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Hawk Enterprises Completes
Mentor-Protégé Program with Bell Helicopter
Press Contact
Tom Dolney (817) 280-7651
tjdolney @ bellhelicopter.textron.com
HUNTSVILLE, ALA. (Sept. 10, 2009) - Hawk Enterprises, LLC, was recognized today for completing its Department of Defense Mentor-Protégé Program with Bell Helicopter, a Textron Company (NYSE: TXT), in a ceremony at Hawk's company headquarters in Huntsville, Ala.
The ceremony marked the conclusion of an 18-month partnership of the two companies that began in March 2008 when Hawk Enterprises was selected to become a protégé to Bell Helicopter under the DoD Mentor Protégé Program which is designed to develop qualified small business suppliers. The effort is managed by the Pentagon's Office of Small Business Programs and helps transform promising small businesses into established firms that can become valued DoD business partners.
Large mentor firms consider participation in the mentor-protégé program a part of their overall sourcing plan, while smaller protégé firms use their involvement to develop the business and technical capabilities that allow them to expand their business operations and diversify their customer base. There are currently more than 100 active mentor-protégé agreements in the DoD program.
"The DoD Mentor-Protégé Program is a natural fit with Bell Helicopter's strategic outsourcing goals because it develops selected small businesses into qualified low-cost suppliers," said Bob Cook, Fielded Systems Program Manager at Bell Helicopter. "Bell is proud to have participated in the program with Hawk Enterprises," said Cook. "The development and growth of selected small business suppliers like Hawk helps us deliver new products and lower costs to our military customers."
Hawk Enterprises is a service-disabled veteran owned small business that provides technical, administrative, logistics, and training services that support the Army's OH-58D program. Its partnership with Bell is sponsored by the Army Aviation and Missile Life Cycle Management Command and is a "credit-only" partnership where Bell provides funding for team efforts.
"Our partnership with Bell has been extremely helpful," said Bill Tripp, founder and president Hawk Enterprises. "We're looking forward to the next step in our relationship with Bell Helicopter – the pursuit of contracts for Hawk that will allow us to continue providing high-quality support to our nation's warfighters."
In its role as a mentor firm, Bell has provided developmental assistance to Hawk Enterprises in two major areas – the transfer of technology and business infrastructure improvement. Specifically, Bell has provided training and resources to assist Hawk with improving its contract estimating and proposal writing processes, improving its business plan development skills, and with the training and certification of two Hawk employees as Lean Six-Sigma Green Belts.
About Bell Helicopter
Bell Helicopter, a wholly owned subsidiary of Textron Inc., is an industry-leading producer of commercial and military, manned and unmanned vertical lift aircraft and the pioneer of the revolutionary tilt rotor aircraft. Globally recognized for world-class customer service, innovation and superior quality, Bell's global workforce serves customers flying Bell aircraft in more than 120 countries.
About Textron Inc.
Textron Inc. is a multi-industry company that leverages its global network of aircraft, defense, industrial and finance businesses to provide customers with innovative solutions and services. Textron is known around the world for its powerful brands such as Bell Helicopter, Cessna Aircraft Company , Jacobsen, Kautex, Lycoming, E-Z-GO, Greenlee, Fluid & Power, Textron Systems and Textron Financial Corporation. More information is available at www.textron.com.
http://www.bellhelicopter.com
Bell Helicopter Textron Inc. Post Office Box 482, Fort Worth, TX 76101
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