Small Business Office brings business to base

Published June 5, 2018
By Cameron Hunt
21st Space Wing Public Affairs

PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. -- Bringing a business to a military base can be difficult for those lacking knowledge of the process, which requires different steps than setting up a business in the local economy.

To help with this, the Department of Defense created an office dedicated to educating the public on the process of bringing community businesses onto military installations.

The specialists assigned to the Small Business Office at Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado, teamed up with Schriever Air Force Base, the U.S. Air Force Academy, U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command and Fort Carson to hold a monthly Industry Days Outreach. This joint team of small business specialists form the Colorado Procurement Technical Assistance Center.

“If you’ve been around awhile in Colorado Springs, you would know that we didn’t always have a PTAC assisting businesses to win government contracts, allowing businesses to operate on military installations,” said Reggie Selby, 21st Space Wing Small Business Office director. “Many times local businesses were excluded from operating on military bases, just due to the lack of knowledge.”

The small business specialists at Peterson AFB and the PTAC group acts as a bridge to educate community businesses to win government contracts. The PTAC group works with and follows the guidelines of the Colorado Springs Small Business Development Center, local offices of the U.S. General Services Administration and the U.S. Small Business Administration.

This service is open to all businesses wishing to expand their customer base onto military installations. The monthly Industry Days Outreach started at Peterson AFB and later migrated to the Colorado Technical University campus in Colorado Springs. The program is held on the third Tuesday of each month, and features a guest speaker.

The guest visitor this month was Steven Trujillo, Latino Chamber of Commerce Pueblo chief executive officer, who echoed the commitment to assist small businesses to succeed in the local area and on sur-rounding military installations.

“Our reason for being here today is to learn, and our goal is to help bring these types of resources that the state of Colorado and PTAC offers down to our business members in Pueblo and the southern Colorado region,” said Trujillo.

In regards to the Peterson AFB office, Selby provided insight into his office’s goals and what they offer small business owners. His office acts as consulting liaisons between businesses and the contracting squadrons on military installations. This ensures a greater chance of winning the contract bid for that business than businesses that don’t use the resources available.

“There is a real benefit in using the CTAP group and the small business office. There are some contracts that are exclusively open just for disabled and military veterans,” said Selby. “These opportunities eliminate competition from other businesses, providing a greater chance of winning a contract bid. The federal government acknowledges and supports the contributions of our military community, and this is their way of giving back to that community for their service to our country.”

Small businesses are a positive addition to any military installation’s services, said Selby.

“Small business contracts represent 81 percent of all contracts awarded by the 21st Contracting Squadron,” said Selby. “The benefits in employing local vendors has a positive three-fold impact. The Air Force and federal government benefit from employing local businesses primarily in that, when local business are utilized, its normally on average at a cost savings to the government opposed to employing a larger out-of-state corporation. And our local community benefits from the added revenue to the city’s economy.”

For more information on starting a small business, refer to https://www.sba.gov/. For information on the Peterson AFB Small Business Office, contact Reggie Selby at 719-556-4669, or send email inquiries to 21sw.smallbusiness@peterson.af.mil.