Conference Guides Contractors to the Military

Eric Duncan, deputy of small-business contracts at the Naval Construction Battalion Center in Port Hueneme, admits that red tape can be a turnoff for small-business owners looking to do contract work with the military.

But Duncan is convinced that if business owners are led past the bureaucratic roadblocks, they will find valuable opportunities awaiting them.

To assist with the process, the Seabee base on Thursday is sponsoring its 10th annual Navy Gold Coast Small Business Procurement Opportunities Conference. Representatives from theNavy, the Army, the Small Business Administration and other federal agencies, along with more than a dozen major military contractors including the Boeing Co., TRW and Lockheed Martin Corp. will share their experience with small-business owners.

“One of the things I’ve seen is that we go through economic cycles, and it seems the interest in government business increases when the commercial market is down, and it tends to fall off some when the commercial market is good,” Duncan said. “Right now the commercial market is very good, and people are not as anxious to do business with the government.”

But that will eventually change, of course. And the Armed Forces are instituting reforms that will streamline military contracting during up or down cycles, Duncan said.

The military has adapted an electronic commerce program as well as a credit card program through which the Seabees and other command posts purchase products and services.

The conference will include seminars on both of these reforms, Duncan said, and offer suggestions on how small-business owners can use these programs to their advantage. There also will be a discussion of the benefits to small businesses of subcontracting with large corporations that work with the military.

Grace Vaswani, owner of Ventura-based Santa Barbara Applied Research, offers a solid illustration of the potential for small-business owners working with the military.

“About 80% of our business is from the military,” said Vaswani, whose company provides engineering, logistics and management services to the government and private sectors.

Like Duncan, Vaswani sees a lot of business opportunities being missed.

“A lot of times businesses are not aware of the opportunities, and even if they are aware, they don’t know how to get their foot in the door,” Vaswani said.

“Another problem is we are constantly hearing of defense downsizing, so a lot of businesses think there are no business opportunities, but that’s not true--the defense budget is not zero,” said Vaswani, whose clients have included the Naval Air Weapons Station in Port Hueneme, Falcon Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colo., and the NASA Dryden Flight Resource Center at Edwards Air Force Base. “You have to be creative in the products you have to offer and the services you have to offer.”

Ventura County military bases offer a variety of opportunities, she said.

“There are a large number of different activities housed at Port Hueneme and Point Mugu, and they each have different needs for technical services, supplies and products,” she said. “They have very diverse needs.”

The procurement conference will run from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Holiday Inn, 450 E. Harbor Blvd., Ventura. The cost is $30. To reserve a spot, call Tony Dickenson at 982-3014.