OAK RIDGE, TN – Seven small businesses have received awards for their outstanding service and support of UCOR, an AECOM-led partnership with Jacobs. Each of the award recipients was recognized as a valued partner, especially with regard to outstanding customer service and exceptional responsiveness in supporting UCOR’s cleanup work on the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Reservation.

Since 2011, UCOR has been DOE’s leading environmental cleanup contractor in Oak Ridge. The company is responsible for cleaning up East Tennessee Technology Park, a former gaseous diffusion plant that DOE is converting into a multi-use industrial park. UCOR also performs cleanup work at other Reservation locations, including Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Y-12 National Security Complex.

Since the beginning of the contract, UCOR has subcontracted nearly $1.25 billion of its work, with 81 percent of that going to small businesses. “Our small business subcontractors, and especially these recipients, go above and beyond to ensure that UCOR is successfully completing it work,” said Freda Hopper, UCOR Small Business Program manager. “This year’s recipients have provided significant cost savings and efficiencies and have supplied specialized supplies and hard-to-find equipment that enabled UCOR to avoid project downtime.”

Ken Rueter, UCOR president and chief executive officer, says that the company’s partnership with small businesses is critical. “Not only do they provide exceptional support, our partnership with them increases our diversity and our ability to innovate. It has also allowed us to move the cleanup schedule ahead by four years.”

The seven small business subcontractors were honored at an awards breakfast held in Oak Ridge on Wednesday, August 14. Ike White, Senior Advisor to the Undersecretary of Science, was the guest speaker. The ceremony also included comments from Jay Mullis, manager of the DOE Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, and Rueter.

The businesses recognized are as follows:

• Small Business of the Year: Linear Path, LLC., a Knoxville-based software development company that automates manual data processes.

• Small Business of the Year: PacTec, Inc., a flexible packaging leader for hazardous and nuclear wastes world-wide based in Clinton, Louisiana.

• Small Disadvantaged Business of the Year: Oak Ridge Automotive and Industrial Supply, Inc., a locally-owned company that provides automotive supplies, parts, tools, and preventative maintenance for heavy machinery used in demolition.

• HUBZone Small Business of the Year: Premier Contracting and Technical Services, an Oak Ridge-based business that supplies hard-to-find large equipment as well as industrial and office supplies.

• Woman-Owned Small Business of the Year: Customer Service Electric Supply, a full-line motor control and automation distributor based in Knoxville that provides mission-critical electrical supplies.

• Veteran-Owned Small Business of the Year: Southeast Equipment Sales, a locally-owned company that specializes in construction machinery and equipment rentals, including hard-to-find equipment.

• Service-Disabled, Veteran-Owned Small Business of the Year: LB Services, established in 1992 in Oliver Springs, Tennessee, designs and builds wetland mitigation banks and stream restoration projects.