Washington, DC – December 21, 2010 – The Department of Veterans
Affairs (VA) announced that Coley & Associates, Inc. and its mentor
company, ASM Research, have been selected as one of the first 20
companies to participate in its new Mentor Protégé Program.
According to the VA, the purpose of the Mentor Protégé Program is,
“To help small businesses owned by service-disabled Veterans and other
Veteran-owned small businesses become more competitive in the
marketplace.”
In addition to having the honor of being selected in the inaugural
group of protégé companies, Coley is also the only technology company
from Texas to be selected and the only technology company specializing
in e-Learning, Multimedia, and Mobile solutions nationwide to be
selected.
Mr. Jack Coley, CEO of Coley & Associates, said, “Our selection
as a protégé in the VA’s Mentor Protégé Program is an honor and
testament to the impact Coley is making on the lives of Veterans. We
look forward to tapping into the more than 30 years of experience that
ASM Research offers our team as a mentor that will further our ability
to make an even greater impact on Veteran’s health and well-being.”
Coley & Associates, Inc. is a Service Disabled Veteran Owned
Small Business (SDVOSB) that brings together the best creative,
technical, and subject matter expertise to deliver engaging solutions
that make a difference in people’s lives.
ASM Research is a leading solutions integrator focused on using
information and technology to solve real world problems for Federal,
state, and local Government organizations. ASM is an employee-owned
company whose more than 30 years of commitment to its clients’ missions
has repeatedly produced extraordinary results.
Washington – To help small businesses owned by service-disabled
Veterans and other Veteran-owned small businesses become more
competitive in the marketplace, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
has selected 20 mentor-protégé teams to participate in a new
program.
“For VA, it’s a natural goal to award government contracts to
qualified Veteran-owned small businesses,” said Secretary of Veterans
Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. “Not only does it benefit the Veteran
entrepreneur, but VA gets the contractor support it needs more quickly
and with less risk. All Veterans win by getting better services from
VA.”
The program commits participating firms to agreements of up to 36
months in which mentoring firms provide business assistance in various
skill areas and foster long-term business relationships with their
Veteran-owned protégé firms. The mentor and protégé firms will prepare
their own agreements.
VA selected the teams based on its assessment of small businesses
owned by Veterans and the ability of potential mentoring firms to offer
help with development.
Small-business specialists in VA’s Office of Small and Disadvantaged
Business Utilization reviewed the agreements formed by the participants.
The mentoring firms are not necessarily Veteran-owned. Their mentoring
can benefit the protégé firms if VA evaluates them in bidding for future
contracts or subcontracts.
VA said it plans to select five more pairs of mentor and protégé
firms next month. VA will select additional mentor-protégé teams next
August and approximately every six months thereafter.
More information on the new program can be found at
http://www.va.gov/osdbu.