May 7, 2007 — UT-Battelle's interaction with more than 270 women-owned small businesses, totaling more than $45.1 million in subcontract work, has resulted in the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory earning the prestigious 2007 Frances Perkins Vanguard Award for Exemplary Utilization of Women-Owned Small Businesses by Industry.
The award from the U.S. Small Business Administration was presented in Washington, D.C., during Small Business Week April 23-27. This award honors federal government agencies and industry for their excellence in the use of women-owned small businesses as prime contractors and subcontractors.
Staff from ORNL's Small Business Programs and other offices were recognized Monday in a special ceremony at the American Museum of Science and Energy.
UT-Battelle contracts to women-owned small businesses during fiscal year 2006 represented more than 11 percent of its total contracts.
"This represents a continuous improvement with regard to ORNL's contracting with women-owned small businesses over the past four years," said Keith Joy, ORNL's Small Business Programs manager. "ORNL is among the leaders of Department of Energy laboratories in this category. Two of the five small businesses that were selected to participate in our mentor/prot?g? program are women-owned."
Misty Mayes, president of Management Solutions LLC of Oak Ridge and one of ORNL's prot?g?s credits her company's work with ORNL in opening doors to increased opportunities in the market.
"Working with ORNL has increased our visibility and enabled us to introduce ourselves to the business community, said Mayes, whose five-year-old company provides a wide range of project management, project controls and process management services. "We've recently made some new contacts that I credit to our work with Oak Ridge."
UT-Battelle's relationship with women-owned businesses received a boost in July 2006 when ORNL hosted a daylong educational seminar attended by more than 200 representatives of East Tennessee companies. Nuby Fowler, Region IV administrator for the Small Business Administration, was the keynote speaker.
"UT-Battelle's hard work, innovative ideas and dedication to the community have made it a success and the U.S. Small Business Administration is pleased to be able to recognize UT-Battelle for these achievements," said Steven Preston, Small Business Administration administrator.
Frances Perkins was secretary of labor during the presidential administration of Franklin Roosevelt. She was the first woman in history to serve in a presidential cabinet.
Twenty-five million small businesses represent more than 99 percent of all U.S. employers provide 75 percent of the nation's new jobs and generate a majority of American inventions.
Small Business Week has been observed since 1963.
ORNL is managed by UT-Battelle for the Department of Energy.