The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is recognizing outstanding entrepreneurs and small businesses during National Small Businesses Week, April 28 – May 4.

The SBA’s Office of Advocacy reports that over 99% of all firms in the United States are small businesses. Small businesses are the lifeblood that keeps the American economy functioning. Small businesses drive innovation, create jobs, and play an important role in supporting their local communities.

Small businesses thrive at NETL, providing the Lab with a significant amount of goods and services in support of NETL’s research efforts. In fact, during fiscal year (FY) 2023 NETL procured $149,654,044 from small businesses, which equates to approximately 41.13% of its procurement dollars. 

In FY 2023, NETL’s top procured North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) categories were for, but not limited to, Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services (56); Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services (54); Manufacturing (Metals, Machinery, Computer, Electronics Electrical Transportation Equipment, Furniture, Miscellaneous) (33); Construction (23); and Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction (21) in support of research and operations at NETL’s three lab site locations in Albany, Oregon; Morgantown, West Virginia and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

NETL is committed to supporting the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Small Business First Policy by providing maximum practicable acquisition opportunities to small business socio-economic categories such as Small Disadvantaged Businesses, Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses, Historically Underutilized Business Zone Small Businesses, 8(a) Small Disadvantaged Businesses and Women-Owned Small Businesses.

The Lab welcomes the opportunity to learn more about companies that fall within the SBA’s small business socio-economic sub-categories that can help NETL meet our site support requirement needs. Small businesses are encouraged to market their capabilities to NETL through a one-page capabilities statement and to participate in procurement trainings offered by the SBA. The newest addition to the NETL team, is the Small Business Program Manager (SBPM), Alexandria Garza.

"It’s important to demonstrate that NETL is about more than developing energy technologies of tomorrow alone. The Lab is also committed to working with businesses and entrepreneurs across the country to create exciting new economic opportunities too,” Garza said.

Small businesses may reach out to the SBPM and send capabilities statements to NETLSmallBusiness@netl.doe.gov.

NETL posts information about upcoming and potential procurement opportunities on government portals such as www.SAM.gov, www.FedConnect.net, www.ebuy.gsa.gov, and www.sewp.nasa.gov, as well as NETL’s Site Support Electronic Reading Room at https://netl.doe.gov/business/site-support.  

DOE’s Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization’s (OSDBU) is devoted to helping small businesses and provides information on events such as training and conference opportunities. The OSDBU website www.energy.gov/osdbu is a valuable source of information for the small business community, and provides easy access to the DOE laboratory system’s forecasted requirements, which can be found at www.energy.gov/osdbu/acquisition-forecast. For more information on SBA’s contracting programs, visit https://www.sba.gov/federal-contracting.

NETL is a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory that drives innovation and delivers solutions for an environmentally sustainable and prosperous energy future. By leveraging its world-class talent and research facilities, NETL is ensuring affordable, abundant, and reliable energy that drives a robust economy and national security, while developing technologies to manage carbon across the full life cycle, enabling environmental sustainability for all Americans.