NASA Honors USA for Its Small Business Support

In recognition of its support for small businesses, United Space Alliance received Kennedy Space Center's 2005 Large Business-Commitment to Small Business Program Award at the NASA Biannual Awards Ceremony, held on February 7. KSC Center Director James Kennedy presented the award to USA's CEO Mike McCulley.

"We appreciate this recognition of our efforts," McCulley said. "Our team works hard to develop a diverse base of suppliers and to expand opportunities for small businesses. We think it makes good business sense, and it also fits our corporate commitment to enriching our communities."

The Large Business-Commitment to Small Business Program Award is presented to the prime contractor that has shown the most dedication to the small business program in performance of their contract and NASA's mission.

"This recognition is particularly significant for USA, because the reality of the environment we work in is that the bulk of the Shuttle hardware can be supplied only by large companies. That means the opportunities to use small businesses are limited, and in the future they will be even more limited. We work hard to foster outreach and support of small businesses," said Don Herring, USA's Acting Director of Procurement and Subcontracts.

According to Joellen Moore, USA Small Business Liaison Officer at KSC, USA has awarded more than $1.9 billion dollars to small businesses. This includes awards of more than $61 million dollars to Veteran-Owned Businesses and more than $17 million to Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Businesses, both of which are fairly new categories.

"It takes the entire team's commitment to succeed in this area of contractual performance. The USA team has been very progressive in providing innovative avenues to improve small businesses' performance in all areas of their business," Moore said.

One of these avenues is through outreach programs. Moore is currently President of the Space Coast Chapter of the Florida Minority Supplier Development Council (FMSDC). Working with the council, USA has begun to provide two series of training for members of the FMSDC. The focus of this training is to provide small, disadvantaged businesses with the necessary skills to be successful in their business.

USA was recognized for its leadership through the Space Coast Chapter's receipt of Chapter of the Year for 2004 Award at the annual FMSDC conference.

Another example of USA's outreach efforts involves helping small businesses in the Gulf Coast regions. USA's Herring is working with the Marshall Space Flight Center Prime Contractor's Council, and with NASA and the federal Small Business Association on the project, which aims to match services or products needed by large suppliers with those businesses affected by the Gulf Coast disasters.

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