Celebrating Innovation and Mentorship: Booz Allen, DarkBlade Win the Nunn-Perry Award

Protégé DarkBlade Systems Corporation and mentor Booz Allen were among 10 teams recognized with the prestigious 2018 Nunn-Perry Award.

Named in honor of former Senator Sam Nunn and former Secretary of Defense William Perry, the award recognizes outstanding Mentor-Protégé  teams formed under the auspices of the Department of Defense (DoD) Mentor-Protégé  program, which partners small businesses with large companies.

“Your performance during FY18 has truly made an impact on the Department’s Industrial Base through technology transfer,” wrote Shannon Jackson, Acting Director of the DoD Office of Small Business Programs in the award letter.

Empowering soldiers and small businesses

DarkBlade is a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business whose scientific, engineering, technical, and training services include operational and cyber support for the DoD and intelligence communities. 

The company is a protégé  under the National Geospatial Agency's (NGA) Mentor Protégé  Program. Booz Allen has mentored the company in the areas of technology transfer, strategic planning, and leadership development.

“Mentoring small businesses like DarkBlade ensures the NGA and DoD has access to a strong group of small business contractors that have the expertise to effectively compete for government contracts,” said Chris O’Connor, Program Manager for the Booz Allen Hamilton Mentor Protégé  Agreement with DarkBlade. “This ultimately provides cost effective, high impact solutions to the Warfighter.” 

Carrying on a proud tradition

This is the fifth time the DoD’s Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization has recognized Booz Allen with this honor. The firm won Nunn-Perry Awards in 2015 with Defense Intelligence Agency protégé The MASY Group, 2010 with National Security Agency protégé PROTEUS Technologies, 2008 with U.S. Army protégé USfalcon, Inc., and 2005 with Defense Information Systems Agency Artech Information Systems, LLC.

This year's Nunn-Perry Award winners were selected based on the protégé 's growth and development, the mentor’s technical assistance, and use of Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Minority Institutions, Procurement Technical Assistance Centers, or Small Business Development Centers.

Learn more about DarkBlade and Booz Allen’s Mentor-Protégé program.