“The work of NAVSUP’s Office of Small Business Programs is vital to our ability to build industry partnerships, optimize our communication with them and sustain readiness across the fleet by promoting small business participation at both the prime and subcontracted level,” said Mr. Kurt Wendelken, NAVSUP vice commander. “This team’s work during FY21 was phenomenal and represented a huge amount of overall work in the small business arena across Navy and I couldn’t be prouder of their accomplishments and the recognition they’ve received for their FY21 efforts.”

NAVSUP small business awards accounted for over 40% and exceeded $2.1 billion in obligations. Additionally, NAVSUP’s Small Business FY21 performance reached 27%, exceeding the assigned performance goal of 23.19%. Every year, each Navy head contracting activity (HCA) is required to establish five small business goals for their command. These goals then roll up to an overall agency goal between the Department of the Navy and the Small Business Administration.

NAVSUP OSBP’s FY21 goals included a small business (SB) overall goal of 23.19%; small disadvantaged business (SDB) goal of 8.58%; service disabled veteran owned small business (SDVOSB) goal of 6.14%; woman owned small business (WOSB) goal of 6.29%; and a historically underutilized business zones (HUBZone) goal of 1.07%.

NAVSUP OSBP exceeded their SB overall goal by 3.81%; SDB goal by 1.79%; SDVOSB goal by .17%; WOSB goal by .9%; and their HUBZone goal by .02%.

FY21 also marked the highest recorded obligations in NAVSUP history for the following categories:

1. Small Business: $2,088,768,262.13
2. Small Disadvantaged: $797,713,431.90
3. Woman Owned: $553,986,826.27
4. HUBZone: $84,438,750.13

"NAVSUP meeting all five small business goals and exceeding historical obligations across four of five small business targets is the direct result of strong advocacy by the dedicated professionals within NAVSUP’s Small Business Program and their counterparts within contracting,” said Chris Espenshade, director of NAVSUP Office of Small Business Programs, while praising the unwavering commitment of his team. “They are committed to expanding small business participation and providing a competitive landscape.”

Because of their achievements, NAVSUP’s OSBP was also selected for the FY21 Acquisition Excellence Award (AEA) Secretary's Cup. The AEA Secretary’s Cup is awarded to the HCA command that exemplifies the highest examples of small business acquisition excellence and whose achievement brings significant credit to the Department of the Navy acquisition community.

“Three years ago NAVSUP established its first command small business strategy, which focused on reforming our approach to engaging with industry and utilizing small business as a tool for improved operational readiness,” said Espenshade. “The FY21 metrics are a great indicator that we’re making tremendous strides within expanding small business across NAVSUP’s diverse contracting mission.”

The mission of NAVSUP’s OSBP is to ensure small business advocacy leads to a lasting impact on the quality of our products, economic market competitiveness and mission effectiveness for years to come. The focus of NAVSUP's Small Business Program centers around three major lines of effort: building partnerships in the acquisition process, optimizing communications, and improving small business participation at the prime and contracted level.