MISSILE DEFENSE AGENCY CALLS ON SMALL BUSINESSES FOR ADVISORY AND ASSISTANCE SERVICES WORK, Defense News, Jan 25, 2010. Three small businesses, including APT Research of Huntsville, AL, have been awarded advisory and assistance services contracts from the Missile Defense Agency. The APT contract has a ceiling of $209 million to assist the Missile Defense Agency’s Quality, Safety and Mission Assurance Directorate, according to a Jan. 21 Defense Department statement. The contracts were competitively awarded under a small business set-aside request for proposal.