In November 2013, Col. Luke Leonard, Louisville District Commander, Denise Bush, Chief of Contracting, and Jacque Gee, Deputy for Small Business, attended the Society of American Military Engineers 2013 Small Business Conference in Kansas City, Mo.
At the conference, Leonard accepted two awards on behalf of the Louisville District. The first award recognized the Louisville District for being first among U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) districts in contract obligations to Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Businesses (SDVOSB) with more than $77 million in contract obligations for fiscal year 2013.
The second award was presented for awarding 11.8% of contract dollars to SDVOSBs in fiscal year 2013, placing the district in eighth place overall among USACE districts.
In fiscal year 2013, the Louisville District obligated more than $652 million in contracts with more than $292 million awarded to the small business community. Of that $292 million, the Louisville District awarded more than $77 million (11.8%) to the SDVOSB community, exceeding the district goal of 4% for that socio-economic category.
"The Louisville District is committed and dedicated to not only the success of the SDVOSB program, but the success of the overall Small Business Program as demonstrated by the over $292 million that were awarded to small business concerns in fiscal year 2013," said Gee. "I’m personally committed to ensuring we achieve all of our small business goals in fiscal year 2014."
The Veterans Benefits Act of 2003 (Public Law 108-183) established a procurement program to provide procuring agencies with the authority to set acquisitions aside for exclusive competition among SDVOSB concerns.