Mentor-Protégé Program
The Mentor-Protégé Program is designed to encourage approved mentors (a trusted counselor or guide) to provide various forms of assistance to eligible protégé (one whose career or business is furthered by a person of experience, prominence, or influence) participants.
The purpose of the mentor-protégé relationship is to enhance the capabilities of the protégés; and to improve their ability to successfully compete for federal contracts.
ORISE may enter into mentor-protégé agreement(s) with 8(a) firms, certified small disadvantaged businesses, women-owned small businesses, veteran-owned small business concerns, service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses, HBCU’s and other minority institutions of higher learning to provide developmental assistance to enhance the protégé firm’s capabilities to perform subcontracts.
Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU), which manages ORISE for the U.S. Department of Energy, describes its mentor-protégé program in more detail via the ORAU Diversity Plan, which is part of the ORAU prime contract with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and will be operated in accordance with DOE Mentor-Protégé Program guidelines.
ORAU may enter into mentor-protégé agreement(s) with the following groups to provide developmental assistance to enhance the protégé firm’s capabilities to perform subcontracts:
- 8(a) firms
- certified small disadvantaged businesses
- women-owned small businesses
- veteran-owned small business concerns
- service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses
- Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) and
- other minority institutions of higher learning
Cindy Zeng (pictured front row, right) recently signed an agreement initiating a support relationship as provided under the U.S. Department of Energy’s Mentor-Protégé program. Zeng is a former Oak Ridge Associated Universities employee who has since begun Athens IT Solutions—her own information technology consulting business. Through this business partnership, Zeng will provide her vast knowledge and experience with ORAU to science and education projects and other information systems programs.