Carlen Capenos, director of small business programs for the Defense Information Systems Agency, said DISA is taking action to expand the utilization and participation of small businesses in defense contracts, including eliminating barriers to secure a facility clearance, Federal News Network reported Friday.
Capenos said DISA changed its participation plan “to include two companies who are small businesses that in the first year of the contract, should they win it, they will sponsor for the clearance.”
“We put our first solicitation out for that, and we got zero pushback. We got the names of the companies, they’re going to get the facility clearance, so we think that’s a win. Now, we’ll see how it goes,” Capenos said.
DISA, in collaboration with the Defense Counterintelligence Security Agency, is also hosting a webinar on June 13 to help prepare small businesses for the facility clearance process.
In addition, the agency wants to ensure that prime contractors are meeting their subcontracting goals by requiring them to send a biannual report on their subcontractors’ performance.
“There’s always a reason why primes are not meeting their subcontracting goals. Ours is more of the question, what are you going to do about it? I think just making sure that our large businesses know that we are monitoring it, that we do want to know and that we’re willing to help them, is important,” Capenos said.
