The Program includes—

(a) Mentor firms and protégé firms that meet the criteria in appendix I, section I-102;

(b) Mentor-protégé agreements that establish a developmental assistance program for a protégé firm;

(c) A preliminary assessment of the protégé firm's cybersecurity readiness. The DoD Office of Small Business Programs (OSBP), Office of the Under Secretary of Defense, Acquisition and Sustainment (OUSD(A&S)), provides this preliminary assessment, which is a benefit of program participation; and

(d) Incentives that DoD may provide to mentor firms, which include—

(1) Reimbursement for developmental assistance costs through—

(i) A separately priced contract line item on a DoD contract; or

(ii) A separate contract, upon written determination by the Director, OSBP, of the cognizant military department or defense agency that unusual circumstances justify reimbursement using a separate contract; or

(2) Credit toward applicable subcontracting goals, established under a subcontracting plan negotiated under FAR subpart 19.7 or under the DoD Comprehensive Subcontracting Test Program, for developmental assistance costs that are not reimbursed.

[65 FR 6555, Feb. 10, 2000; 65 FR 30191, May 10, 2000, as amended at 66 FR 47108, Sept. 11, 2001; 69 FR 74995, Dec. 15, 2004; 70 FR 29645, May 24, 2005; 73 FR 46813, Aug. 12, 2008; 83 FR 12683, Mar. 23, 2018; 87 FR 52349, Aug. 25, 2022]