Friday, May 20, 2016

A New Concept

Almost six months ago MagnaTech attended a meeting with a diverse group of small businesses that intend to combine with a prime contractor selling  to the government to explore how local small companies could be efficiently utilized to assist the prime in resolution of its problems. The concept was to use the association of the small local companies and their individual talents to combine with the Prime to resolve its specific problems.
At the first meeting ninety small companies were in attendance, and the concept was introduced. Several different categories where the prime was having difficulty  were explored. Ideas of strengths and resolutions were presented. Each  group presented what they considered the strength of the group. We were within a group named maintenance. As part of this group there was a company that specialized in making an instrument that diagnosed problems that occurred within the equipment supplied by the prime. Therefore we focused on the strengths of that company in a supportive roll.
As time progressed and the monthly meetings scheduled occurred, there was a continual reduction in the number of companies present at the start of each succeeding meeting. This decrease resulted because the companies did not see a fit into the final process and objective. The reasons were that as the program jelled, there were less reasons for participation.
Currently the remaining participating companies has reduced to twenty. For the last two sessions, the remaining companies have concentrated on assimulating the ideas presented into an outline that is useful to prepare to compose a White Paper that briefly presents the concept and funding required to prove whether the concept is worthy. A problem requiring solution has been identified by the prime. Now the objective is to assimulate the associated skills of the collective group to propose a resolution of the problem. The group has five pages to convince the government that the concept is valid. If accepted, then the collective would continue to write a proposal, twenty to twenty-five pages in length describing in detail how the group will act collectively to resolve the problem.
MagnaTech is interested in this and similar programs that are coming on stream as a new way of co-operation with primes to accomplish resolution of the prime's problems through the participation of small business and acceptance of ideas for a specific solution. The concept is not new, and the thrust is to provide a collective set of skills rather than a single source for resolution. This is currently a work in progress and it will be interesting in preparation and review of the White Paper. MagnaTech expects to be a strong participant in both cases.