OAK RIDGE, Tenn., March 25, 2013 — Oak Ridge National Laboratory honored seven outstanding small businesses and their supporters at its annual small business awards ceremony on March 22. The winning firms were nominated by ORNL staff in recognition of the companies' exceptional service during the 2012 fiscal year.

Rep. Chuck Fleischmann and John Hale, deputy director of DOE's Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization in the Office of Economic Impact and Diversity, were guest speakers at the breakfast event.

The lab awarded more than $261 million in subcontracts to small businesses in the 2012 fiscal year. Six of this year's seven honored businesses are located in East Tennessee.

Small Business of the Year: Electronic Workflow and Knowledge Management Network, Chattanooga, owned by Tom Carson. This small business provides electronic filing and workflow services and has helped bring ORNL divisions into the paperless environment.

Small Disadvantaged Business of the Year: CG Services, Oak Ridge, owned by Gary Johnson. This business provides analytical services to ORNL and is honored for meeting tight schedule deadlines and helping the laboratory meet regulatory requirements.

Women-Owned Small Business of the Year: Wrightlink Consulting, Ten Mile, Tenn. This company's director, Lynn Wright, is a published expert in the international biomass and bioenergy field, and has provided invaluable technical service to the laboratory in this area.

HUBZone Small Business of the Year: ESG Construction, LLC, Knoxville, owned by Mike Lawson. This company is a two-time winner of this award. ESG Construction exhibited exceptional performance under deadline pressure with the Carbon Fiber Technology Facility.

Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Business of the Year: Disabled American Veterans Company, LLC (DAVCOM), Oak Ridge, led by Dr. Mike Smith. DAVCOM is a recent graduate of the ORNL Mentor-Protégé Program, and its ORNL client says the company resolves complex problems and maintains excellent customer relations.

Veteran-Owned Small Business of the Year: Advent IT Group, Knoxville, owned by Darren Downing. This company provided exceptional computer science assistance in an energy audits project for ORNL, including advice on the design of the audit system.

AVID Just-In-Time Small Business of the Year: Burgoon Company, Galveston, Texas, owned by Nancy Evans. This vendor maintains a 97.3 percent on-time delivery rate and provides excellent responsiveness to internal customers in the delivery of industrial products.

In addition, Dayenesi, Inc., a small consulting and management firm, signed an ORNL small business mentor protégé agreement for the FY 2013-2015 class. The small business mentor-protégé program is a DOE initiative that helps companies enhance their capability to perform contracts and subcontracts for the laboratory.

Steve Hinton, subcontract administrator in the lab's business services directorate, was recognized as "Small Business Advocate of the Year" for his support of small businesses. ORNL mentor-protégé champion awards went to Kathy Carney and John Powell for City-State, LLC, Johney Green for Southern University, Allen Crabtree for Ability Engineering, Cy Smith for DAVCOM and Cecil Peters for Elizabeth Eason Architecture. ORNL organizational advocate winners were, for research and development organizations, the Materials Science & Technology Division, Gene Ice, director, and for support organizations, the Facilities Management Division, Ann Weaver, director.

The ORNL small business programs office includes Keith Joy, director, and Cassandra McGee Stuart, socioeconomic program officer.