Affiliate

Charleston Defense Contractors Association
Primary Contact
Ms. Paula Callahan
Primary Phone
Long Business Description

The Charleston Defense Contractors Association is the premier advocate for the Charleston Defense Contractor Industry whose mission is to advocate for, preserve, strengthen, and grow the Charleston defense industry through partnership and collaboration with stakeholders and our community.

Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina
Primary Contact
Mr. Ryan Nance
Primary Phone
Long Business Description

The Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina (EDPNC) is focused on recruiting new businesses to the state, supporting the needs of existing businesses, connecting exporters with customers around the globe, helping small business owners get their start, and attracting tourists and visitors from all over the world.

In pursuit of sustainable job-creation and investment in North Carolina, the EDPNC works closely with public- and private-sector partners at the state, regional and local levels. As a nonprofit public-private partnership, the EDPNC operates under contract with the North Carolina Department of Commerce, while receiving financial support from private companies throughout the state. Governed by a 17-member board of business and industry leaders representative of the entire state, the EDPNC proudly serves as North Carolina’s statewide economic development organization, committed to serving all those looking to invest in, visit or do business with North Carolina.

NC Military Business Center
Primary Contact
Mr. Scott Dorney
Primary Phone
Long Business Description

The North Carolina Military Business Center (NCMBC) is a statewide business development and technology transition entity of the State of North Carolina, headquartered at and supported by Fayetteville Technical Community College (FTCC). The mission of the NCMBC is to leverage military and other federal business opportunities to expand the economy, grow jobs and improve quality of life in North Carolina.

The NCMBC’s primary goal is to increase federal revenues for businesses in North Carolina. The Department of Defense has an annual impact of $66 billion and is the second largest sector of North Carolina’s economy (12% GDP). With six major military bases, over 100 National Guard and Reserve facilities and the third highest number of uniformed military personnel in the country, the State of North Carolina created the NCMBC to leverage opportunities with these installations, DoD commands and federal agencies operating worldwide.

The NCMBC connects North Carolina firms to current government contracting opportunities in two ways – with a team of business development specialists across the state who also provide technical services, and electronically with www.MatchForce.org.

Business Development. The NCMBC’s business development team includes experienced business development, industry and procurement specialists operating from 12 Community Colleges across the state – from Hendersonville to Elizabeth City. These specialists identify the most lucrative federal contract opportunities (prime and subcontracts), notify and pre-position North Carolina firms for specific opportunities, and assist firms to understand government solicitations, prepare winning proposals and to successfully execute federal contracts.

MatchForce. To connect North Carolina businesses with all federal opportunities, including local opportunities at bases in the state, the NCMBC administers the State’s official, FREE web portal for federal contracting – www.MatchForce.org. North Carolina businesses register on the portal and receive automatic matches to federal prime opportunities and to subcontracting opportunities posted by other registered businesses. Firms identifying contract opportunities through MatchForce can then contact the NCMBC business development team for one-on-one assistance.

Strategic Initiatives Program. In addition to business development and MatchForce, the NCMBC conducts several strategic initiatives. These initiatives include:

Market intelligence – identifying future business opportunities in key sectors
Pre-positioning and training – for future and current opportunities
Current business development – connecting businesses to contract opportunities
Solicitation and proposal support – assisting businesses to compete and win
Training and resources – providing tools to overcome contracting obstacles
Events and networking – focused on target sectors including statewide Summits for the medical, aerospace, cybersecurity, military construction and textile and soldier systems industries

DEFTECH. The NCMBC also established the North Carolina Defense Technology Transition Office (DEFTECH) to enable North Carolina’s innovation ecosystem to address complex national security problems, and increase economic opportunities for businesses in the state. The NCMBC and DEFTECH serve military commands and federal agencies worldwide, connecting their requirements with the North Carolina industrial and innovation ecosystem. The NCMBC and DEFTECH are unique combat multipliers that leverage industrial capacity statewide and drive private sector innovation, research and development directly to DoD, federal agencies and major military commands worldwide.

U.S. Army Research Laboratory
Primary Contact
Mr. David Christ
Primary Phone
Long Business Description

In October 1992, the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) was activated, growing out of the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process, the LAB 21 study, and other evaluations. The new lab consolidated the seven corporate labs of the Laboratory Command (LABCOM) with other Army research elements to form a centralized laboratory concentrating on scientific research, technology development, and analysis.

For more than 50 years, in laboratories belonging to the Army Materiel Command (AMC) and their antecedents in the Technical Corps, civilians have conducted the great majority of the Army's basic science programs, whether as in-house scientists and engineers or as contractors in private industry and academia. Among their many successes, these civilians helped develop the proximity fuze; worked to develop ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer), the first operational, general purpose, electronic digital computer; grew some of the first synthetic large quartz crystals; and developed the titanium alloy T1-6A1-4V. Currently, ARL scientists and engineers are pioneering research in such areas as neuroergonomics, energetic materials and propulsion, individual warfighter protection, energy science, electronics technologies, network sciences, virtual interfaces and synthetic environments and autonomous systems.