News Release
Media Contact: Fred Strohl
Communications and External Relations
865.574.4165


UT-Battelle honors small business contractors

OAK RIDGE, Tenn., March 4, 2005 — Small businesses, which have provided outstanding service and support to the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, were honored today during UT-Battelle's annual Small Business Subcontractor Awards luncheon.

Also recognized were laboratory employees who support these companies, help ORNL meet its small business goals, and establish partnerships with historically black colleges and universities and minority education institutions.

"Small businesses are a key factor in the laboratory's ability to deliver on its commitments to the U.S. Department of Energy," said ORNL Director Jeff Wadsworth. "They are committed to our work, responsive to our needs, an excellent value, and an important contributor to the local economy.

"These partnerships amongst the laboratory, the business community, and the academic community deliver real benefits for all of the partners and for our customers." The following awards were presented:

Small Business:

BCS Inc., a small, woman-owned consulting company – based in Columbia, Md. – providing technical and management products and services to clients, including ORNL.

Interactive Solutions Inc., a Memphis-based small business that provides state of the art technological solutions for telemedicine, distance learning, videoconferencing and audio visual needs.

Small Disadvantaged Business:

GEM Technologies, Knoxville, a minority-owned 8(a) certified small business that provides technical support in engineering, construction, project management, quality assurance, documents and records and environmental assessment to ORNL.

Environmental Safety and Health Inc., a Tennessee-based 8(a) Hispanic-American-owned business that supports ORNL with asbestos management support, industrial hygiene sampling and program planning and safety planning and oversight of the Spallation Neutron Source, High Flux Isotope Reactor and Hydrofracture facilities.

Women-Owned Small Business:

Management Solutions, LLC, has worked with ORNL and other DOE and Department of Defense customers in developing and refining project management and control systems to ensure excellence in technical, schedule and cost performance.

Historically Underutilized Business Zone Business:

LMK Engineering, LLC, of Pottstown, Pa., and Oak Ridge provided professional consulting and engineering services that include technical and managerial assessments, analysis of capital and operational expenditures, and risk management planning and review.

Veteran Owned Small Business:

Telemus Solutions Inc., a Falls Church, Va.-based small business that provides technology evaluation and security consulting with services targeting research and analysis, vulnerability assessments, emergency response planning, information technology support services and security training programs.

Educational Institution:

University of Virginia, one of seven UT-Battelle core universities, which engages with ORNL in joint-faculty appointments, development of major new science initiatives and provides leadership in expanding interactions with ORNL across the broader academic research community.

Historically Black College and Universities/Minority Education Institutions (HBCU/MEI):

North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (North Carolina A&T) has received extensive support from ORNL during the past 15 years in terms of subcontracted funds, instrument facilities and the hosting of faculty and students each summer. Dhananjay Kumar of ORNL's Condensed Matter Sciences Division is a joint faculty appointment between the two institutions.

Small Business Advocates:

Lanny Bates, director of ORNL's Facilities Development Division, has spearheaded small business contracts for design and project management support, including a small woman-owned business, and has implemented several million dollars of construction through use of an innovative small business contract.

Brian Worley, director of ORNL's Computational Sciences and Engineering Division, provided leadership that resulted in subcontracting more than 86 percent of a $5 million-plus budget to small businesses, 31.5 percent to small disadvantaged businesses, 19.7 percent to women-owned businesses and 16.2 percent to historically underutilized business zones.

Penny Owens of ORNL's Contracts Division has supported her division's small business goals through work with ORNL's business system, SAP. She has worked with the contracts services manager to train contracts staff on procurement procedures, including guidelines and goals for contracting with small businesses.

Virginia Miller of the Contracts Division handled nearly $7 million worth of transactions with small businesses for the Spallation Neutron Source. More than 50 percent of those dollars were associated with establishing new contract awards.

Susan Horne of the Contracts Division was instrumental in helping ORNL exceed its procurement goal of 48 percent with small businesses by placing more than 64 percent with small businesses and 16 percent with women owned or minority businesses.

Historically Black Colleges and Universities Advocate:

ORNL's Engineering Science and Technology Division works with several historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), including Tuskegee University, Alabama A&M, Tennessee State and Clark Atlanta University. Division staff members participate in joint research projects, advisory boards and collaborate with faculty in addition to presenting seminars.

Oak Ridge Associated Universities, working through Linda Holmes – group manager of the Science and Engineering Education programs at the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education. She is in charge of administering more than 20 educational programs for the laboratory, including several programs that focus on HBCUs and minority education institutions.