PHOENIX – EM is realizing success in setting aside and awarding significant work to small businesses, EM’s acquisition chief said here earlier this month.

   “EM cares a lot about small businesses,” EM Deputy Assistant Secretary for Acquisition and Project Management Jack Surash said at the annual Waste Management Conference. “We’re after sustainable opportunities for small businesses.”

   EM has seen a steady increase in recent years in the monetary amount of contracts awarded to small businesses. In fiscal year 2015, more than $500 million worth of contracts were awarded to small businesses, directly as prime contracts or as first-tier subcontracts to EM’s management-and-operating contractors, Surash said. This fiscal year, a total of approximately $400 million to $600 million worth of contracts are expected to be awarded to small businesses.

   EM is meeting, and often exceeding, its contracting goals for the various socioeconomic types of small businesses, Surash said. These categories include women-owned, service-disabled veteran-owned, 8(a), and Hubzone small businesses.

   Over the last several years, EM has awarded substantial small business prime contracts ranging in value from $25 million to more than $175 million, Surash said. These contracts include infrastructure services at EM’s Paducah and Portsmouth sites; occupational medical services at the Hanford Site; operation of the Oak Ridge Transuranic Waste Processing Center (TWPC); operation of  the 222-S Laboratory at the Hanford Site; and management of Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)-licensed facilities at the Idaho Site.

   Surash noted that EM has seen significant levels of competition for its small business prime contracts. For example, five bids were submitted for the Paducah infrastructure services contract, and seven bids were submitted for the Portsmouth infrastructure services contract. EM also received six proposals for the Idaho NRC-licensed facilities contract, and seven proposals for the Oak Ridge TWPC contract, Surash said.

   EM is currently considering proposals for what Surash described as a “pretty darn big” contract for a small business to provide IT services at EM headquarters. The contract is expected to be worth between $50 million and $70 million over five years, and EM hopes to make an award decision before the end of this year, he said.

   DOE is scheduled to hold two events in May to aid small businesses in doing work for the Department:

• The 2016 Small Business Forum, to be held May 19-20 in South Carolina by the DOE Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization, Savannah River Site, and Savannah River National Laboratory. 
• The 2016 Annual DOE Small Business Forum and Expo, to be held May 23-25 in Atlanta, Ga.