1. CHARLESTON DEFENSE CONTRACTORS ASSOCIATION
3-5 Year
Strategic Plan

2. CDCA VISION
“To be the Premier Advocate for the Charleston Defense Contractor Industry.”
CDCA MISSION
“To advocate for, preserve, strengthen, and grow the Charleston defense industry through partnership and collaboration with stakeholders and our community.”

3. 10 GOALs for 3-4 year period 1
Strengthen CDCA/SSC Atlantic partnership. 2
As champion, lead/build development of Charleston Cyber Corridor. 3
Be the industry lead for development of a local BRAC strategy. 4
Be central, trusted voice for industry to the federal, state and local leadership. 5
Make C5ISR Summit the premier national level Summit. 6
Grow Charleston business by attracting Government agencies from outside the area. 7
Be the “go to” association for Small Businesses wanting to do business in the defense industry. 8
Elevate community awareness of local defense industry 9
Grow the CDCA to 500 Corporate members. 10
Expand post-graduate educational initiatives.

4. Goal #1 activities: “Strengthen CDCA/SSC Atlantic Partnership.”
Participate in quarterly meetings with the Executive Director and our Executive Committee or Political Relations group to discuss issues, concerns, opportunities, etc. 2
Develop a plan to leverage strong relationship between industry and government through the SIEC, EIC, and CIC. (SPAWAR Industry Engagement Council, Executive Industry Council, Contracts Industry Council) 3
Meet (as requested) with Executive Committee and Commanding Officer/Executive Director. 4
Hold quarterly CIC meeting in an open forum and invite CDCA members to attend and ask questions. (we may have the questions posted in advance) 5
At each SBIOI, regardless of the theme of that event, dedicate a block of time (30 minutes?) to specific questions that would be vetted in advance of the event, sort of like an industry day. 6
Use our luncheons and SBIOI to address communications with SPAWAR and the results of the meetings mentioned above. 7
Meet at least once a year in front of SPAWAR IPT leads and competency leads.

5. GOAL #2 ACTIVITIES: “As Champion, Lead and Build Development Of Charleston Cyber Corridor.”1
Establish government/industry Tiger Team for a blueprint of the Charleston Cyber Corridor. 2
Establish a local consortium of cyber related businesses to work towards building a CCOE. 3
Attract government agencies from outside the area to bring work here. 4
Work with political delegations to direct cyber dollars. 5
Partner with colleges/universities to develop a cyber training education plan. 6
Work with San Diego CCOE to bring California/South Carolina delegations together. 7
Leverage other CCOE like activities across the country.

6. Goal #3 activities: “Be The Industry Leader For Development Of A Local BRAC Strategy.”1
Develop a BRAC strategy. 2
Leverage CDCA relationships with local chambers and elected officials to promote the value of the industry. 3
Flowchart inter-relationships between the industry and all community aspects. 4
Team with SSC Atlantic and Joint Base Charleston on BRAC strategy. 5
Collaborate with leadership of other local organizations affected by BRAC to produce a unified strategy. 6
Create an aggressive marketing strategy that underscores the value the defense industry brings to the community. 7
Attend and become involved in the Association of Defense Communities.

7. Goal #4 activities: “Be Central, Trusted Voice For Industry To The Federal, State And Local Leadership.” 1
On an annual basis, work with congressional delegation and Government entities’ to develop 3-5 focus areas for budget prioritization. 2
Regularly scheduled meetings with congressional delegations. 3
Network with local chambers and businesses to ensure recognition of the value of this industry. 4
Provide leadership to SIEC driving content. 5
Participate in Bi-Monthly meetings with SSC Atlantic leadership. 6
Develop a communications plan for the CDCA. 7
Meet quarterly with state representatives regarding growth in the CHS industry.

8. Goal #5 activities: “Make C5ISR Summit The Premier National Level Summit.”1
Bring on a professional conference manager. 2
Bring additional government displays to the Summit in addition to SSC contributions. 3
Invite South Carolina Cyber Consortium for presentation/booth. 4
Purchase list for marketing. 5
Reach out to AFCEA International to see if the CDCA Summit might be a viable replacement for the Joint Warfighter Conference they used to have in Norfolk in April – if we continue our Tuesday-Friday schedule, AFCEA International might want to book the Monday for AFCEA meetings leading into the show, as they used to do with Joint Warfighter. 6
Conduct a Cyber consortium panel with government/industry. 7
Offer the best networking with customers experience possible (one on one sessions, small groups, meet-and-greets).

9. goal #6 activities: “Grow Charleston Business By Attracting Government Agencies From Outside The Area.” 1
Partner with local chambers on a strategy to bring other agencies to CHS. 2
Develop a growth plan based on BRAC initiatives to move Government work into CHS. 3
Network with asymmetric agencies/industries. i.e. Finance, healthcare, academia, etc. 4
Partner with SC Cyber Consortium to bring other cyber agencies into CHS. 5
Present to congressional reps opportunities for bringing other agencies into CHS. 6
Determine local capabilities for use in marketing and communications. 7
Develop a recruiting strategy for other government agencies.

10. goal #7 activities: “Be The “Go To” Association For Small Business’ Wanting To Do Business In The Defense Industry.” 1
Conduct a Mentor/Protégé/ Joint Venture Workshop. 2
Develop a mentoring program for small businesses through CDCA. Possibly have a focal point or committee that would give small businesses the rules of the road for working in this market. The hints of how to be successful. We would develop a checklist/rules of the road that we provided all who came to us for information. 3
Revamp the “Contracting 101” session we had in the early days of SBIOI to explain to small businesses how to engage in contractor activity. 4
Provide a welcome packet for new businesses with POCs, SPAWAR 101, helpful hints, etc. 5
Identify and apply to at least 4 Grant opportunities which fund Small Business Training. 6
Conduct a Small Business Workshop. 7
Allow companies to request a meeting to discuss “doing business in CHS with the Defense industry” from our website. Sm Biz would us a request for a meeting and we would ask for a volunteer on the board to meet with them. I picture this as a compliment to the meetings with Robin and Timmy. This would be based on 100% volunteer time from the board. Whoever has the time and is available takes the meeting. We could have pre developed info we hand out: lessons learned, how to do business with the defense industry, where to locate info, and etc.

11. goal #8 activities: “Elevate Community Awareness Of Local Defense Industry”1
Meet with local state legislative members. 2
Develop targeted PR campaign to provide more awareness by using newspapers and social media. 3
Develop CDCA call plan. 4
Meet with all chambers of commerce in local area. 5
Highlight via local media the industry’s involvement in local STEM programs. 6
Publish articles in local papers and CRBJ Tip Sheet about events and opportunities. 7
Create a “who are we” presentation and take it on the road to relevant events or organizations in Charleston. The presentation and topic would discuss industry and government.

12. Goal #9 activities: “Grow CDCA to 500 Corporate Members.”1
Provide referral incentive to current members. 2
Direct marketing campaign of companies who have SPAWAR contracts but don’t have a membership. Letters, post cards, and a call. 3
Create a strong elevator speech. 4
Video on our website with testimonials. 5
100% follow-up with former members and survey why the ceased membership. 6
Aggressively market CDCA in various media (newspaper, magazine, consider radio ads). 7
Continue incentives for membership, following onto the Value Proposition.

13. Goal #10 activities: “Expand Post-graduate Educational Initiatives.”
Face-to-face meetings/contact with local and surrounding institutions regarding educational opportunities. 2
Leverage relationships with local education institutions to identify post-graduate curricula critical to industry engineering and technical requirements. 3
Collaborate and partner with South Carolina State, USC, CSU, Citadel, TTC, ECPI and Clemson for relevant educational opportunities. 4
Work with South Carolina Cyber Consortium on post-graduate opportunities. 5
Partner with AFCEA to develop a specific Graduate scholarship that could piggyback onto their scholarship program. 6
For companies that have benefited from CDCA interns, require “seed money” that could then be used for post-graduate tuition assistance. Any prior intern would have his/her name entered into a lottery-style drawing to have a chance to qualify for such a stipend. 7
Explore post-graduate degrees in the STEM/IT arena as an education committee initiative.

14. Document Posted: (Not posted) Questions or comments may be directed to
our Strategic Think Tank Chair.
See “Committee” tab at our website: