HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., today presented its 2010 Industry & Advocates Awards to large and small business prime contractors, subcontractors and civil service team members whose leadership and pursuit of technological excellence support the work of the Marshall Center and sustain NASA’s mission of exploration and discovery.

The awards were presented Sept. 23 at the annual meeting of Marshall’s Small Business Alliance at the Davidson Center for Space Exploration in Huntsville. Established in 2007, the alliance helps small businesses pursue NASA procurement and subcontracting opportunities.

Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne Inc. of Canoga Park, Calif., was named Marshall’s Large Business Prime Contractor of the Year. The firm is the prime contractor for NASA’s space shuttle main engines. Since 2007, it also has been the prime contractor for the development and testing of the J-2X rocket engine, designed to power the upper stages of NASA’s next-generation launch vehicles.

COLSA Corp. of Huntsville was named Marshall’s Small Business Prime Contractor of the Year. Since 2007, the engineering and information technology services and solutions company has provided hardware and software configuration management and data management services to the Marshall Center. It supports programs and projects developing flight, qualification and ground support equipment hardware and software.

Southern California Braiding Company of Bell Gardens, Calif., was named Marshall’s Small Business Subcontractor of the Year. The company, a manufacturer of custom electronic and electrical wire, cables and wire harnesses, provides hardware support to ATK Launch Systems of Brigham City, Utah, under the Ares I First Stage contract.

Prime Contractor Excellence Awards were presented to ATK, and to three Huntsville-based companies: Jacobs Technology, The Boeing Company and SAIC Inc. ATK, Jacobs and Boeing were honored for entering NASA Mentor-Protege agreements with minority-owned small businesses or minority-serving academic partners, helping them to enhance technical capabilities and successfully compete for larger, more complex government contract and subcontract awards. SAIC was recognized for significant contributions to small businesses as the prime contractor for the Unified NASA Information Technology Services contract, or UNITeS, which covers information technology, data and telecommunications management, computer networking and digital imaging.

Small Business Program Leadership Awards were presented to Jenifer Scoffield, ATK small business liaison officer; Dr. Ronald Belz, director and small business liaison officer at Jacobs Technology; Donna Coleman, founder and president of Aetos Systems in Huntsville; Joellen Moore, small business liaison officer at United Space Alliance in Huntsville; and Bill Davis, manager of business development at AI Signal Research Inc. in Huntsville. Scoffield, Belz, Coleman and Moore were honored for serving consecutive, two-year terms as chair of the Marshall Prime Contractor Supplier Council, starting in 2003. Moore, the current chair, will conclude her term in December 2010. Davis was honored for his leadership as chair of the Marshall Center’s Small Business Executive Leadership Team from 2008-2010.

Receiving Small Business Advocacy Awards for outstanding leadership and support of various Marshall Center Small Business Office programs and services were Debbie Batson, manager of business development at Teledyne Brown Engineering in Huntsville; Bruce Emerson, manager of procurement and small business programs at SAIC Inc.; and David Guy, safety and occupational health specialist at the Marshall Center.

Marshall engineer Lynn Garrison of the Engineering Directorate’s Technical Management Office was honored as Technical Support Person of the Year. Garrison, Marshall’s small business technical advisor, was recognized for her exemplary commitment, dedication and support of NASA and Marshall small business programs.

The Marshall Center’s Fiscal Year 2009-2010 Procurement Small Business Action Team was recognized as the Procurement Support Team of the Year. Team members, including Marshall procurement specialists Glen Alexander, Timothy Carson, James Casper and Casey Hardy, were recognized for exemplary support of NASA and Marshall small business programs throughout the two-year period.

Eligible persons and organizations are nominated for the awards by NASA civil service employees. A panel of NASA business procurement officials assesses each nominee’s impact on NASA’s mission and the agency’s Small Business Program, and evaluates its development and application of new technologies, cost-saving measures and innovative methodologies and processes.

Center-level award recipients are candidates for the agency-level Small Business Industry Awards, to be presented Dec. 1, during NASA’s third annual Small Business Symposium & Awards Ceremony in Washington.

For more information about doing business with the Marshall Center, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/about/business.html

For more information about NASA’s Office of Small Business Programs, visit: http://osbp.nasa.gov