Savannah River Mission Completion attended the recent U.S. Department of Energy Mentor-Protégé Forum in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with its newest small business protégé, InfoTech NorthStar, as well as DBD, Inc. From left are InfoTech NorthStar leadership: Nolan Wright, vice president of operational technology and quality assurance, Silvina Wright, president and owner, and Dwight Brayton, vice president of information technology.

AIKEN, S.C. - A small business specializing in technology solutions is learning how to navigate business with the federal government from world-class experts through the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Mentor-Protégé Program at the DOE Office of Environmental Management's (EM) Savannah River Site (SRS).

SRS liquid waste cleanup contractor Savannah River Mission Completion (SRMC) recently added InfoTech NorthStar (ITNS) to its mentor-protégé program. SRMC is the EM contractor responsible for safely treating and disposing of the millions of gallons of radioactive waste remaining in underground tanks at SRS.

Since SRMC's contract began in 2022, the contractor has supported the DOE Mentor-Protégé Program, an initiative that assists small businesses in improving capabilities as subcontractors across the DOE complex.

A disadvantaged woman-owned small business, ITNS provides support for operational technology, informational technology (IT) and quality assurance, specializing in safety-significant systems and software built for the DOE complex and its contractors.

SRMC Chief Information Officer Mirwaise Aurah works directly with ITNS on projects that support SRS liquid waste system engineering and facilities. He said working with ITNS has already proven to be a mutually beneficial partnership.

"InfoTech NorthStar is helping us by supporting our facilities with development of IT-related applications and technologies," Aurah said. "And we are supporting them as the company scales from a startup phase to growing their clients significantly. SRMC is looking forward to the valuable support ITNS will continue to bring to the liquid waste cleanup mission."

In addition to ITNS, SRMC mentors three other small businesses:

• WesWorks, a local, woman-owned small business with project controls services;
• Columbia County Concrete, a local, woman-owned small business concrete supplier;
• DBD, Inc., a small business specializing in modeling and visualization tools that recently opened a local Aiken office.

One protégé company - BlueStar Rental and Sales, a local, HUBZone small business - has already completed the program. HUBZone stands for Historically Underutilized Business Zone.

-Contributor: Colleen Hart