WASHINGTON – Today, Administrator Isabel Casillas Guzman, head of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), issued a statement recognizing the winners of the 2024 National Small Business Week (NSBW)’s government contracting awards: Pennsylvania defense ordnance products manufacturing firm Action Manufacturing Company as National Prime Contractor of the Year; Texas research, engineering, consulting, and software development firm Knowledge Based Systems, Inc. as National Subcontractor of the Year; and Arizona healthcare, program management, and engineering firm Cetechs as 8(a) Graduate Firm of the Year.
The three firms will receive awards honoring their work in federal contracting alongside our two honorees for the Dwight D. Eisenhower Award as part of National Small Business Week. April 28 to May 4.
“The federal government relies on small businesses to deliver innovative and competitive products and services to support critical agency functions such as national defense and disaster recovery and to implement the Biden-Harris Administration’s historic investments in infrastructure, clean energy, and more,” said Administrator Guzman. “The Biden-Harris Administration has worked hard to ensure small businesses can compete on a level playing field for the more than $600 billion in eligible federal contracts. Federal contracting leads to strong small business growth and job creation, and these awardees represent the outsized economic impact this important work is having on local communities across the nation.”
Here is a full list of this year’s top federal contractors:
Small Business Prime Contractor of the Year
Mr. Sean Gibbs, President/CEO
Action Manufacturing Company – Bristol, Pa.
Sean Gibbs assumed the role as President of Action Manufacturing Company in 2014 after serving as the Vice President of Business Development for seven years. The firm, established in 1946, now has over 300 employees. Action manufactures precision ordnance products including fuzes, explosives, electronics, and a variety of defense items for the Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marines. Action produced over four million M739A1 fuzes over the last 10 years, with delivery remaining early or on time on every military order. These fuzes are used in electro-mechanical rocket, missile, artillery, mortar, and tank devices for the Department of Defense and domestic prime contractors.
Small Business Subcontractor of the Year
Dr. Richard John Mayer, President
Knowledge Based Systems, Inc. – College Station, Texas
Dr. John Mayer founded Knowledge Based Systems, Inc. (KBSI) in 1988 after earning his Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from Texas A&M University. KBSI is a research, engineering and systems analysis, consulting, and systems/software development company that has been awarded numerous research and development contracts. Over the past 35 years, the company developed technologies in engineering design, simulation modeling, forecasting, and cybersecurity, which have been used by the Air Force, Navy, Army, NASA, and Homeland Security. The company’s ASSURANT technology helps fulfill a national defense need to bolster cyber resiliency and survivability across all weapons systems, particularly with the Department of Defense.
8(a) Graduate Firm of the Year
Wilbert G. Johnson, CEO/President
Johnson’s Consulting dba Cetechs – Mesa, Ariz.
Wilbert Johnson started Cetechs – a health care, program management, administration, and engineering service firm, in 2009. Months later, Cetechs won several contracts which served as the company’s starting point. By using lessons learned, Cetechs secured more contracts and diversified the company’s core services and is now an 8(a) Program graduate with more than 42 employees. Cetechs won the 2018 SBA Emerging Leaders Program Graduate Award, the 2019 Arizona Small Business Development Center Success Award, and the 2020 Goldman Sachs Award. SBA’s 8(a) Business Development Program is a nine-year program that provides socially and economically disadvantaged firms access to government contracting opportunities and specialized business training and counseling to help them become viable competitors in the federal marketplace.
