Ramona Adams
The Oklahoma State University’s Institute of Technology has received a Defense Department grant to continue support for a DoD program that seeks to help Oklahoma-based companies diversify their businesses amid defense spending cuts.
OSUIT said Thursday the university will partner with industry providers to administer business diversification and sustainment services for qualified DoD contractors in Oklahoma under the second phase of the program.
“This program is focused on assisting Oklahoma-based DoD contractors to diversify their business portfolio while the company is still healthy,” said Ken Boykin, OSUIT DoD program manager.
“Oklahoma will continue to be at risk as additional DoD budgetary cuts are anticipated over the next several years.”
Boykin noted that OSUIT will use data to educate businesses, economic developers and stakeholders to help them plan and implement strategies for current and future operations.
OSUIT’s Economic Development and Training Center received a multi-phased grant for the program from DoD’s office of economic adjustment in 2014.
The team collected and analyzed data on Oklahoma-based DoD contractors to create the Oklahoma Defense Contract Spending Impact web portal during the first phase of the DoD program.
OSUIT said the portal works to present information on DoD contract spending in Oklahoma and the potential impact of defense budget cuts on contractors and the region.
