Two Hanford contractors report they’ve exceeded their small business goals for the fiscal year.

CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. and Mission Support Alliance, both in Richland, are required to award contract dollars to small businesses when procuring goods and services to support cleanup at the Hanford site.

CH2M Hill awarded more than $151 million in contracts and purchases with $129 million, or 85 percent, going to small businesses supporting the company’s goal of placing more than 49 percent of all contract work with small businesses.

CH2M Hill said it has worked with hundreds of small businesses to secure a variety of services, including construction, drilling, professional support and materials.

Ojeda Business Ventures in West Richland and Stillwater LLC in Pasco are two of CH2M’s small business partners that helped treat more than 2.1 billion gallons of contaminated groundwater, removing more than 180,000 pounds of contaminants in fiscal year 2016.

Another small business partner, Intermech Inc. of Richland, supported the effort to move sludge away from the Columbia River by helping remove legacy equipment from a facility at the center of the site in preparation for storage of sludge.

“CH2M believes small businesses are the lifeblood of a community and the company reaches out to small business owners at local, state and national levels. Since the beginning of CH2M’s contract in 2008, the company subcontracted $2.4 billion in goods and services with nearly 54 percent going to small businesses and 70 percent of all transactions awarded in Benton and Franklin counties,” the company said in a statement.

CH2M is DOE’s prime contractor for environmental cleanup at the Hanford site. Its work includes non-tank farm waste disposal activities; groundwater monitoring and remediation; facility and waste site characterization, surveillance and maintenance, regulatory document preparation, and remediation.

Mission Support Alliance procured $122 million in supplies and services from small businesses, an increase of $25.7 million from the previous fiscal year.

In the last two years, MSA has awarded about $218 million in small business contracts. MSA said it also had an increase of over 265 percent in HUBZone procurement ($8.4 million to $22 million); an increase of $6 million in work with small, women-owned businesses; an increase in procurements or services from small, disabled, veteran-owned businesses by $12.4 million and an increase in veteran-owned small business of over $10 million; and exceeded the 25 percent small business requirement for the Mission Support contract, which  requires the company to award contract dollars to small businesses when procuring goods and services to support cleanup at the Hanford Site.

“I’m proud of what we have been able to accomplish with our small business contracts,” said Brad Edwards, director of MSA contracts, in a statement. “Small businesses play an important role in the legacy of Hanford as they work with the prime contractors to complete the work in a safe and cost-efficient way.”

Some of the work accomplished by small businesses contracted through MSA include electrical, utility and various roadwork activities.