Department of Defense Grant Focuses on Supply Chain

NC State’s Industry Expansion Solutions and the North Carolina Department of Military and Veterans Affairs will team up to help defense-related businesses diversify or expand into new markets. The effort is funded by a $2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense.

As a member of our proposal evaluation team, representatives from the Supply Chain Resource Cooperative (SCRC) at the Poole College of Management will join individuals from NC State’s Industry Expansion Solutions and the North Carolina Department of Military and Veterans Affairs in evaluating proposals submitted for consideration to conduct a defense sector supply chain mapping throughout the state of North Carolina.

The grant will fund a supply chain study to analyze the economic challenges and opportunities for North Carolina’s defense sector, with the goal of identifying products that are currently imported into the state but have the potential to be procured locally.

During the execution of the supply chain mapping analysis, which will take approximately 12 months, the SCRC will participate in contractor monthly performance updates, grant advisory board meetings, and other activities where the SCRC’s supply chain expertise may be required.

“We were pleased to participate and support our talented colleagues at Industrial Expansion Solutions during this grant process. For Poole College of Management and the Supply Chain Resource Cooperative, this is an exciting opportunity. Similar research is being done in other states impacted by DoD sequestration, yet none have so actively engaged university resources like the SCRC before. From our initial involvement in the development of the RFP to our current service in an advisory role to IES, we see great potential for the outcome of this research to make a meaningful contribution to our knowledge of not just the supply chains of military suppliers, but a better understanding of our entire state’s economic and manufacturing ecology,” says Dana Magliola, Director, Supply Chain Resource Cooperative.

The grant will also fund a pilot project led by NC State to deliver direct services to small and medium size businesses in the defense sector to help them thrive and to reduce their dependence on the defense budget.

Defense contracting activity in North Carolina has decreased by $1 billion since 2011 due in part to passage of the 2011 Budget Control Act, which mandated across-the-board reductions in federal spending.

This post initially appeared on NC State News, and has been edited.