Imagine a high-stakes game worth $1.4 billion a year with thousands of players vying for the money. That's the picture historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) face each year as they try to access funds from the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD).

The Pentagon may offer a financial bonanza to colleges and universities, but HBCUs need both subject expertise and an aggressive outreach effort to win contracts, officials say.

"It's not easy to win funds, but it is possible," said Shaik Jeelani, Tuskegee University's vice president for research and sponsored programs. Tuskegee has won several DOD contracts, including a joint project with two other HBCUs and two traditionally White institutions (TWIs) to develop lightweight shields for army tanks.

Despite Pentagon efforts to target Black colleges, "The money is just not sitting there for you to grab," he says. "It's a very competitive process."

The Pentagon has an annual goal to award 5 percent of contract and subcontract dollars to minority and disadvantaged businesses, HBCUs and minority institutions. But official's are quick to point out the 5 percent is "a goal, not a specific set-aside," said a spokesman for The College Fund/UNCF, which works with Black colleges to gain defense dollars.

HBCUs also compete for funds with other institutions, including other colleges or universities where a single minority group or combination of groups represents more than 50 percent of total enrollment.

The University of Texas-El Paso and Illinois Institute of Technology are among non-HBCUs that have qualified for minority institution (MI) status, Jeelani said. The Illinois school alone has a larger graduate division than our undergraduate division, he adds.

Developing Relationships

In 1995, HBCUs won $76.1 million worth of DOD grants, according to the President's Board of Advisors on HBCUs. This figure represented 6 percent of all DOD awards to higher education that year.

The 1995 figure was a 47 percent increase above the previous year, when HBCUs did not fare as well. And although it's a major improvement, the 1995 figure "pales in comparison to the overall R&D Defense Department budget and does not compare favorably with the almost $1.4 billion the department awards to all institutions of higher education," the advisory board says in its HBCU report, A Century of Success.

The board's report recommends that a 5 percent goal for HBCUs should become a "minimum target" for each federal agency's research and development activities. It adds that federal agencies should develop plans that receive twice-a-year reviews from Vice President Al Gore and the federal HBCU board.

So how do Black colleges position themselves to win funds? By working with HBCU leadership organizations and industry leaders.

Tennessee State University works With major defense contractors in areas where it has expertise, said Decatur Rogers, dean of engineering and technology. Rogers's institution has $1.5 million in government contracts, about 75 percent of which involve defense. Its specialty is monitoring systems, such as alarms and signals that give pilots detailed diagnostic information about their aircraft as well as possible solutions to problems.

By striking up relationships with contractors, HBCUs can figure out how their areas of specialty fit with current and upcoming projects.

"It's better to have someone call you about a project," he says. "Once people find out that you have expertise, you can become part of a larger proposal."

Finding Assistance

Rogers also monitors Commerce Business Daily, a publication on contracts, but said the best way to learn of projects is word of mouth. He also advises spending time in Washington, D.C., getting to know project officers, contract officers and the federal bureaucracy.

At the Pentagon, "There are many divisions and departments that are responsive and some [that] are not," he says.

One area for improvement is getting better HBCU representation on the largest higher education defense contracts, he said. Black colleges with engineering departments and technical expertise should receive "stronger consideration for mainstream contracts," Rogers says.

Another way to learn about projects is through the technology committee at the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education (NAFEO). The committee usually holds a workshop fore NAFEO's annual meeting that features department leaders from most federal agencies.

The College Fund/UNCF also works closely with the Pentagon as part of its DOD Infrastructure Development Assistance Program. The program offers detailed information about defense contracts, workshops and hands-on technical assistance.

It also provides information about other DOD programs, including one in which the agency can donate surplus equipment to HBCUs.

The College Fund/UNCF will sponsor a conference in Charlotte in October on DOD issues, which follows a 1996 conference with workshops and opportunities for university staff to visit with DOD officials.

Non-Technical Programs

While technical expertise is a must for many competitions, HBCUs can win Pentagon funds even if their academic strengths lie elsewhere. One example is the National Security Education Program, created in 1991 as a way for higher education to develop linkages with languages and cultures in less commonly studied countries.

Morris Brown College won one of NSEP's earliest grants to create the HBCU Study Abroad Resource Network, in which ten HBCUs use a $440,000 grant to address the serious under-representation of African Americans in study abroad programs.

"Most HBCUs don't have their own study abroad programs and those out there are very costly," says Tejan Muata, director of the study abroad resource center.

Each participating university awards a scholarship for at least one student to spend a year at institutions in South Africa, Namibia, Cape Verde, Morocco, Ghana or Brazil. The resource network also advises other students about financial resources for overseas study.

Participants in the project include Albany State College, Atlanta Metropolitan College, Clark Atlanta University, Fort Valley State College, Morehouse College, Morehouse School of Medicine, Paine College, Savannah State College and Spelman College.

For more information about defense contracts contact:

Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (SADBU) Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Technology OUSD(A&T), Room 2A340 The Pentagon Wash DC 20301-3061

The College Fund/UNCF Department of Defense Infrastructure Development Assistance Program 8260 Willow Oaks Corporate Drive Fairfax, VA 22031 (703) 205-3480 Web:http://206.175.147.177/dod

NAFEO 400 12th St. NE Washington, DC 20002 (202) 543-9111

National Security Education Program 1101 Wilson Blvd., Suite 1210 Arlington, VA 22209-2248 (703) 696-1991