The House Armed Services Committee released the “Chairman’s Mark” of the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act late Monday. The bills’ policy provisions contain lots to talk about. The bill authorizes around $37 billion more in defense spending than the president requested in his 2018 budget, and among other items declares Congress’s desire for a 355-ship Navy, including a 13th aircraft carrier, but doesn’t actually authorize the funds for either.

“Our committee does not believe we can continue to put band-aids on the situation when we have so many problems with planes, ships, people, [and] ground vehicles,” committee Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-Tex.) said on C-SPAN last week.

But hidden among all the big-ticket items is a piece of good news for entrepreneurs in the cleared professional community: reauthorization of the SCORE program.

MENTORS FOR ASPIRING SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS

The Service Corps of Retired Executives is just what its name would suggest: a group of 10,000 retired business leaders who volunteer their time to mentor other aspiring business owners. According to the organization’s website, in 2016 alone SCORE helped more than 54,000 businesses get off the ground. The organization has set a goal for itself of helping at least a million clients by 2020.

Congress usually authorizes programs like SCORE for a limited period, to allow the government to assess their effectiveness before authorizing them to continue.

But SCORE is now 53 years old, and has a demonstrated track record of success. Those 54,000 businesses started last year created more than 78,000 non-owner jobs.

SCORE volunteers donate their individual time, but the appropriated money funds the parent organization, the SCORE Association, based in Herndon, Va. The bill continues the program for two more years, authorizing $10.5 million for grants and cooperative agreements in fiscal years 2018 and 2019. The government gets its money’s worth:

The SCORE Association manages more than 300 local chapters, each with its own office, and organizes free webinars and low- or no-cost workshops where aspiring and existing small business owners can gain valuable insight into the keys to success from those who have achieved success themselves .

A SMALL BUSINESS PROGRAM WITH DEFENSE IMPLICATIONS

The Small Business Administration administers the SCORE Program, but because so many of the small businesses who take advantage of the program are in the defense sector, its reauthorization comes through the NDAA. (Indeed, since American small businesses are such an important part of the defense industrial base, much of the work of the House Small Business Committee winds up in the NDAA).

Eleven percent of SCORE’s 2016 clients were veterans. According to a Pricewaterhouse Coopers study, the cost of creating one job through SCORE is $133.43, and SCORE clients paid $45.75 back to the government for every dollar spent through the program. If that number continues, the $10.5 million authorized for the next year would generate $480 million in tax revenue.

Furthermore, Congress has mandated that that the government must set-aside a certain amount of contracts for small businesses. The SBA grades each agency on its performance toward these goals. Last year, the DoD awarded $57.8 billion in prime contracts to small businesses—22.94 percent of all contracts. Small businesses also accounted for 33.9 percent of subcontracts.

The growth of small business is critical to the health of the defense industrial base. For all the attention paid to defense procurement, only four defense-related companies—Boeing, United Technologies, Lockheed Martin, and General Dynamics—are in the top 100, and Boeing makes far more money in the civilian sector.

Small businesses are providing the innovation, and the jobs, that are driving the defense sector. SCORE’s reauthorization ensures that the next crop of national security entrepreneurs will get the mentoring they need to be successful.

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Tom McCuin is a strategic communication consultant and retired Army Reserve Civil Affairs and Public Affairs officer whose career includes serving with the Malaysian Battle Group in Bosnia, two tours in Afghanistan, and three years in the Office of the Chief of Public Affairs in the Pentagon. When he’s not devouring political news, he enjoys sailboat racing and umpiring Little League games (except the ones his son plays in) in Alexandria, Va. Follow him on Twitter at @tommccuin