SEATTLE, WA – The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Director of the Office of Economic Impact and Diversity Theresa Alvillar-Speake today announced the winners of its 2005 Small Business Awards during a ceremony for DOE’s 7th Annual Small Business Conference. DOE’s Small Business Awards program was established to recognize performance by departmental offices, facility management contractors and small business joint ventures on an annual basis.

"We recognize that small businesses are the driving force of this economy and the Department of Energy wants to give them every opportunity to grow and increase productivity. We encourage them to participate in our multi-million dollar contracting market," Director Speake said.

The Small Business Conference features prominent government, corporate and business leaders who discuss ways small businesses can have better access to DOE procurement opportunities. It also has a Business Expo providing an opportunity for businesses to showcase their products and services to hundreds of corporate and government attendees, including DOE’s prime contractors; and a Matchmaking Forum providing a unique opportunity to schedule one-on-one meetings with procurement representatives from DOE’s prime contractors and share in over $1 billion of possible subcontracting opportunities during FY 2006.

The Small Business Awards were presented to program elements, power administrations, facility management contractors, and individuals for encouraging more small business participation in tasks that were previously completed by large businesses; high achievement in awards to small and socio-economic businesses, promoting partnerships with the small business community; and a mentor-protégé team that allowed a larger mentor to help develop a smaller business.

The following winners received a Secretarial plaque for their dedication and high achievement for encouraging small business participation in fiscal year 2005:

1. The Small Business Breakout Award – was presented to DOE’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) for outstanding performance in identifying and competing small business "breakout" opportunities.
2. The Small Business Goal Achievement Award – was presented to DOE’s Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Public Affairs for outstanding performance in achieving the highest percent-increase in small business achievement above its small business prime contracting percentage goal.
3. The Small Business High Dollar Achievement Award – was presented to DOE’s Office of Management (MA) for outstanding performance in achieving the highest percent-increase in small business dollar obligations above its corresponding small business prime contracting dollar goal.
4. The Small Business Diversity Achievement Award – was presented to DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy (FE) and the Western Area Power Administration (WAPA) for outstanding performance in achieving the overall highest percentage of diversity in all socio-economic categories of small business concerns.
5. Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) High Dollar Achievement Award – was presented to DOE’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) for outstanding performance in achieving the highest percent-increase in SDVOSB dollar obligations above its corresponding small business prime contracting dollar goal.
6. Small Business Joint Venture Team Achievement Award - was presented to Energy Enterprise Solutions (EES) LLC, a joint venture comprised of 1 Source Consulting, Inc. of Washington D.C. and RS Information Systems (RSIS), Inc., of McLean, Virginia. EES, an SBA sanctioned joint venture, has a seven-year term and a $1 Billion value-- the largest small disadvantaged business joint venture in DOE history. EES has teamed with DOE’s most efficient organization (MEO) to provide IT support in enterprise architecture; cyber security; telecommunications; network infrastructure; systems design and engineering; help desk support; software development; and Web design.
7. The Facility Management Contractor (FMC) Small Business Achievement Award – was presented to Bechtel National, Inc. at the Waste Treatment Plant in Richland, Washington for outstanding performance in achieving the overall highest percent-increase in subcontract awards to small business concerns from the previous year.
8. The Facility Management Contractor Small Business Diversity Achievement Award – was presented to Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU) at the Oak Ridge Institute of Science and Education (ORISE) for outstanding performance in achieving the overall highest percentage of diversity in subcontract awards to all socio-economic categories of small business concerns.
9. DOE Federal Small Business Program Manager of the Year – was presented to the Anita Bedrosian of the Office of Fossil Energy (FE) for being chiefly responsible for FE exceeding its FY 2004 obligations to small and socio-economic concerns.
10. DOE FMC Small Business Program Manager of the Year – was presented to Dennis Roybal of the Los Alamos National Laboratory for exemplary work in increasing small business participation by 144% in FY 2005.
11. Outstanding Small Business of the Year Performance Award – was presented to Legin, Inc., of Germantown, Maryland for outstanding performance in supporting the Office of Science’s Small Business Innovative Research/Small Business Technical Transfer Research (SBIR/STTR) program.
12. Mentor-Protégé Team Award – was presented to BWXT Y-12, LLC of Oak Ridge, Tennessee (Mentor) and G2 Engineering and Management, Inc., (Protégé) of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, for together establishing and executive several objectives in project integration.

President Bush’s Small Business Agenda calls for his administration to enable small businesses to participate fully in federal contracting. DOE’s Annual Small Business Conference runs June 27 - 30 at the Washington State Convention & Trade Center. For more information on the Small Business conference, visit http://www.smallbusiness-outreach.doe.gov.

Media contact(s):
Jacqueline Johnson, (202)/586-5806