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| [PHOTO: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center/Flickr/CC BY 2.0] |
Washington: The winners of the 2014 Agency-Level NASA Small Business Industry Awards (SBIA) were announced Tuesday at NASA Headquarters in Washington during the spring 2015 NASA Industry Forum meeting, hosted by the agency’s Office of Small Business Programs.
The SBIA Program recognizes the outstanding Small Business Prime Contractor, Small Business Subcontractor, and Large Business Prime Contractor that support NASA in achieving its mission in the identified fiscal year. Nominations were received from all 10 agency centers.
“American small businesses are critical to our success as the world leaders in space exploration and scientific discovery,” said Small Business Program Associate Administrator Glenn Delgado. “As NASA continues to reach for new heights and advance an ambitious journey to Mars, we’re helping to create jobs and support small businesses right here on Earth.”
The Agency Small Business Prime Contractor of the Year award went to a.i. solutions, Inc., of Lanham, Maryland. The company works with NASA’s Launch Services Program, supporting launches of several of the agency’s science spacecraft. The company also supported the International Space Station Slosh experiment, looking at how liquid in motion behaves in microgravity.
Advanced Aerospace Solutions, LLC, of Raleigh, North Carolina, was named Agency Small Business Subcontractor of the Year. The company is working with NASA on a concept for aircraft operations called Traffic Aware Strategic Aircrew Requests (TASAR) Analysis and Development. This onboard automation tool will help compute route changes to improve flight efficiency while avoiding conflicts with hazards and other air traffic. Two airlines are pursuing formal agreements with NASA to implement TASAR in their regular operations.
Raytheon Company of Waltham, Massachusetts, was named Agency Large Business Prime Contractor of the Year. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, in Greenbelt, Maryland, nominated Raytheon for their work on the Earth Observing System Data and Information System Evolution and Development contract supporting the agency’s Earth Science Data and Information System. As the Large Business Prime Contractor of the Year, Raytheon has actively encouraged small business subcontractors, helping to meet NASA’s small business goals.