SteerBridge Founder and Managing Partner, Rob Schroder appeared before the House Subcommittee on Contracting and Infrastructure to discuss the importance of small businesses in federal procurement and how Congress can help to ensure government agencies are fully engaging and utilizing these vital partners. 

The hearing, which was titled, “Leveling the Playing Field: The State of Small Business Contracting” covered a range of topics but Schroder focused his testimony on three key recommendations for Congress to consider in order to grow the small business community’s engagement and partnership with the federal government. 

Eliminate the Mentor-Protégé Joint Ventures (MPJV) Program. It was created with good intentions, but has been warped into simply being another path for big businesses to drive revenue under a small business banner. 

Require a specific certification process for subcontracting. While eliminating self-certification was addressed in the most recent NDAA, there are still loopholes and delays that allow companies to misrepresent their ownership.

Pass a policy that allows agencies to only count their contract spend against one category for small business. Agencies are currently achieving their goals by counting multiple credits for the same contract dollars, and eliminating this practice will help spur even more small business engagement. 

When discussing recent SteerBridge projects and what sets small businesses apart, Schroder said, “Speed, agility, and mission focuses, are advantages of not just SteerBridge but our small business peers in the industry. We recently are working on innovative solutions and groundbreaking efforts utilizing artificial intelligence and machine learning for the Marine Corps. This shows the vital advantages that we can provide to one of our best customers. We are applying these advanced techniques to better supply the F-35 on deployments. We have been successful in this contract because we are agile, we are flexible, and we are innovative at a speed only a company of our size absent a big bureaucracy can accomplish.” 

With more than 25 years of leadership experience in the military and private sector, Schroder successfully couples his operational, congressional, and acquisition expertise with his determination to integrate veteran talent to ultimately win federal contracts and deliver innovative solutions and effective results for SteerBridge customers. 

Founded in 2011, SteerBridge pairs the knowledge and experience of veteran professionals with the capabilities of private sector technologists to deliver best-in-class solutions in the areas of software engineering, program and process management, cybersecurity services, strategic communications, veteran relations, systems and telecom services, and data management and analytics. 

To listen to the full hearing, please see the link below: