The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has recognized Bechtel for its support of small businesses by awarding the company this year’s Dwight D. Eisenhower Award for Excellence in Construction. The award recognizes prime contractors who have demonstrated excellence in their utilization of small businesses as suppliers and contractors.
Bechtel team members Stephanie Park, Rail Operations Manager, Felicia Bell, Business Diversity Manager, and Tarek Amine, Chief Supply Chain Officer accepted the 2024 Dwight D. Eisenhower Award for Excellence in Construction from U.S. Small Business Administration's Isabel Casillas Guzman, Administrator. (left to right).
SBA presented the award at an event in Washington, D.C., as part of National Small Business Week, happening April 29-May 6, 2024.
“Bechtel is committed to leaving a lasting impact in the communities where we live and work,” said Tarek Amine, Bechtel’s chief supply chain officer. “Building great partnerships with small businesses is a win-win, providing opportunities that invigorate local communities and economies while helping us to deliver critical projects for our customers. We are honored to receive this year’s Dwight D. Eisenhower Award in Construction, and we look forward to continued collaboration with our many partners.”
According to the SBA, the award reflects Bechtel’s excellence, innovation, and commitment to investing in small businesses in ways that benefit local communities and the broader economy.
As an example of the company’s efforts, on the Sepulveda Transit Corridor project in Los Angeles, Bechtel engaged over 25 small, local, and minority-owned businesses as part of the project’s Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) program, which aims to ensure these businesses are represented on large-scale, federally funded projects. This approach not only strengthens Bechtel’s ability to deliver a quality project but also reinvests project dollars into the local community.
Chris Diaz, principal at Diaz, Yourman & Associates, a geotechnical consulting services corporation based in Santa Ana, California, and one of the small businesses engaged as part of the DBE program on the Sepulveda Transit Corridor project, said:
“The Bechtel team, both management and engineering, continue to be fantastic partners. They proactively assisted us on any issues or questions, and as a result, we were able to deliver our final reports both efficiently and effectively. This could have been a challenging situation, but Bechtel made sure it was both enlightening and rewarding. As a small business, getting paid on time is essential to keeping our company running. Bechtel went above and beyond to make sure we were taken care of and that we were supported throughout the project—it’s not something we typically see from prime contractors, but it's greatly appreciated.”
Hank Torbert, president of Alta Max, a small business in New Orleans, Louisiana, that manufactures military packaging for ammunition and ordnance, specialty packaging products, custom parts and assemblies, and tamper-evident security seals, said:
"Alta Max’s partnership with Bechtel on the Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant was an amazing example of teamwork. As our goals were aligned, we overcame key challenges in production, modified delivery timelines, etc., by working together at every step. Bechtel has been an ideal partner as there is strong commitment to communication and coordination, especially to achieve optimal success for our customers."
Learn more about Bechtel’s commitment to working with diverse, small businesses and suppliers and contributing to local economies where we operate: https://impact.bechtel.com/our-communities/.
