WASHINGTON, D.C. – The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) today announced that it distributed more than $395 million in small business obligations for federal prime contracts in fiscal year 2010. NNSA surpassed its departmental small business goal by 39 percent for the year.
To highlight the success of its small business program, NNSA today launched the second annual “NNSA Small Business Week.” NNSA will feature a different small business of the day on the NNSA website throughout the week.
“NNSA is committed to developing strong partnerships with small businesses,” said NNSA Administrator Thomas D’Agostino. “Small business contracting plays an important role in ensuring NNSA can focus on its core missions of maintaining the safety, security and effectiveness of the U.S. nuclear stockpile and running the largest nuclear nonproliferation program in the world while being effective stewards of taxpayer dollars.”
The benefits of using small business companies include more efficient use of taxpayer dollars, reducing overhead operating costs, and providing an opportunity for small businesses to gain exposure within the nuclear security enterprise throughout the nation.
NNSA uses small businesses to fulfill the majority of its technical and administrative support services at its headquarters in Washington, D.C. These blanket purchase agreements (BPA) represent 11 teams of more than 80 small businesses and are open for use by any DOE departmental element. NNSA has access to a large number of firms with diverse skills and capabilities.
NNSA has also placed small businesses on center stage as part of its Supply Chain Management Center (SCMC) initiative. The SCMC team is comprised of representatives from each NNSA M&O (with federal involvement) that work together to acquire common goods and services by analyzing buying behavior and by leveraging combined purchasing power. A main criterion for deciding who is finally awarded these multi-site purchasing agreements is small business status. Approximately 69 percent of the award value identified in the current agreements is with small businesses.
Small businesses even play a role in NNSA’s international missions. NNSA’s Second Line of Defense Program uses three small business-led teams to install nuclear detection portal monitors at border crossings and seaports around the world. The $700 million, seven-year effort demonstrates the strength of small business capabilities on an international scale. NNSA conducted extensive market research to demonstrate that small businesses had the skills and performance characteristics necessary to work in a number of host countries while simultaneously respecting local cultures and customs, and getting the job done with a mix of American and local country labor.
In addition to the agency’s own small business work, NNSA’s Management & Operating (M&O) contractors’ small business programs obligated over 55 percent of all subcontracted work to small businesses.
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Established by Congress in 2000, NNSA is a semi-autonomous agency within the U.S. Department of Energy responsible for enhancing national security through the military application of nuclear science in the nation’s national security enterprise. NNSA maintains and enhances the safety, security, reliability, and performance of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile without nuclear testing; reduces the global danger from weapons of mass destruction; provides the U.S. Navy with safe and effective nuclear propulsion; and responds to nuclear and radiological emergencies in the U.S. and abroad.
