Reference: DLA Land and Maritime Small Business Programs Office (DU) To: Veteran Business Owners SUBJECT: Doing business with Defense Logistics Agency, DLA Land and Maritime First of all, we want to thank you for your invaluable service to our country. We would like to introduce you to the Defense Logistics Agency, DLA Land and Maritime. The Defense Logistics Agency is the Department of Defense's largest logistics combat support agency, providing worldwide logistics support in both peacetime and wartime to the military services as well as several civilian agencies and foreign countries. DLA provides the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, other federal agencies, and joint and allied forces with a variety of logistics, acquisition and technical services. DLA Land and Maritime is headquartered in Columbus, OH and is a Supply/Demand Chain in the Defense Logistics Agency. We manage more than 2 million different items which accounts for more than $3 billion in annual sales. Throughout the world, DLA Land and Maritime is known to more than 24,000 military and civilian customers and 10,000 contractors, as one of the largest suppliers of weapon systems spare parts. Wherever the United States has a military presence, DLA Land and Maritime is likely there as well. As you know, the federal government continues to reach out to service-disabled veteran business owners to assist in earning their fair share of government contracting opportunities. There are many factors that influence meeting the targets and many federal agencies have just come up short. Since the law was enacted in 2004, DLA Land and Maritime continues to increase contracting dollars awarded to service disabled veteran owned small businesses; however, we have yet to meet the 3% requirement. To that end, we at DLA Land and Maritime want to reaffirm our commitment to you who have served and reach out to those veteran entrepreneurs to become suppliers to DLA in our support of the warfighter. Our commitment is to ensure that the veteran entrepreneur community has the tools and information they need to become successful suppliers to DLA Land and Maritime. With this in mind, DLA Land and Maritime and the Ohio Procurement Technical Assistance Center Network (PTACN) have come together to host a two-day seminar on how to do business with DLA Land and Maritime. The event will be held on Tuesday and Wednesday October 19-20, 2010 at Defense Supply Center in Columbus, Ohio. Go to http://www.dscc.dla.mil/News/events/TKO to register for the free event. Space is limited to the first 150 registrants. We at DLA Land and Maritime are especially interested if you are a manufacturer/machine shop capable of supply the spare parts needed by the DLA Land and Maritime customers. Please go to http://www.dscc.dla.mil/offices/smbusiness/ for a link to our Manufacturing Capability Survey. Please complete the capability survey at your earliest convenience and return by email to
[email protected] or
[email protected] . Your company may have the opportunity to present your capabilities in a forum of acquisition personnel, engineers and product specialists. If you are unable to attend this event, there is support in or near your local area from the Procurement Technical Assistance Centers (PTACs). PTACs provide a wide range of assistance -- most free of charge -- to businesses through one-on-one counseling sessions, classes, seminars and matchmaking events. PTACs are located across the country and are manned by business specialists who can help you navigate government contracting. To find the one nearest you, go to http://www.aptac-us.org/new and click on "find a PTAC." In an effort to strengthen the U.S. small business industrial base with service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses, we look forward to the opportunity to partner with your company in providing best value solutions for America's Warfighters. We are eager to assist you with your journey in 'Doing Business with DLA Land and Maritime' and can be reached at (800) 262-3272 or via email at
[email protected] . Cynthia (Cindy) Nevin Director, Small Business Programs Office DLA Land and Maritime