HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Numerous large and small business prime contractors, subcontractors and civil-service teams were honored Sept. 20 during the 2012 Industry & Advocates Awards ceremony hosted by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.

The awards reflect recipients’ leadership in the aerospace business community and their sustained support for the work of the Marshall Center and for NASA’s mission. They were presented during a semi-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 company is developing the J-2X engine for the Marshall Center. The J-2X is designed to power the upper stage of NASA’s evolved Space Launch System, the advanced heavy-lift rocket set to enable a new era of robust, versatile exploration missions beyond Earth orbit.

Bastion Technologies of Houston was named Marshall’s Small Business Prime Contractor of the Year. The engineering and scientific services company provides industrial safety services, equipment and supplies to Marshall in support of the Safety & Mission Assurance Directorate and associated engineering and hardware design and development activities across the center.

Bangham Engineering Inc. of Huntsville was named Marshall’s Small Business Subcontractor of the Year. The company, which supports the Jacobs Engineering, Sciences & Technical Services (ESTS) contract at Marshall, specializes in flight test integration, flight vehicle development and advanced civil space and defense development programs.

The Marshall Center presented Small Business Subcontractor Excellence Awards to:

Avans Machine & Tool Inc. of Scottsboro, Ala., which provides precision machining and fabrication support at Marshall as a subcontractor for Jacobs Engineering of Huntsville

Barrios Technology of Houston which provides systems development and operations support at Marshall as a subcontractor for Teledyne Brown Engineering of Huntsville

Comprehensive Occupational Resources of Baton Rouge, La., a Jacobs Engineering subcontractor providing manufacturing and facility operations support at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans

Force Measurement Systems Inc. of Fullerton, Calif., a subcontractor for ATK Aerospace Systems of Salt Lake City, which provides component analysis and testing for Space Launch System booster stage work at Marshall

KORD Technologies Inc. of Huntsville, a subcontractor for the Boeing Company of Huntsville, which provides mechanical structural design services for Space Launch System core stage element work at Marshall

Small Business Program Leadership Awards were presented to Debbie Batson, manager of business development at Teledyne Brown Engineering, and Donna Coleman, founder and president of Aetos Systems in Huntsville. Batson and Coleman were honored for their service as chairs and longtime participants on the Prime Contractor Supplier Council and the Small Business Executive Leadership Team, respectively — key organizations supporting the small-business goals of Marshall, NASA and the aerospace industry.

Kathy Wooten-Hale, an employee of InfoPro Corp. in Huntsville, received a Small Business Advocate Award for her leadership in planning and conducting outreach in support of Marshall’s Small Business Program.

Marshall engineer Lynn Garrison of the Engineering Directorate’s Technical Management Office was honored as Technical Support Person of the Year — her second such honor in three years. Garrison, Marshall’s small business technical advisor, was recognized for her continuing dedication to and support of NASA and Marshall small business programs.

The Marshall Center’s Integrated Program Support Team was recognized as the Procurement Support Team of the Year. Team members, including Tammy Bissell, Keith Burleson, Maureen LaComb, Roxanne Melton and Stephen Newton, were recognized for exemplary support of small business programs and goals across Marshall and NASA.

Marshall’s Protective Services Team was honored as Program Support Team of the Year. Team members, including Walter Melton, Jeffrey Branting, Sherry Fenn, William “Rip” Nabors and Jane Thomas, were recognized for support provided during acquisition planning on the Marshall Integrated Program Support Services requirement, which provides a variety of program support services across the center.

NASA civil-service employees nominate eligible individuals and organizations for awards. A panel of NASA business procurement officials evaluates each nominee’s cost-conscious business practices, innovative processes and adoption of new technologies, as well as their overall contributions to NASA’s mission and the agency’s Small Business Program.

Center-level award recipients in several categories — Large and Small Business Prime Contractors of the Year, Small Business Subcontractor of the Year, Technical Support Person of the Year and Procurement and Program Support Teams of the Year — will be candidates for the agency-level Small Business Industry Awards. Those awards will be presented in April 2013 at NASA’s fifth 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