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The proportion of Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme Division (NSWC PHD)’s contract funds awarded to small businesses exceeded the command’s goals for fiscal 2025 despite dipping 4 percentage points compared to the previous fiscal year, according to a report documenting the command’s annual small business contract achievements.
NSWC PHD obligated $426 million overall for contracts for the past fiscal year, which closed at the end of September. Of that total, $236 million, or 55%, went to small businesses. That percentage surpassed the command’s small business goal of 52% for the year, the report said.
The command also exceeded goals in two of four socioeconomic small business subcategories. It awarded $106 million, or 25% of contracts, to small, disadvantaged businesses, which beat the year’s goal of 21%. More than $53 million, or about 13%, went to service-disabled, veteran-owned small businesses (SDVOSB), which surpassed the year’s 11% goal for that category.
Rounding out the subcategories, women-owned small businesses received just over $32 million, or less than half a percentage point below the year’s goal of 8%, and small businesses in historically underutilized business zones received awards totaling $2 million, or 0.47%, a sliver below the command’s 0.50% goal for the year.
Despite those slight drops, overall the figures continue a trend of the command exceeding its goals for funds awarded to small businesses over the past five years. From 2021 to 2025, the command obligated $2.2 billion in contracts, with $1.4 billion, or about 63%, of that going to small businesses, the report said.
Daniel Mahan, NSWC PHD’s deputy for small business, noted that for many years the command typically has obligated more than 50% of its contracts to small businesses, while other Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) organizations typically don’t exceed 40%.
“We’re very small-business friendly,” Mahan said.
<B>Setting goals</B> NAVSEA’s enterprise-level annual small business goals are set by the Small Business Administration (SBA) with input from NAVSEA, Mahan said. NAVSEA’s goal for fiscal 2025 was to obligate 8% of its total enterprise-level awards to small businesses, he said.
NAVSEA also works with each of its organizations, including warfare centers, shipyards, regional maintenance centers and more, to help each entity arrive at its own annual small business goals. Each organization has different contractor needs based on its unique mission, so small business goals vary.
<B>Small business parameters vary</B> Companies qualify as small businesses under the SBA depending on their size, revenue and industry. A company with just a few employees and a company with 1,300 people could both qualify as small businesses depending on what requirements they meet.
At NSWC PHD, Mahan noted that the command has also boosted small business outreach in ways not reflected in the report numbers: This year the command increased the overall number of small businesses it contracts with by roughly 40%, with about 140 small enterprises providing goods and services to NSWC PHD.
That small-business focus reflects realities unique to NSWC PHD, Mahan said. Unlike other warfare centers, the command’s work lends itself to services that small businesses offer, he said.
Because of that, the command’s small business office places an emphasis on outreach: Mahan makes NSWC PHD requirements and long-range acquisition estimates available on the Navy’s online portals, and he holds workshops, travels to conferences, sends emails and does whatever else might generate new small business contacts, he said.
Chatting in person especially builds relationships, Mahan said, so he visits gatherings where small contractors meet government representatives. In just the past year, he traveled to conferences in New Orleans, Washington, D.C., and San Diego, but also to smaller conferences in unexpected locations, such as Anchorage, Alaska.
He also regularly hosts informational roundtables in Port Hueneme, open to any interested contractors. While local businesses do come, at a recent roundtable he noticed that a dozen company representatives traveled from Maryland and Virginia, just to find out about opportunities at NSWC PHD, Mahan said.
That gave Mahan the idea to host an NSWC PHD-specific roundtable in Washington, D.C., set for next May, he said.
“There are a lot of contractors there, and not all of them have the wherewithal to travel to the West Coast to hear what I have to say,” he said.
<b>Economic powerhouse</b> But why build small business relationships at all? According to data from the SBA, 99.9% of all businesses in the United States are small businesses, which the SBA generally defines as businesses with 500 or fewer employees, although that varies per industry. They employ roughly 50% of the private-sector U.S. workforce, the SBA’s website said.
Mahan said that for NSWC PHD, expanding small business contacts helps the command build a robust defense industrial base — the network of companies that can supply the products and services the command needs to accomplish its mission.
“The larger the industrial base we have at our disposal, the better chance we have of finding someone who can provide what we need at a very competitive price,” Mahan said.
ProSync Technology Group LLC, an SDVOSB based in Catonsville, Maryland, has contracted with NSWC PHD since 2022, providing information technology, specialized intelligence, security services, and engineering, logistics and planning support. The company has about 80 employees, including 52 supporting NSWC PHD, with 38 of those based on-site at the command.
James Igel, executive senior program manager for ProSync, said NSWC PHD creates a collaborative environment for potential and current small business partners. He said that as the work that the ProSync team supports at NSWC PHD has expanded, his company has added staffing at the command’s remote sites.
“Dan does a very good job of coordinating events and communicating the contract requirements to us,” Igel said. “It’s given us a venue to team with other small businesses, to build our collective talent pool in order to grow the right team to support the NSWC PHD contracts.”
He said fostering small business relationships benefits everyone involved.
“It’s important that this avenue exists, not just for (NSWC) PHD but for the U.S. government,” he said. “There’s so much talent in small businesses, and this just brings all that talent to the table.”
| Date Taken: | 01.06.2026 |
| Date Posted: | 01.07.2026 16:27 |
| Story ID: | 555827 |
| Location: | PORT HUENEME, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Web Views: | 164 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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