RTX is one of the largest defense and aerospace primes in the world, with roughly $80 billion in annual sales and three business units that buy from suppliers separately: Collins Aerospace, Pratt & Whitney, and Raytheon. If you want to sell to "Raytheon," you're really trying to sell to one or more of those three, plus the corporate procurement organization that sits above them.
The registration itself takes a few minutes. The hard part isn't the form. It's understanding that registering puts your company in a searchable database, not on a purchase order. RTX is explicit about this: completing registration does not guarantee business. It makes your capabilities visible to buyers when a sourcing need comes up. Here's how the system actually works, and how to give yourself a real shot.
Start with SupplierOneRTX routes prospective suppliers through SupplierOne (rtx.supplierone.co), a registration front door for any business that wants to be discovered by RTX procurement. You create a profile describing what you make or do, your NAICS codes, your certifications, your location, and your capabilities. RTX employees across all three business units can then search that database when a requirement comes up.
Registration is free. RTX will never charge you to be in its supplier database, and any site implying otherwise isn't RTX. Fill the profile out completely. A half-finished record with no NAICS codes and a one-line description doesn't surface in a buyer's search, and surfacing in that search is the entire point.
A few things to get right the first time:
- Match your capabilities to RTX's actual buys. RTX sources machined parts, electronics, castings, raw materials, IT and professional services, MRO, and thousands of other categories. Describe what you do in the language a sourcing manager would search, not marketing copy.
- List every certification you hold. Small business status, 8(a), HUBZone, WOSB/EDWOSB, SDVOSB, and third-party diversity certifications all go here. They're filters buyers use.
- Keep it current. RTX tells suppliers to revisit and update their profile periodically. New capabilities, new certifications, new past performance: update the record so you keep showing up.
RTX runs a long-standing supplier diversity program covering small and diverse businesses. RTX describes the diverse categories broadly: small disadvantaged, minority-owned, women-owned, veteran-owned, service-disabled veteran-owned, HUBZone, Native American and tribal-owned, Native Hawaiian, Alaskan Native, LGBTQ+-owned, and disability-owned businesses.
For certification, RTX leans on the standard ecosystem rather than running its own certifier. As a federal prime, it relies on SBA certification for government categories: 8(a), HUBZone, WOSB, and SDVOSB status must be verified through the SBA so RTX can document Federal Acquisition Regulation compliance. For the commercial diversity categories, RTX recognizes the third-party councils that certify these businesses, including the National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC) for minority-owned firms and the Women's Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) for women-owned firms. The other major councils sit in the same tier of recognition across defense primes: the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC) for LGBTQ+-owned, Disability:IN for disability-owned, and the veteran certifiers for veteran and service-disabled veteran businesses.
A practical note on the current climate. Federal and corporate diversity programs have shifted through 2025 and into 2026, and some companies have softened or renamed this work. Verify the exact program name and category language on rtx.com/suppliers before you build your pitch around it. What hasn't changed: a held, verifiable certification still helps a buyer document who they're buying from, and it still gets you found in a profile search. The certification is the asset. The label on the program above it matters less.
If you're weighing which certification to pursue, our guide on how to get into corporate supplier diversity programs walks through which one fits which kind of business, and our corporate program directory shows how RTX's program compares to other primes and Fortune 500 buyers you should be registering with at the same time.
Tier 1, Tier 2, and the realistic on-rampMost diverse suppliers don't start with a direct RTX purchase order. They start one level down.
A Tier 1 supplier sells directly to RTX. A Tier 2 supplier sells to one of RTX's Tier 1 suppliers, and RTX still counts that diverse spend through its subcontracting reports. This matters because the Tier 2 path is often the faster way in. If you can't yet win a direct RTX contract, you can become a subcontractor to a company that already holds one, build the past performance and the relationship, and use that record to move up.
RTX has staffed small business liaison officers in each business unit. Their job is to connect qualified small and diverse suppliers to opportunities and to track subcontracting goals on government programs. They're a real point of contact. Find the liaison for the business unit that buys what you sell (Collins, Pratt & Whitney, or Raytheon) and introduce yourself with a tight capability statement, not a generic email blast.
RTX also participates in the Department of Defense Mentor-Protégé Program. It has earned dozens of Nunn-Perry Awards over the years, the recognition given for protégé companies that grow under those agreements. Mentor-Protégé isn't a registration checkbox; it's a structured relationship you grow into after you've shown you can deliver. But it's the ceiling worth aiming for, and it tells you RTX takes the development pipeline seriously.
The defense-specific requirements most first-timers missSelling to a defense prime carries obligations that selling to a commercial buyer doesn't. Budget for these before you chase a contract:
- Cybersecurity self-assessment. If you'll handle covered defense information, RTX requires compliance with NIST SP 800-171 under DFARS 252.204-7012. That means completing a basic self-assessment of the 110 security requirements and posting your score to the Supplier Performance Risk System (SPRS) under DFARS 252.204-7019. CMMC requirements are tightening across the defense industrial base, so confirm the current standard for your category.
- Exostar / RTX Supplier Portal. Once you're engaged in an actual transaction, RTX onboards active suppliers through its supplier portal (often accessed via Exostar) for secure document exchange, purchase orders, and compliance.
- Annual representations and certifications. Like the federal government's reps and certs, RTX asks suppliers to complete an annual form covering ownership, compliance, and conduct.
- ESG and code of conduct. RTX runs sustainability assessments through EcoVadis and requires agreement to its Supplier Code of Conduct.
None of these are dealbreakers for a small business. They're table stakes. Knowing they're coming means you don't stall a live opportunity while you scramble to produce an SPRS score.
Don't bet everything on one primeRegistering with RTX is a smart move. Betting your pipeline on a single prime is not. The suppliers who win consistently register across multiple primes and corporate buyers at once, so when a sourcing manager at any of them searches, your profile is there. Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, and L3Harris all run their own portals and their own diversity programs with overlapping requirements.
Two things do the most work across all of them:
- A clean, current set of certifications. The same SBA and third-party certifications that get you found at RTX get you found everywhere. If you're filing for 8(a), WOSB, SDVOSB, or HUBZone, CertifyAll handles the paperwork across agencies once, so you're not running each application separately.
- A profile that's actually searchable. List your business in the supplier directory and keep your capability statement, NAICS codes, and past performance sharp, so any buyer who looks you up reads you as a serious vendor.
Register on SupplierOne today. Then spend your real effort on the parts that decide whether you ever get a call: the right certifications, a capability statement aimed at what RTX actually buys, a named liaison in the right business unit, and a Tier 2 relationship that builds the past performance a direct award will eventually require.
Start by seeing how RTX's program stacks up against the other buyers you should be pursuing in our corporate program directory.
