Many mentors have made the MPP an integral part of their procurement plans. The protégés used their involvement in the MPP to develop technical skills. Successful mentor-protégé agreements provide a winning relationship for the protégé, mentor and DoD. To continue to protect small businesses, the SBA only allows the mentor to compete with his protégé through dismantling contracts through a joint venture. Any joint venture agreement shall contain provisions under which the small undertaking holds at least 51 % of the joint venture. Many protected persons do not have detailed policies, procedures, or business systems. One form of tutoring support is the creation, compilation or provision of corporate documents such as data retention policies, annual verification forms or proposal templates. Guardians can also give instructions on the most appropriate procedures or systems for the protected person. What should an internal audit process look like? What system should be used to properly document and track contract data? Each of them and others are areas where the mentor`s experience will help a protégé avoid some of the traditional growth difficulties of a small business. Each mentor must meet the four requirements of the SBA. First, a mentor must be “able to fulfill their responsibility to support the protection enterprise under the proposed agreement with tutoring protection.” Second, mentors must have a good character.

Third, the mentor should not be on the federal list of suspended or suspended contractors. Finally, the mentor must be able to “give value to a protégé on the basis of the practical experience gained or thanks to his knowledge of the general contracts of companies and the government,” says the regulation. SBA regulations allow mentors to acquire up to 40% of the protection company`s shares. Even if a mentor does not make this investment in advance, nothing can be ruled out from investing in the agreement protected by the mentor in a year or more. Meanwhile, employee mentors can receive valuable information by working with the protégé. This knowledge not only facilitates further due diligence, but could also facilitate all post-acquisition transitions. Even with a tutoring system and financial support, a protégé won`t get far if they don`t get a contract. In this area, mentors can provide knowledge and best practices to pursue contractual opportunities. The regulatory objective of the program is “to improve the skills of protégés” and improve their “ability to compete successfully for federal contracts.” However, a recent SBA report also confirmed that the program should benefit both mentors and protégés. The same report shows that there were 759 active agreements protected by mentorship in April 2019. Qualifying this waiver requires SBA approval of the proposed protected tutoring agreement.

Once the agreement is approved, the mentor and protégé can form joint ventures to pursue small business opportunities without having to worry about the size of the mentor. It is equally advantageous that the agreement itself is not the basis for the affiliation between the mentor and the protégé, as it would compromise the objective of the program. Even if a company qualifies as a mentor or protégé, why would they want to enter into a contract protected by a mentor? In particular, with the “Designed to Improve the Skills of Protected Businesses” program, why would a mentor want to participate? An agreement protected by a mentor has four different advantages. Money is probably the most obvious reason for mentors to participate in the program. Over the past three years, the Department of Defense has provided more than $77 billion in contracts to small businesses. That`s $77 billion that large companies can`t get unless they`re part of a mentoring agreement. And that`s just defense. The SBA`s specific priority targets for fiscal year 2019 ranged from 11.65% to 71% of all small business purchases. However, the mentor-protected agreement is only the first step. Under the MPP, small businesses work with larger companies. Over the past five years, the Department of Defense`s MPP has successfully helped more than 190 small businesses fill unique niches and become part of the military`s supply chain.

The DoD Mentor-Protected Program is the oldest continuously operated mentor-protected program within the federal government that exists. .