tech small businesses have participated by doing work involving engineering services, procurement services, software development, ground support equipment, thermal and pressure panes, building flight hardware and much more. Small businesses have received more than $643 million dollars since the start of the program and the Orion Project small business plan commits over $1 billion dollars to small businesses in total.

The road to Mars begins here.

There is no limit to what small businesses can accomplish with NASA, including work on projects such as this one, the Delta IV Heavy rocket. The small businesses that have assisted in this effort will be featured in a publication to celebrate their accomplishments and work with NASA coming next quarter.

Tune in to the launch tomorrow, Thursday December 4, 2014 at 7:00am EST - live coverage of the event will begin at 4:30am EST at http://www.nasa.gov/ntv. For more information about the Orion Project, please visit http://www.nasa.gov/orion/#.VH8dKY1dVW6.