The DoD Mentor-Protege Program provides incentives for DoD prime contractors to mentor small disadvantaged businesses and women-owned small businesses, so they can better develop the technical and business capabilities to become valued suppliers for the defense industry. The program was enacted in 1990 under the direction of former Senator Sam Nunn and former Secretary of Defense William Perry.

The mentor/protege arrangement is a winning relationship for everyone involved: mentors build mutually beneficial partnerships, proteges develop a stronger business base, and both contribute significantly to the defense of our nation. Current participants in the program include companies specializing in environmental remediation, engineering services, information technology, manufacturing, telecommunications, and healthcare.

The Mentor

Tec Masters Inc. joined the DoD Mentor-Protege Program in March 2001 with the goal of helping small disadvantaged businesses develop technical capabilities in order to compete more effectively for defense-related work.

A business that participates as a protege in the program gains knowledge of state-of-the-art technologies and practices relevant to its industry, and are able to leverage Tec Masters’ technical expertise to bid on small business set-aside contracts. A protege firm also enjoys the benefits of an established relationship, and the expanded market opportunities that this relationship can bring. And just as significant, Tec Masters offers insight and guidance into our common industry.

Tec Masters believes the program not only has the potential to improve business practices and infrastructure, it will continue to lead to mutually beneficial relationships with valued business partners and universities, where processes are streamlined and efficient, and technical innovation is cultivated. Quite simply, participation enhances the capabilities of both companies and participating HBCU/MIs.

The Protege

Tec Masters’s protege in the DoD Mentor-Protege Program is Infotek International, Inc. of Waldorf, Maryland. Infotek is a woman-owned small business that provides expert engineering consulting services for a wide range of organizations, from large multinational companies and government agencies, to small manufacturing businesses. Infotek communicates complicated ideas and information in a straightforward manner.

While Infotek staff possesses a very high level of science and engineering knowledge, they will benefit from Tec Masters’ assistance in tailoring that knowledge to the needs of the military. In its role as mentor, Tec Masters will also provide Infotek with financial management, business development, ISO 9000 processes, and Lean Six Sigma. Tec Masters and Infotek will participate in the first phase of the program until February 2009.

Any statements made in this release that are not based on historical fact are forward-looking statements. Although such statements are based on management's current estimates and expectations, and currently available competitive, financial, and economic data, forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain. We, therefore, caution the reader that there are a variety of factors that could cause business conditions and results to differ materially from what is contained in our forward-looking statements.