The Tri-Cities Local Business Association is growing its

membership by focusing on building a strong relationship with Hanford

contractors, and keeping its lens on the future of the site, rather than its

past.

Most members of the nonprofit are second-tier

subcontractors focused on the cleanup of the U.S. Department of Energy site in

Richland.

“Many of our members are trying to diversify, and that’s

what we’re trying to help substantiate, given the experience of the work

activities on site, to leverage that expertise in other areas, outside of DOE

and Hanford,” said Steve Anderson, president of TCLBA.

The nonprofit was founded in 2003 with the goal of

encouraging DOE and its prime contractors to use smaller Tri-City-based

businesses for portions of larger contracts.

“The idea was to help ensure that the prime contracting

that came out had language to use small and local businesses, leveraging the

talent we have in the Tri-Cities versus out of town,” Anderson said. “We’ve got

a commitment to the companies here, to our community, since we live here and

work here.”

TCLBA member and president of Meier

Architecture-Engineering Paul Giever added, “Local business owners really drive

the economy and will stay here long after the ‘primes’ (prime contractors)

leave.”

The organization includes about three dozen large and

small businesses, as well as unions. Members include Babcock Services, Lampson

International and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW)

Local Union 112.

“There are portions of these contracts that can be given

to smaller businesses, something of a civil engineering nature or environmental

effort, whereby monitoring wells, so that contracts could go out specifically

to small businesses and give them greater credibility for what they do, that

could be taken elsewhere,” Anderson said.

The TCLBA said it has a personal interest in seeing the

DOE and Hanford succeed, including the transition to a new, long-term mission

as cleanup of the former nuclear site winds down. This includes support for the

Department of Energy’s effort to reclassifying high-level waste.

“We think that’s an important element for many reasons,

including excessive costs for site cleanup,” Anderson said. “If they would go

ahead and classify it based on the constituents, as opposed to the reason or

the process, which was, in the past, why it was considered high-level, it would

make it a lot easier for us to clean up and dispose of in a more timely fashion

and, we think, accelerate cleanup.”

Members of the TCLBA meet monthly to listen to a speaker

and have the opportunity for networking, which could help its members develop

partnerships for future collaborative work. This is the portion of the

membership that Giever sees as the most beneficial.

“You need to go to the meetings to get the benefit. You

can see what opportunities are coming out, network with other businesses, and

see how your skills can be combined with others to make a run at proposals,”

Giever said.

“This is an association of businesses that all have the

need to grow their own area of expertise, but become a stronger voice as a

community of businesses to help negotiate language in contracts or requests to

hear from some of the prime contractors as to what type of workload may be

coming and how they see the timing and sequencing of those activities so that

support industries are aligned with those needs and are recognized with that

expertise,” Anderson said. The TCLBA has provided a forum for developing

programs that enhance the overall economy of the region.

Meetings also

give members the opportunity to hear from local, regional and federal

politicians on matters related to work in the Tri-Cities. State lawmakers and

U.S. Congressman Dan Newhouse have spoken to the group in the past, as well as

DOE leaders.

The TCLBA has

just a few people on the payroll, including an executive director.

Membership dues

are scaled based on the size of the business, ranging from $50 a month for

organizations with fewer than five employees, to $200 a month for those with 26

employees or more.

Anderson said

the nonprofit has generally hovered around 30 to 40 members, but there’s room

for growth.

“The whole idea

is to help breed sustainable support for our companies and our community as

Hanford slowly winds down,” Anderson said. “The idea is that we are cleaning

things up, things are advancing. We think there’s definite value in what we

bring and in bringing people together.”

Tri-Cities Local Business Association: tricitieslba.com; Facebook.