Awards and Testimonials
Department of Energy, Small Business of the Year Award in 2001
Energy Department Honors Small Business of the Year from Oakland, California
Departmental Small Business Mentors Recognized
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Astro Pak of Oakland, Calif., a small business contractor for Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, has received the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Small Business of the Year award for 2001. The award was conferred at the Energy Department's second annual small business conference June 20-22, 2001 in Las Vegas, Nevada, attended by over 1,000 participants.
"Small business is one of the pillars of economic development in America, and I am proud to encourage the Energy Department's programs that allow small businesses to play a crucial role in making our government work," said Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham.
Astro Pak developed and operated a facility to process laser components for the Energy Department's National Ignition Facility (NIF) in Livermore, California. Astro Pak worked diligently to successfully achieve cleanliness levels measuring five microns in size and established hydrocarbon residues 1/10 of a milligram on structures as large as 46 tons. By accomplishing this, Astro Pak surpassed the acceptance of traditional measurements and set the standard for future cleanliness levels.
United States Small Business Administration Award for Excellence
SBA Recognizes Key Players in the Contracting Arena
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Astro Pak of Oakland, Calif., a small business contractor for Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, was presented with the 2001 U.S. Small Business Administration's Administrator's Award for Excellence. Astro Pak was recognized for its commitment to superior achievement in providing outstanding services at The Annual Joint Industry/SBA Procurement Conference held at the Renaissance Washington Hotel from May 7-9, 2001 in Washington, D.C. It was nominated for excelling in the areas of overall management, customer interface, technical capabilities, resource allocation, cost, delivery and quality performance, and exceptional results during its development and operation of a laser component processing facility for the Energy Department's National Ignition Facility (NIF) in Livermore, California. During this project, Astro Pak achieved cleanliness levels that exceeded industry standards.
Testimonials
Steve Biggers (Technical Sales Manager),
My thanks to you and your team for the quick turn-around on this (precision cleaned and passivated heat exchangers], we're back up and running now thanks to you.
Facilities Maintenance Manager
Drug Delivery Technologies Company
Dear Bill Orn (Technical Sales Manager),
Thanks for the quick cleaning of the MPH drums - well done. A big kudo goes out to Ron who does Astro Pak well. His phone calls providing updates on the progress and heading off potential issues early - being proactive instead of reactive - was most appreciated. Please pat him on the back for me.
The drums made it to Japan without an issue by the way and the customer is pleased. I will have another 10 brand new drums that will eventually store MPH coming your way soon.
Enjoy your day,
Aerospace and Defense Technologies Company
In this letter, I want to thank Astro Pak for wonderful service that the Downey operation has provided to our Raytheon El Segundo precision cleaning lab, and for the technical support to our contamination control team. I have developed an ongoing relationship with the technical specialists at Astro Pak, and value the technical consultation that has supported our business together.
I am Bill Elias, lead contamination control engineer for the Raytheon El Segundo site. We have developed a long term business relationship with the Astro Pak Downey facility, beginning with the Astro Pak cleaning of several B2 radar antennas, and continuing with the precision cleaning EKV and space component hardware. I believe this has led to the development of the El Segundo precision cleaning lab opening a PO with Astro Pak to support our over flow work.
Over the past years, I have consulted with Astro Pak, mainly with Brent Ekstrand, over technical questions and new potential work. Most recently we had a telecom with Brent in regards to the cleaning and verification of hardware to Level 100 A/6. Brent provided consultation to our general questions, and even informed us that Astro Pak was performing similar services for a Raytheon program located in Virginia. When time permits, several members of our contamination team may make a request to visit the Astro Pak Lawrence Livermore operation to review precision cleaning processes for new Raytheon work.
Thank you for your support, and I look forward to our future work together,
Contamination Control Engineer
Space and Airborne Systems Company
