A&T Message
from Dr. Finley
A&T Message is Shared at Conferences Throughout the Week
This past week has offered A&T a number of opportunities to reach out to the public and share our hard work and the benefits that work has brought to the DoD. On December 9, I was given the chance to offer the keynote address on behalf of the Joint Forces Integration of Joint Advanced Concepts (JAC) for the 3rd Annual System of Systems Conference. The focus of the address was on "System of Systems in the Tactical Domain" issues and the Departments efforts to mitigate them. The conference was held in Gaithersburg, Md. and our attendance was well received by all at the event.
Our Small Business Program has been busy with a number of events this past week. On December 10, Mr. Micheal Caccuttio, OSBP Assistant Director and Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program Manager, led a group of DoD personnel representing five DoD components including the Army, Navy, Air Force, CBD and DLA at the Southeast Region DoD SBIR/STTR Symposium. The teams made presentations on their respective SBIR programs to high-tech firms from around the country who are interested in doing business with the Department through the SBIR Program. One-on-one meetings were also provided to those same firms.
Prior to that, Ms. Carol Brown, also from SBP, participated as a panelist at the 12th Annual US Army Corps of Engineers Small Business Conference in Memphis, Tenn. The Panel, focused on building "a strong today for a secure tomorrow" and spoke to the audience of OSBP and AT&L's strategic efforts to increase the visibility of small business within DoD. During the panel, audience members were also appraised of the recent court and GAO cases on Small Disadvantaged Business and the parity rule was discussed and DoD's commitment to Small Business was highlighted. This event benefited a number of organizations supporting small business and additional presentations and information can be found on their Web site.
In closing news, Lt. Col. Michael Schmidt was promoted to Colonel on December 5. Col. Schmidt has 18 years of dedicated service and serves as the PSA lead action officer for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. A picture (link to photo) of the event was taken to capture the occasion. Congratulations Col Schmidt for a job well done!