Month: February 2024

Source: United States Navy

Good morning, everyone!

It is great to be here with you all here in Atlanta, Georgia for this year’s National 8(a) Small Business Conference.

I would like to thank the president of the National 8(a) Association, Mr. Ron Perry, for inviting me to spend today with you, and to speak on the importance our Department of the Navy puts on engaging with the small business community.

The National 8(a) Association and other organizations like it play a critical role in educating, guiding, and supporting small businesses as they prepare to work with the federal government, and we are grateful for the role they play in our small business ecosystem.

I would also like to thank Mr. Farooq Mitha, the Director of the Department of Defense’s Office of Small Business Programs for joining us this morning, and for his willingness to share his perspectives on DoD’s engagement with this critical community.

Most importantly, I would like to thank you all—the members of our nation’s small businesses—for being here and engaging with us. 

As President Biden said at the beginning of his first term, “Small businesses are the engine of our economy—the glue, the heart and soul of communities…You’re involved in and you’re innovative across every single, solitary industry.”

From my vantage point as Secretary of the Navy, a healthy, diverse industrial base made up of companies of all sizes—founded by American entrepreneurs from all walks of life—is absolutely crucial to the success of our Navy and our Marine Corps.

I look forward to meeting with several of you today—to hear your business stories and to learn more about your products and services. 

I especially encourage you to engage with our DON Office of Small Business Programs team, led by Ms. Arveice Washington, who are here today.

Small businesses are the foundation of our Department’s ability to provide the capabilities and services we need to support our Sailors, Marines, civilians, and their families stationed around the globe—from providing them with quality-of-life services to ensuring our deployed personnel have the capabilities they need to be successful in their assigned missions.

As you all are no doubt aware, the world around us is changing at a lightning pace.

We—along with our international partners and allies—are facing challenges across the globe, from Europe to the Red Sea, and throughout the Indo-Pacific.

Russia continues its illegal and unprovoked war with Ukraine, violating its territorial and national sovereignty.

As part of Moscow’s campaign, it is no longer guaranteeing the safe passage of commercial shipping throughout the Black Sea, endangering critical shipments of food and supplies to the rest of the world, including those to developing countries that cannot afford disruptions.

In the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, we continue to work alongside our NATO allies and Middle East partners to counter the Iranian-aligned Houthi attacks against commercial shipping—attacks that threaten the lives of innocent, civilian mariners from several nations.

In the Indo-Pacific, we continue to witness the PRC’s aggressive actions in the maritime domain towards its neighbors as they seek to enforce their excessive maritime claims through the employment of their navy, coast guard, and maritime militia.

On top of these challenges posed by nation-states, we are working to combat the threat of climate change, threats to countries’ economies posed by narcotics and human trafficking, as well as Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing.

Addressing the threats and challenges that adversely affect the U.S., our allies, and our partners who seek to use the global maritime commons for peaceful economic ends requires a whole-of-nation commitment to ensuring we have a strong Navy and Marine Corps that can defend our interests on a global scale.

When I was sworn into office in August 2021 as the 78^th Secretary of the Navy, I effectively became the “CEO” of the Department of the Navy, assuming responsibility for the work of nearly one million Sailors, Marines, and Civilians, supported by a budget now in excess of $255 billion.

To guide our Department in all endeavors that we undertake, I established three enduring priorities.  They are:

• Strengthening Maritime Dominance
• Building a Culture of Warfighting Excellence, and
• Enhancing Strategic Partnerships

Two and a half years into my tenure, I am proud to report that we have made tremendous progress across all three of our enduring priorities, with small businesses playing a significant role in our successes.

Strengthening maritime dominance is focused on ensuring our Sailors and Marines have the right mix of platforms and capabilities so that they are prepared to deter our nation’s potential adversaries, and, if called upon, fight and decisively win our Nation’s wars.

To accomplish this, we rely on a wide range of companies and organizations—large and small—throughout our industrial base in key areas such as shipbuilding and ship repair, information and technology support services, and facilities construction and maintenance.

In terms of cutting-edge capabilities, we are working with small businesses to secure our advantages in technology areas such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, cybersecurity, and unmanned systems.

But our Navy and our Marine Corps are more than just platforms and systems—the heart of our fleet and our force are the Sailors, Marines, civilians, and their families.

Over the past two and half years, we have worked closely with industry on addressing quality-of-life issues, including accompanied and unaccompanied housing, and morale, welfare, and recreation.

We are proud of the investments we have made to improve the standard of living for our personnel, while also recognizing there is still more work to be done. 

For the companies represented here that are focused on improving the lives of our personnel, whether it be through delivering world-class education and training, or providing resources to support the health and resiliency of our Navy and Marine Corps communities, we welcome the opportunity to learn more about your offerings during or after this week’s conference.

And as we think about our priority to enhance strategic partnerships, we are laser-focused on building and maintaining relationships with the small businesses that comprise our defense ecosystem.

We are making critical investments across the defense industrial base—specifically within our submarine industrial base—to improve workforce development across our shipbuilders and supply chain partners to providing training in “new-collar” trades such as additive manufacturing, CNC machining, and welding, to name a few.

These are investments not just in our Navy, but in America, and we are proud to support our fellow citizens as they look for new opportunities to support the growth of our nation’s manufacturing capability.

If you are a small business searching for employees in these advanced trades, I encourage you to contact our team at Naval Sea Systems Command to learn more about our talent pipeline and workforce training partnerships. 

We are committed to supporting the health of our defense industrial base workforce so that you are able to sustain the fleet and force our nation requires.   

As part of our efforts to enhance our partnership with our small business community, our department’s Office of Small Business Programs is hard at work to remove any potential barriers to entry with doing business with us.

They are responsible for maximizing opportunities for small businesses to serve as both prime and subcontractors, actively supporting our Department’s objective to “identify and develop small business concerns that support the Navy-Marine Corps force for tomorrow.”

Through extensive outreach, training, and counseling, our OSBP team is committed to ensuring small businesses that have been historically underutilized or who have previously faced challenges participating in our procurement process can do so, if desired.

Additionally, they oversee major vendors’ participation in our Mentor-Protégé Program, which is critical to enhancing the capabilities of disadvantaged small businesses as they work to compete for both prime contracts and subcontracts.

I highlight the work of Ms. Washington and her team and the support they offer you because I am passionate about ensuring you are able to do business with the Navy and Marine Corps.

As many of you know, my wife Betty and I founded a small company shortly after I retired from the Navy after 26 years of service. 

Together, we led our small business for 17 years, experiencing the joys of earning a client’s business—and, more importantly, their trust.

You see, I know what you are going through, having been in your position only two and half years ago.

I know exactly how hard you are working to put yourselves in a position to compete for and win contracts for work, thereby enabling you to make payroll and re-invest in your growing businesses.

I recognize the challenges that you face, from recruiting and retaining the employees you need to support and expand your firm’s products or service offerings, to being on the right contract vehicles so that you are able to bid on work.

I am also acutely aware of the advantages small businesses provide through your subject matter expertise and your drive to meet the highest standards of quality so that you are in position to earn repeat business.

And that is why our Office of Small Business Program’s motto is “Small Business – The First Option.”

Make no mistake, we are committed to investing in your businesses, procuring the goods and services our Department needs to be successful in our assigned missions.

In fiscal year 2023, we spent $20.1 billion on contracts with small businesses, exceeding our target goal for the year by over 17 percent.

Furthermore, we exceeded our sub-category goals for service-disabled Veteran-owned, women-owned, and HUBZone, and came within 0.04% of meeting our small, disadvantaged business goal.

And this year, we are well on our way to meeting our goals, and we’re not even at the halfway point, with billions of dollars committed to contracts with small businesses across all categories.

In order to meet our FY 2024 goals, we will continue to need you, our small business community, to respond to our contracting opportunities.

This brings awareness to our requirement holders of your product and service offerings, and signals that you are ready and willing to answer the call in supporting our Sailors and Marines. 

As we look towards the future and how our Department will continue to engage with our small business community, I am excited about our schedule of events for the rest of the year.

Next month, our OSBP team will travel to Richmond for the Business to Government Procurement Conference and Expo, followed by Sea-Air-Space in April at National Harbor in Maryland—our nation’s premier maritime exposition that brings together the defense industry and military decisionmakers from around the globe.

And in August, we will be hosting the Department of the Navy Gold Coast event in San Diego, California—our leading procurement gathering that provides guidance and support to businesses of all sizes who wish to work with the DON.

I will highlight that Gold Coast also offers one-on-one matchmaking sessions with government and industry contracting personnel, and all ten of our Navy’s System Commands will be represented.

There are no shortage of engagements on the horizon between our Department and this community.

I look forward to working with our small businesses to provide our Navy and Marine Corps team with the support, systems, and platforms we need to confront the global challenges we face today.

Thank you again, and may God bless our Sailors, Marines, civilians, and their families.

Source: United States Navy

Commodore of Destroyer Squadron 15 Capt. Justin Harts relieved the commanding officer of the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Howard (DDG 83), Cmdr. Cameron Dennis, February 6, 2024 due to a loss of confidence in his ability to perform his duties. Capt. Dave Huljack will be assigned as commanding officer until a permanent relief is identified.

Source: United States Navy

While steaming more than 21,600 nautical miles in support of a variety of high visibility, multinational U.S. Navy and partner nation operations in several Pacific countries, including Australia, Canada, Japan, Malaysia, Peru, the Philippines, South Korea, Thailand, and the United Kingdom, Brunswick circumnavigated the globe – a first for the vessel and a first for an EPF.

Built for its speed and its capacity to support a wide range of operational maneuver and sustainment, relief operations in small or damaged ports, global fleet stations operations, flexible logistics support and rapid transport as an alternative to airlift, Brunswick’s performance remained rock-solid throughout its seven-year deployment.

2017

While supporting military logistics operations in U.S. Third Fleet, Brunswick participated in Operation Triggerfish 2017, conducted several port calls to Pohnpei and Chuuk in the Federated States of Micronesia and Guam, and hosted distinguished visitors such as Mr. Robert Riley, U.S. Ambassador to Micronesia. This vital cargo and passenger operation fostered relationships with the islands visited and provided potential sites for future military infrastructure projects.

2018

Brunswick operated from Saipan in support of military operations throughout the western Pacific Ocean in 2018. While there, Brunswick visited places such as Guam, Yap, Thailand, and Malaysia as part the 2018 Pacific Partnership, an annual mission focused on disaster preparedness and humanitarian assistance, conducted in the Indo-Pacific with more than 500 personnel from several Pacific countries, including Australia, Canada, Japan, Malaysia, Peru, the Philippines, South Korea, Thailand, and the United Kingdom. The EPF also participated in several port visits to Lumut and Kuching and Malaysia. The crew took advantage of the opportunity to experience Malaysia’s rich culture and strengthen ties with the local population. Port visits such as these serve as an important element in the U.S. Navy’s theater security cooperation efforts by enhancing solid relationships with partner nations throughout the region.

2019

In addition to participating in its second Pacific Partnership in 2019, Brunswick, together with sister ship Fall River (T-EPF 4), conducted engineering projects, hosted medical events, and oversaw humanitarian assistance and disaster response training exercises throughout the pacific region.

EPFs, working together, bridge the gap between high-speed, low-capacity airlift, low-speed, and high-capacity sealift in order to provide for the movement of personnel, equipment, and supplies over operational distances and the sustainment of joint theater and multinational logistics that help to augment MSC’s combat logistics force. Additionally, Brunswick docked in the Lower Mortlock Islands to support local communities recovering from the aftermath of Typhoon Wutip, a Category 5 super typhoon that affected Guam, Federated States of Micronesia, and the Northern Mariana Islands. The typhoon claimed the lives of 86 people and injured hundreds of others.

2020

The Brunswick crew was recognized, in 2020, for their extraordinary support and contributions to the Typhoon Wutip relief efforts. U.S. Maritime Administration Administrator Rear Adm. (Ret.) Mark H. Buzby presented the crew with the Merchant Marine Medal for Outstanding Achievement. In addition, Brunswick supported the Valiant Shield 2020 – A joint force training exercise to protect the Indo-Pacific. During the exercise, more than 11,000 Soldiers, Marines, Sailors, and Airmen synchronized to train in a real-world environment to demonstrate their readiness to respond to any contingency at a moment’s notice.

2021

Brunswick took part in Noble Jaguar, in 2021, an integrated naval exercise in and around Japan that included units from the III Marine Expeditionary Force (III MEF), along with elements of U.S. Seventh Fleet.

2022

Brunswick, along with sister ships USNS Millinocket (T-EPF 3) and USNS Puerto Rico (T-EPF 11), in 2022, supported the CARAT exercise, Resolute Dragon, Koa Moana, Valiant Shield, and various other regional security cooperation exercises for III MEF.

2023

The expeditionary fast transport vessel played an instrumental role in exercises Talisman Sabre, Balikatan, Keen Sword, Kamandag for III MEF in 2023. Marines and other members of the U.S. military routinely embark on ships like Brunswick to transport cargo, equipment, and personnel expeditiously. Likewise, Brunswick supported I MEF for three months during its Marine Rotational Force – Southeast Asia deployment. EPFs provide warfighters flexibility as the ship’s storage capacity can be tailored to meet mission objectives.

While in U.S. Fifth Fleet, Brunswick accomplished a humanitarian assistance mission that resulted in the movement of 836 evacuees from 18 nations, including 168 U.S. citizens, from the Port of Sudan to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in support of the Department of State’s efforts to evacuate and assist US citizens and other civilians during the civil war in Sudan.

Throughout this seven-year deployment, the superb work performed by the Brunswick crew helped to improve interoperability and foster trust and cooperation with partner nations – all of which is in keeping with the Navy’s goal to enhance regional preparedness for crisis response.

MSC operates approximately 120 non-combatant civilian-crewed ships that replenish U.S. Navy ships, conduct specialized missions, and strategically preposition combat cargo at sea around the world while moving military cargo and supplies used by deployed U.S. forces and coalition partners.

To learn more about MSC visit: https://sealiftcommand.com.

Source: United States Navy

The Sullivans deployment – its fourth in two years – further bolstered the U.S. deterrence posture in the region, provided increased options to the combatant commander, and demonstrated U.S. commitment to regional security.

While deployed to the Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea, the ship provided Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) for Commander, U.S. European Command amidst the Israel-Hamas conflict. The Sullivans, alongside USS Delbert D. Black (DDG 119), additionally provided on-station relief for USS Thomas Hudner (DDG 116) and USS Mcfaul (DDG 74), allowing both ships to return home after multiple deployment extensions. The crew provided escort to the USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group and USS Bataan Amphibious Readiness Group, and acted as Surface Action Group Commander, along with other US Destroyers, while Gerald R. Ford conducted a port visit to Souda Bay, Crete.

“The crew’s proficiency and flexibility enabled The Sullivans to integrate seamlessly with the Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group and the Bataan Amphibious Readiness Group while operating in the Sixth Fleet Area of Responsibility,” said Cmdr. A. C. Wood, commanding officer of The Sullivans. “The successes during this surge deployment are a testament to this team’s character and the tireless support from our parent commands on the homefront.”

The Sullivans conducted two transits through the Strait of Gibraltar, four replenishments-at-sea, and over 480 man-hours of flight-operations. The Sullivans conducted port visits to Rota, Spain; Souda Bay, Greece; and two stops for fuel in Las Palmas, Spain (Canary Islands). While in Souda Bay, the crew participated in a community beach cleanup event. The crew participated in community relations events during their two port visits to bolster U.S. relations within Allied communities.

U.S. 2nd Fleet, reestablished in 2018 in response to the changing global security environment, develops and employs maritime forces ready to fight across multiple domains in the Atlantic and Arctic in order to ensure access, deter aggression and defend U.S., allied, and partner interests.

Source: United States Navy

Coming full circle, a team of subject matter experts from the command’s Assurance Directorate recently conducted its first follow-on assessment, visiting Navy Expeditionary Combat Command (NECC) in Virginia Beach, Virginia. NAVSAFECOM is tasked by the chief of naval operations with evaluating commands’ ability to comply with established policies and processes and to ensure the assessed command is managing, mitigating and communicating risk effectively. This entails assessing whether commands are accurately identifying risk, communicating risk and taking accountability of risk at the appropriate level.

“Before the first assessment in 2022, the NECC commander had recently assumed command and it was encouraging to see that the processes he implemented after our first visit were reflected as positive risk management tools in our second visit,” said Capt. Christopher Roberto, team lead for the second visit. “The second assessment went smoothly as a result of the NECC staff’s superb communication and eagerness to provide information.”

“I’m proud of my team and the effort they invested to get us to where we are today,” said Rear Adm. Brad Andros, NECC commander. “Our command now identifies risk, communicates risk and assigns risk to the correct risk owner far more effectively due to the transparency of our conversations, small process improvements and embracing the Get Real, Get Better culture shift.”

“Get Real, Get Better is about fostering a culture that rewards honesty, humility and transparency so we can problem-solve together and embrace continuous improvement among our ranks,” Andros said. “This is what drives warfighting advantage in an era of strategic competition. Because of processes like the assurance assessment, I know we are better prepared to propel our force generation forward as a type command, so when the Navy’s expeditionary combat forces are sent into combat, we win.”

Andros noted the 2022 assessment team helped his organization develop and implement better methods to identify, communicate and account for risk across his entire type command, comprising different expeditionary warfare communities, each with unique cultures.

“Establishing aligned processes across the different warfare communities has only benefited our command and our forces,” he added.

Over the past year and a half, the Naval Safety Command’s risk assurance assessments across all levels, from the unit to the major command level, have come a long way in raising risk awareness and understanding the importance of establishing self-assessing and self-correcting processes and behaviors.

“Organizations most often expect the scope of our assessment will most heavily focus on occupational safety and health,” Roberto said. While the assessment teams do look at this area, it is a minor piece of their risk assurance endgame.

“The processes we look at can be anywhere in an organization and often involve factors beyond a unit’s control,” Roberto noted. “In those cases, we assess a unit’s mitigation strategies, but they are often surprised when we comment on external risk areas in our reports.”

The team leader said, “Regardless of whether a commander can fund or fix a risk area, the fact it exists will stress an organization’s ability to meet mission and prevent unnecessary harm to personnel and equipment.”

Once an organization is scheduled for assessment, Roberto said the assurance assessment team assembles and gets to work. “Generally, there are four phases to each assessment,” he said. “In the first phase, we conduct administrative preparation that includes schedules, introductions, security and access requirements, account establishment, and we also generate questions for the record for leadership.”

The second phase consists of collecting and reviewing command-related data and directives. During the third phase, the team interviews staff members and leaders during the assessment week, with the last phase consisting of post-visit follow-up and report preparation.

“We would like to complete all analysis by the last day of an assessment visit but sometimes there are matters that require further data collection or coordination with outside entities, so this may extend an assessment period’s activities by as much as 10 days,” Roberto said.

Roberto acknowledged communication within the team is key. “Team members do not hesitate to share their findings with each other and with the assessed organization as items are uncovered,” he said. “We often use our team members for a second opinion or validation of results. Many times, a command directorate will point out their known risk assurance shortcomings and we do not hesitate to look across directorates for similar behaviors or processes. Chasing each potential risk area to the appropriate depth will always require cross-communication among team members and staffs.”

The Assurance Directorate also has the benefit of getting an outside perspective for their assessments.

“We bring our United Kingdom partner [Lt. Cmdr. James Newbury] on almost every visit,” Roberto said. “Aside from his expertise as an aviation maintenance and engineering officer, he often identifies processes that seem normal to us, but are cumbersome and overly complex when viewed through his lens. The Royal Navy is a much smaller and leaner force and we could do well to learn lessons in efficiency from their experts.”

Andros offered the following advice to commands facing their first assurance assessments: “Be transparent. Be candid and be forthcoming.”

“We greatly appreciate the time and dedicated effort the Naval Safety Command team has invested in our command and the Navy’s Expeditionary Combat Force,” Andros said. “We are better prepared to fight and win our nation’s wars because of their risk assurance assessment process.”

Ultimately, Roberto believes the inherent value the Assurance Directorate provides is that it shines a spotlight on issues that are prevalent across the naval enterprise so leaders at the highest levels can consider those issues when formulating resourcing or other priorities.

“The risk areas we identify are rarely easily ‘fixed’ or mitigated and often require a multi-echelon risk management approach. So long as we can enhance the identification, communication and accounting of risk, we will offer a valuable tool to commanders.”