The liquid waste contractor at the Savannah River Site (SRS) awarded approximately 80% of its subcontracted work to small businesses in fiscal year 2023 (FY23), surpassing EM’s goal for the 12-month period by more than 30%.
Office of Environmental Management
November 21, 2023
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AIKEN, S.C. – The liquid waste contractor at the Savannah River Site (SRS) awarded approximately 80% of its subcontracted work to small businesses in fiscal year 2023 (FY23), surpassing EM’s goal for the 12-month period by more than 30%.
This achievement means that out of the approximately $183 million committed to suppliers in FY23, Savannah River Mission Completion (SRMC) awarded more than $150 million of goods and services acquisitions to small businesses.
SRMC also met all of EM’s other socioeconomic small business category goals, including awarding at least 20%, or $67 million, in subcontracts to women-owned small businesses. Other categories include small disadvantaged business, historically underutilized business zone, veteran-owned small business and service-disabled veteran-owned small business.
More than 19,000 purchasing actions were taken in FY23 to support SRMC’s subcontracting goals. Significant procurements awarded to small businesses include purchasing frit and empty 10-foot-tall stainless steel canisters for disposing vitrified waste at the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF). Inside that facility’s melter, waste is mixed with a frit, or borosilicate glass, and heated until molten, then poured into the canisters to harden.
Other significant small business procurements include pumps for DWPF, chemicals used at the Salt Waste Processing Facility, rental equipment used in construction, concrete for underground waste tanks and tank closure and to support Saltstone Disposal Unit construction, project controls scopes of work, and modeling for process improvements.
According to SRMC Chief Administrative Officer Mark Barth, partnering with small businesses to procure critical equipment and services is necessary for completing the liquid waste mission.
“Our scope of work at the Savannah River Site requires unique support, and we get that from our small business vendors,” Barth said. “Working with regional, small businesses is a way that we can use our dollars to have a positive impact on the surrounding communities.”
Also in FY23, SRMC welcomed two new protégé companies to participate in SRMC’s Mentor-Protégé Program. WesWorks is a local, woman-owned small business that specializes in the planning, management and execution of large-complex contracts. DBD is a technical advisory firm that has helped SRMC develop computer models to identify process or facility improvements to advance the liquid waste mission. The new protégés join established protégé Columbia County Concrete, a local, woman-owned small business.
According to SRMC Small Business Program Manager Ashley Hannah, the new protégés support EM’s mission.
“Having a mentor-protégé relationship with the capabilities of these small businesses is mutually beneficial for the mentor, the protégé and the Department of Energy,” Hannah said. “We are proud to support a program that maximizes opportunities for small businesses to conduct work for EM alongside SRMC.”
-Contributor: Lindsey Kennedy
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