GSA #10117

October 1, 2004
Contact: Viki Reath (202) 501-1231
viki.reath@gsa.gov
Contact: Jeffrey Woodworth (202) 219-1679
jeffrey.woodworth@gsa.gov

WASHINGTON, D.C. – GSA continues to support opportunities for small business by announcing the largest order placed to date against its governmentwide contract set aside for HUBZone firms.  TELESIS Corp. of Rockville, Maryland was issued a task order for data-processing services worth an estimated $150 million over five years.  The order, funded at $90 million, is expected to create an estimated 200 new jobs in economically distressed areas of West Virginia, the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) announced today.

In 2003, GSA became the first executive agency to create a Governmentwide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) that features the Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone) Program, which promotes economic development through direct job creation.  GSA awarded contracts to 36 SBA-certified, HUBZone businesses.

The five-year task order was awarded by the Department of Justice for the Martinsburg, West. Virginia, National Tracing Center of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
 
The HUBZone Program, created by Congress in 1997, requires a firm’s principal office and 35 percent of employees to be located in a HUBZone.

TELESIS’ services will support receiving documents, capturing data, scanning, media conversion, maintenance and searches. The firm has offered jobs to approximately 260 West Virginia residents who live in HUBZones.

GSA’s HUBZone Governmentwide Acquisition Contract, or GWAC, enables federal agencies to meet their statutory goals to devote three percent of their federal procurement dollars to Small Businesses Administration-certified, HUBZone small businesses. 
 
GSA builds on its established acquisition mission with the HUBZone GWAC by ensuring careful adherence to regulations and contracting compliance issues. Helping federal agencies follow these procedures is one more example of GSA’s “Getting It Right” for its government customers.

For further information on the HUBZone GWAC please visit: www.gsa.gov/hubzone.