The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is recognizing outstanding entrepreneurs and small businesses during National Small Businesses Week, May 5-11. During this time, the Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) is spotlighting the efforts of its own robust Small Business Program.

Small businesses thrive at NETL, providing the Lab with a significant amount of goods and services. In fact, during fiscal year 2018, NETL spent 54.17% of its procurement dollars with small businesses — an amount that exceeds SBA’s federal governmentwide goal of 23%. This includes the five small businesses that have prime contracts with NETL supporting each of the three sites in Morgantown, West Virginia; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and Albany, Oregon. These contracts, along with the Lab’s simplified acquisitions from small businesses, totaled $126.4 million in fiscal year 2018.

NETL provides various resources for small business owners who are interested in working with the Lab and who fall into one of SBA’s set-aside categories. For instance, NETL supports the 8(a) Small Business Development Program, which provides valuable assistance to help small, disadvantaged businesses develop skills to compete in both the federal and commercial marketplace and is administered across the nation by the SBA.

The Lab welcomes the opportunity to learn more about companies that fall within set-aside categories and those that are affiliated with the construction industry, which also includes those owned by women or service-disabled veterans, as well as those located in a designated Historically Underutilized Business (HUB) Zone as defined by the SBA. 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. 

Small businesses interested in learning more about NETL’s procurement opportunities should visit the website at https://www.netl.doe.gov/business/site-support. Additional information on opportunities for the Department of Energy nationwide may be obtained by visiting the DOE Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization’s website and checking DOE opportunities posted on the Federal Business Opportunities website at www.fbo.gov.  For more information on SBA’s contracting programs, visit https://www.sba.gov/federal-contracting.