We combine the resources, stability, and experience of a large, established business (mentor) with the innovation, focus, and energy of a small, emerging, disadvantaged business (protégé). That's because today’s managers face a daunting challenge—responsibilities and demands for services have increased, but internal resources have decreased. To achieve their missions, managers need qualified, responsive, support contractors who can meet program requirements and deliver real value.
Booz Allen and its protégé companies are ideally suited to help government agencies with the management and technology services demanded by today’s critical defense and civilian programs.
Mentor-protégé programs have been designed so that everyone benefits from participating in them:
- Clients gain access to the corporate capabilities and resources of large companies and the emerging technologies that are often delivered by small companies
- Government agencies can support small business opportunities and meet their agencies’ small business prime and subcontracting goals
- Mentors are reimbursed or credited in accordance with the terms and conditions of the program’s contract agreement and expand their small business subcontracting base
- Protégés gain access to the business and technical expertise and experience of a large firm, broaden their market areas and client base, and participate in new large-scale efforts they may be unable to lead on their own
Contracting with a mentor-protégé team puts everyone in a win-win situation. Booz Allen’s size, reputation for excellence, and commitment to the small-business community make Booz Allen an ideal mentor.
Booz Allen’s Strategy as a Mentor is to:
- Enhance technical and business capabilities of our protégé firms by helping them develop their business skills and infrastructure, transferring technology, integrating them into Booz Allen’s business and marketing activities, and expanding their resources.
- Expand business development and subcontracting opportunities by encouraging subcontracting with our protégés across all business segments of Booz Allen, enhancing the personnel and resource capabilities of the protégés. This expands our protégés’ breadth of expertise and experience in order to increase competition in the technology market.
- Develop productive, long-term strategic relationships by developing and enhancing capabilities of our protégés so that together we may provide high-quality support to mentor-protégé team clients.
- Establish mutually beneficial teaming arrangements by opening up new opportunities for our protégés and helping Booz Allen gain access to new markets.
Booz Allen’s participation in federal mentor-protégé programs is coordinated through the firm’s Small Business Office. Representatives from the Small Business Office work closely with agreement program managers to deliver the unique and individual developmental assistance to each protégé. Program managers are responsible for championing the business case for exploring a mentor-protégé agreement in initial stages.
What Booz Allen is Looking for in Potential Protégés:
- Existing contractual business relationship with Booz Allen for a minimum of one year (client facing).
- Immediate value proposition within the agency market (e.g. strategic relationship, complementary skill).
- Strategic long-term value in addition to potential subcontracting opportunities.
- Minimum size standard of 20 full-time employees.
- Operating as a business for at least 3 years.
- Capabilities do not directly compete with any existing Booz Allen protégé.
- No active mentor-protégé agreement within the targeted agency or any other agency.
- Must have held a federal contract or subcontract for at least one year with any agency.
- Compatible business ethics and philosophy and a potential for long-term reciprocal relationship.
- Financially stable and viable.
