Industry Resilience
Contact Us
For more information about the Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation and the Industry Resilience program of assistance, please contact:
Elizabeth "Liz" Chimienti
Program Activity Lead - Diversification
(703) 901-7644
elizabeth.a.chimienti.civ@mail.mil
Seth Isenberg
Program Activity Lead – Industry Transition
(703) 409-9360
seth.y.isenberg.civ@mail.mil
The Industry Resilience program assists communities as they respond to defense changes, specifically a cancelled contract or the failure to proceed with a previously approved weapons system. On a larger scale, since the enactment of the Budget Control Act, defense spending decreased by $119B from Fiscal Year 2012 to 2018. In many cases, these reductions in defense spending directly affect the defense manufacturing base and can also trigger assistance provided under this program.
With Industry Resilience assistance, state and local partners can help defense manufacturers develop and manufacture new product offerings, capture new investments, and develop new technologies. These efforts help modernize our military and maintain a technological edge against its adversaries.
In addition to assistance with economic adjustment and recovery, the Industry Resilience program helps communities strengthen the economic and cyber resiliency of local defense industry supply chains. In today’s globalized marketplace, the defense industrial base is a core national security asset. By supplying military forces with the best equipment, most advanced technologies, and the highest level of service, local defense suppliers are critical to the modernization and readiness of the warfighter.
Strategies
Technical Assistance
The Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation's Industry Resilience program supports a number of important objectives. Helping communities recover from major defense contract reductions and lost jobs is a primary goal. Industry Resilience projects also support critical military missions by building a more competitive and resilient defense industrial base and creating closer civilian-military partnerships. To achieve this goal, the Industry Resilience program partners with other Federal agencies as well as other Department of Defense entities focused on the defense industrial base, on an as-needed basis, and brings that insight and expertise directly into communities.
Supporting Key Military Missions
The Industry Resilience program of assistance seeks to bolster and support key military missions. The program helps communities support military missions in several ways:
- Promoting industry resilience, by helping companies, especially small businesses, to become more productive, efficient, and competitive. Industry Resilience funds help protect critical production capabilities and expand markets for defense suppliers. For example, funds support creation or expansion of programs that help firms enter export markets, diversify into new commercial markets, and attract new outside investments.
- Enhancing military modernization, by helping defense suppliers become more innovative. This allows them to invent, develop, and deploy new products and services that help to ensure technological superiority for US military forces. For example, programs funded by the Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation have helped firms create new technologies and improve production processes, as well as supported the start-up of many new ventures.
- Preserving military readiness, by helping companies, communities, and workers become more agile and responsive to changing military requirements and needs. A ready defense industrial base is capable of supporting legacy programs, enhancing existing weapons systems, and fostering innovations for future military needs. For example, Industry Resilience funds have been used to help retrain and upskill workers, help firms introduce new production innovations, and enhance cyber-readiness across the defense industrial base.
Promoting Community and Economic Development
The first step in developing a response is to define the problem. To begin the process, the Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation uses an Organize, Analyze, Plan, and Implement approach. This model provides useful guidelines for important steps to help local defense suppliers to build a more resilient defense industrial base.
