Small business contractor retention and Department of Defense security

The Department of Defense relies on strategic partnerships with the private sector to accomplish its goals. Small businesses play an important role for providing products and services to the Department of Defense. The Department of Defense has also realized that it “must attract and retain small businesses in order to continue to create and maintain world-class weapon systems,” (Schilling, Mazzuchi & Sarkani, 2017). Small businesses also provide products and services that help reduce costs and better allocate resources. Although the Department of Defense has set its small business contracting goal to 22% of all contracts awarded in 2018, there are still significant barriers and challenges to these partnerships (“DoD FY 2018 Small Business Goals,” n.d.). Moreover, the Department of Defense needs to focus more on small business contractor retention in the interests of national security. As increasing numbers of defense contractors outsource their own services, strengthening the direct relationships between the Department of Defense and small businesses becomes a critical need. Subcontracting presents several logistical, ethical, and security challenges for the Department of Defense. The need to outsource services like personnel security clearance management, Facility Clearance documentation management, security assessments, information system support, and day-to-day security operations is understandable. However, standards like open competition do not apply to subcontractor awards and not all subcontractors need to be cleared by the Department of Defense (Government Contract Associates, n.d.). Even the NISPOM guidelines do not completely or thoroughly address all the concerns with subcontracting, such as contingencies for data and information security in cases where a small company is acquired by a potential threat. If the Department of Defense were to form partnerships directly with small businesses who could provide these essential services, then some of the ethical problems with subcontracting would be more easily resolved. Similarly, if the Department of Defense were to work directly with small businesses it could prevent potential security breaches. Subcontractors are not as highly scrutinized as the primary Security Service Providers or Cleared Defense Contractors. The process whereby contracts are awarded needs to be streamlined. In spite of the lip service being paid to forming relationships with small businesses, the Department of Defense is not doing much to cultivate or maintain those relationships. As Schilling, Mazzuchi & Sarkani (2017) point out, the majority of small businesses in direct contract with the Department of Defense terminates their relationship within a year or receive a one year or shorter contract. These types of haphazard and hasty relationships might help the Department achieve its deadline goals but does little to promote national security. The focus of the Defense Security Service (DSS) is transitioning to “an intelligence-led, asset-focused, and threat-driven approach to industrial security oversight,” (United States Department of Defense: Defense Security Service, 2018). Previously, the DSS concentrated on enforcing National Industrial Security Program Operating Manual (NISPOM) compliance. Now, NISPOM compliance issues need to be resolved by subsuming these duties under the rubric of another Defense agency. The Department of Defense could also focus on strengthening its small business partnership program. Doing so would solve several strategic goals, starting with reducing unnecessary costs. Localized talent from small business can also be better at threat detection and risk assessment, putting the Department at a strategic advantage and helping fulfill national security goals. Finally, small businesses can more effectively diversify the DoD portfolio. Small businesses help the Department of Defense achieve all its primary missions and objectives.