About Vendor Outreach Sessions (VOS)

What is VOS?
Sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU), Vendor Outreach Sessions are a series of pre-arranged 15-minute meetings with DHS Component Small Business Specialists (SBS) and large businesses. These sessions provide the small business community opportunities to discuss their capabilities with SBS and Primes and to learn more about doing business with DHS.

Why VOS is Important
In virtually every segment of the homeland security community, small businesses support the DHS mission, playing a critical role in delivering efficient and innovative solutions. Vendor Outreach is important to engage small businesses and support diversity, equity, inclusion, and new entrants in procurement resulting in increased prime and subcontracting opportunities for small businesses. In support of Vendor Outreach and Engagement, VOS, held 10 times each fiscal year, provides a platform for the small business community to discuss their capabilities with DHS (SBS) and large contractors learning more about doing business with DHS, and new and existing prime and subcontracting opportunities. Four of the VOS are reserved for Women-Owned, Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned/Veteran-Owned, Small Disadvantaged including 8(a) and HUBZone small businesses. The DHS VOS is hailed as a federal best practice by continually making available to small businesses the opportunity to meet on a regularly scheduled basis with DHS small business specialists and large businesses for potential partnerships.

Effective October 1, 2022, there are significant changes to the VOS Program:
  • Small businesses will be matched to counselors by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Codes or core competencies. There is no longer a “first come, first served” approach to VOS.
  • After being matched by the scheduling system, small businesses must request a meetings with the counselors. Meeting requests can be requested up to three business days after each VOS opens.
  • The meeting request will be reviewed, and the counselors will decide if the request meets current capability needs. After acceptance, a meeting confirmation email will be sent to the small business to include a link to the virtual meeting.
  • Small businesses with confirmed meetings will be able to view their meeting dashboard in the Vendor Outreach Scheduling System.
  • Small businesses without a confirmation email or a confirmed meeting in the dashboard do not have a meeting scheduled and will not be able to participate in the VOS for that specific month.
  • Meeting spaces are still limited.

NOTE: All Small Businesses that have previously registered to participate in a VOS must update their profile to complete additional mandatory fields. For example, NAICS Codes and a capability statement are now required. Some businesses may need to re-register. Additionally, if you have previously met with a DHS component within the last three months, please consider this before registering for any VOS. Direct contact with the component small business specialists to schedule a follow-up discussion outside of VOS is preferred. This allows more opportunities for other small businesses who have not met with DHS to request a meeting and discuss their capabilities.

About the VOS Counselors

Scheduled participants from DHS may include representatives from Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers (FLETC), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), DHS Headquarters/Office of Procurement Operations (HQ OPO), Transportation Security Administration (TSA), United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), the U.S. Secret Service (USSS) and a representative from the Small Business Innovative Research Program (SBIR).  

In addition to sessions featuring meetings with DHS SBS, firms will also be able to schedule appointments with DHS large business prime contractors to discuss subcontracting opportunities, mentor-protege relationships, teaming, and other potential topics of mutual interest.

The VOS are very popular with the small business community.  Your firm must create a profile prior to being able to request meetings.  Your profile can be created at any time.

Small Business Specialists | Homeland Security (dhs.gov) Create a Profile

Requesting a Meeting

  • All small businesses can begin requesting meetings as delineated in the VOS calendar 
  • Creating a profile does not guarantee a meeting and not all meeting requests will be accepted. 
  • Small businesses must include their primary North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Code and upload their capability statement, if available.
  • Business matches are made using primary NAICS Codes as designated in the vendor profile.
  • The SBS and large businesses must accept meeting requests from the small businesses. Small businesses cannot participate in a VOS unless their meeting is confirmed and accepted.
  • A tutorial for creating/editing a profile and scheduling meetings can be found here.
  • For technical issues, contact: info@mybusinessmatches.com
  • For other inquiries, contact: osdbu.vos@hq.dhs.gov

Monthly Research

Opportunities. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Acquisition Planning Forecast System (APFS) includes projections of all anticipated contract actions over the Simplified Acquisition Threshold that small businesses may be able to perform under direct contracts with DHS or perform part of the effort through subcontract arrangements with the Department’s large business prime contractors.

The System for Award Management (SAM) includes postings of DHS procurement opportunities over $25,000. SAM registration is required in order to do business with the U.S. Government. SAM offers a host of federal contracting information, including the ability to search for DHS contract opportunities and contract data reports. Visit https://sam.gov

APFS SAM.gov

Counselor Research Information

The chart below shows participating counselors for the upcoming VOS and will change monthly. Prior to requesting meetings, participants should prepare by reviewing this section.

Date Type of VOS List of Small Business Specialists List of Primes
March 28, 2024 Vendor Outreach Session with Small Business Specialists and Prime Contractors. In honor of Women’s History Month, this session is reserved for Women-Owned Small Businesses ONLY. Component Small Business Specialists
CBP // TSA
FEMA // USCIS
USCG // FLETC
HQ (OPO) // SBIR
ICE // USSS

Specific information on each component can be found at Small Business Specialists | Homeland Security (dhs.gov)

Jacobs: https://www.jacobs.com/suppliers/registration
In search of NAICS: 541310, 541360,541370, 541380, 541620, 562910

AECOM: https:// https://aecom.com/
In search of NAICS: 541380, 541310, 541330, 541620, 562910, 541370

Aptim: Resilience & Infrastructure and Environmental & Sustainability Solutions | APTIM
In search of NAICS: 541380, 237110, 562910, 541370, 541360, 541360

CACI: www.caci.com
In search of NAICS: 541511, 541512, 541413, 541614

Fluor: www.fluor.com
In search of NAICS: 561990, 541350

L3Harris: https://www.L3Harris.com/supply-chain
In search of NAICS: 332322, 334290, 334412, 334413, 334419, 334416, 334511, 335921, 335931, 336412, 336413, 488190, 611512, 811219

Elbit America: Elbit Systems of America (elbitamerica.com)
In search of NAICS: 334418, 332710, 333310, 332722, 334419, 334111, 334220, 334511, 335921, 335931

ManTech: Small Business Office | ManTech
In search of NAICS: 517312,517410,517911,517919,541330,541370,541380, 517312,517311,517410,517911,517919,541330,541511,541512,541513,541519,541611,541612,541614

Serco: https://www.serco.com/na
In search of NAICS: 561611, 541330, 541350

Peraton: https://www.peraton.com
In search of NAICS: 541511, 518210