DOE seeks female contractors in Nevada

The U.S. Energy Department and its contractors say it's not easy to award business contracts to women-owned firms as the law requires.

Female-owned small business contract requirements have been among the most difficult for the DOE and its prime contractors to meet due to their extremely technical natures, said Angela Avery, a DOE Nevada small business specialist.

Contractor Jeanne Jones, the owner and president of Alpha Services of Las Vegas, says research is the key to competing for government work.

Jones recently offered advice to other would-be contractors about how to win government business.

She advised women starting a business to research the competition and learn about potential problems before beginning.

She also suggested that businesses "stay within their niche" because "you can't be everything to everybody."

Jones, speaking at a June DOE Women-Owned Small Business Workshop, saw the event as a valuable exchange of information and an important opportunity to make connections.

"It's all about networking" she said after the event.

Beginning as a franchisee for Norrell Services Inc., Jones opened her own firm and now has a subcontract with government contractor Bechtel Nevada, a contract with the Yucca Mountain Project Office and is in the running for part of another large government contract.

Her firm, which provides a variety of services including administrative support and staffing, has won many small business awards.

Avery, who coordinated the June workshop, said the DOE Nevada Operations office and its prime contractors are meeting the women-owned business requirements set for them, but would like to exceed the minimum. Each year they try to improve on the previous year's performance in awarding contracts and subcontracts to small businesses, she said.

Five percent of government contracts and subcontracts must go to small women-owned businesses, according to the Federal Acquisition Streamlining act of 1994.

The DOE's prime contractors locally, Bechtel and IT Corp., must also meet these requirements because they receive government funds, Avery said.

The Small Business Administration, a government agency that serves as a small business advocate, negotiates with each agency and establishes individual goals. Any figure below the 5 percent must be thoroughly justified, Avery said.

In order to facilitate the advancement of women-owned small businesses, the DOE participates as one of eleven agencies in the Women-Owned Business Procurement Pilot Program.

The program, which is run in conjunction with the SBA, includes outreach, training and marketing assistance. Under the program, the national DOE office dictates each field office will have two outreach activities per year like the June conference, Avery said.

Presenters at the conference included TRW Environmental Safety Systems, which deals with the Yucca Mountain project; Bechtel, which operates the Nevada Test Site; and IT Corp., which handles environmental services for DOE Nevada.

Avery said she was a little disappointed with the attendance, which topped out at 40. More than 100 businesses were invited by mail, she said.

She said a small number of subcontracts or contracts may come directly from the event, but a more important long-term goal was to establish contacts with contractors.

Avery emphasized the importance of establishing links with the commercial interests and prime contractors at the workshop because of the funding they have at their disposal.

Between October 1997 and June 1998, the DOE Nevada Operation Office and its contractors spent more than $54 million with small businesses. The DOE itself directly accounted for a little more than $12 million of that, Avery said.

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