Each year, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Headquarters Office of Small Business hosts a Small Business Awards Ceremony to recognize districts and individuals across the organization who have made significant contributions to maximize small business opportunities. During a virtual ceremony hosted in Washington, D.C., the Omaha District received several awards for executing its largest small business program ever at $595 million during fiscal year 2020.
Historically, the annual Small Business Awards ceremony is held in person. However, due to COVID-19 the awards ceremony was held virtually to accommodate the safe gathering small business program teams across multiple districts.
The Omaha District is part of the Northwestern Division who in total awarded 54.3 percent of its $1.09 billion prime small businesses total obligations to small businesses in fiscal year 2020. This team effort across the Division resulted in the Omaha District receiving “Top District” with the highest total dollar amount of contracts for small businesses.
“The Omaha District is blessed to be acknowledged for the teams’ hard work. With our teams’ can-do attitude, we’ve created a culture of leveraging tools and resources that have enabled us to have an entrepreneurial spirit, perform in excellence, and make an impact on the overall USACE mission,” said Ted H. Streckfuss, Deputy District Engineer, Omaha District, in a recent interview.
Having awarded $595 million in small business contracts, the Omaha District was also recognized as one of the $500 “Million Dollar Club” members. This award category was shared with the Mobile District achieving $564 million and the Louisville District with $528 million.
Of the Omaha District’s total small business contracts, $48.42 million were designated to Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business. As a result, the District also received an award for being a “Top Ten District & Centers: Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business” category. Achieving almost 10 percent of its total contract awards put the District in fifth place behind Louisville District achieving $200.15 million, Huntsville Center attaining $94.06 million, Mobile District reaching $83.78 million, and the Memphis District accomplishing $66.63 million for the Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business category.
“Our department advocates for small businesses—it truly is a team effort! Our office works in partnership with the contracting team, project managers and leadership of the District to support the small business program. Everyone pitches in and we are very fortunate that our District is small business friendly and believes in entrepreneurship,” said Daniel Curado, Chief, Small Business, Procurement Analyst, Omaha District. “The Small Business Office is really proud to receive the recognition. It reflects on our dedication and hard work to ensure maximum small business participation on our contracts. These numbers reflect that success and it’s driving our program in the right direction.”
Additionally, USACE recognizes individuals for their successes in small business with a Small Business Champion Award. The Omaha District’s, Mr. Robert Lingerfelt was the 2O2O Small Business Champion Award nominee.
“As the Program Manager for NWO's Acquisition Support Team, I actively participate in small business events and conferences, listening to the needs of businesses and providing guidance on how to maximize participation on planned Omaha District contracts,” said Lingerfelt. “Omaha AST and SB personnel work closely together to identify SB opportunities and coordinate educational seminars that benefit small businesses. Thank you for the nomination. Even though I didn't win, being included for consideration was a great compliment.”
Some of the District’s Small Business Program’s notable accomplishments include: $134 million in small business contracts awarded in the environmental branch, $173 million in special projects, $48 million in civil works, $67 million awarded to small business in military construction, and $172 million small business contracts awarded within the Operations Systems Restoration Team (flood/levee repair).
“We encourage all small businesses to first contact the Small Business Office. The small business specialist is your main contact to try to answer your questions, facilitate meetings, and put you in contact with others. We can open the doors for you.” said Curado.
The District’s small business program objective is to optimize business opportunities for the small business community in federal acquisition programs sustaining the Omaha District as a premier district within the Northwestern Division.
Enterprise-wide, USACE has over 60 dedicated Small Business Professionals across the divisions, districts and centers. Companies interested in doing business with USACE should use the USACE public website for the contact information for the SBP in their area.
For more information, contact the Omaha District Small Business office via email at cenwo-sb@usace.army.mil, or by phone at (402) 995-2910 or (402) 995-2919.