Blue Chip Manufacturing has signed a Small Business Administration agreement that will allow it to benefit from the resources of a global logistics provider.

The Columbus-based manufacturing firm will be the protégé to mentor Taos Industries of Huntsville, Ala. Taos is a division of Agility Defense and Government Services, a logistics provider that logged $6.2 billion in revenue last year.

The mentor-protégé program links small and disadvantaged businesses with larger firms, allowing them to better compete for federal contracts.

Since 1993, Blue Chip has produced spare parts for U.S. military trucks, ships, submarines and weapons. Its clients include the U.S. Army, Navy and Defense Logistics Agency.

Blue Chip CEO Tammy Tatman said the partnership will give her business a competitive edge and a chance to expand on her staff of 50 over the next two years.

“It is a huge opportunity to start working on initiatives outside of (the defense agency) that we wouldn’t typically touch,” she said.

As Taos’ main manufacturing supplier, joining forces with the large prime contractor will bring Blue Chip financial gains, but the value of Taos’ resources, personnel, assets and experience is immeasurable, she said.

Within the agreement, mentors and protégés establish a set of objectives over a 12-month span, renewable up to eight years. Tatman said she expects Blue Chip’s relationship with Taos and Agility to be long-term. The firms’ goals include management leadership, international standardization certification and proposal writing efforts.

A certified partnership
Blue Chip holds four SBA certifications that qualify the firm as a small, woman-owned business; a company in a historically under-utilized zone; a small 8(a) business; and a small disadvantaged business.

In a male-dominated industry, the firm is unique not only because of its female ownership but also because few Ohio manufacturers are eligible for 8(a) business development support, Tatman said. Within the past five years, Blue Chip was the only manufacturer in the state to receive the designation, she said.

The SBA certifications allow Blue Chip to compete within a much smaller pool of contractors, and the government designates 5 percent of annual contracts to women-owned businesses.

Taos CEO John Hamilton said the combination of Blue Chip’s federal designations was a strong incentive to partner with the company.

Through the mentorship arrangement, Taos can assume Tatman’s small business qualifications in joint contract proposals, opening more doors for both firms.

Along with Agility, Taos and Blue Chip developed two bid proposals being considered by the Defense Supply Center in Columbus. The first, worth up to $5.6 billion over 10 years, is to manage and repairs parts for the center’s wheeled vehicle fleet. The second, worth up to $575 million over eight years, involves the supply and delivery of repair parts to two of the center’s army depots.

Exchanging the know-how
Contracts aside, the mentor-protégé relationship will enable Blue Chip and Taos to draw on each others’ expertise, said Jim Cox, Taos’ vice president of public affairs.

Started in 1991, Taos began with around 10 employees and now employs nearly 630 in its worldwide operations.

The pairing is an opportunity for the firm to give back some of what its staff has learned in the growth process, Hamilton said.

Taos will advise Blue Chip on production processes, warehouse management and distribution and will also offer administrative and business development support.

Blue Chip can better educate the larger firm on manufacturing operations, and Tatman can help any potential Taos or Agility partners through the rigors of certification processes, Cox said.

“Our company deals with several thousand small businesses every year,” Hamilton said. “Very few 8(a) companies have the capability that Blue Chip does.”

Blue Chip, based at 3155 Lamb Ave., estimated its annual revenue at $7 million.

Taos Industries works with the U.S. Department of Defense and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in the acquisition of foreign military vehicles, radar and personal equipment for security vehicles.

Its Alexandria, Va.-based parent company has 9,000 workers in more than 550 offices in 100 countries. It works with the U.S. defense and state departments, the United Nations, NATO and European ministries of defense.