The Air Force is the top performing major defense agency in the Department of Defense Small Business Program for fiscal 2004, defense officials said. Also, two Air Force small business professionals earned awards, rounding out the top honors for the Air Force.

The recognition is the highest DOD agency-level small business program award. Air Force will receive the award in a ceremony scheduled for December at the Pentagon.

Elizabeth A. Bryant, formerly of the 460th Space Wing, Buckley Air Force Base, Colo., is the DOD Small Business Specialist for 2004. Reinette Alecozay, Air Education and Training Command, Randolph AFB, Texas, is the DOD Small Business Contracting Professional of the Year.

“What an honor for all Air Force small business specialists who contributed so much to the Air Force award, and these two small business professionals whose individual achievements have been recognized,” said Joseph G. Diamond, director of the Air Force Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization.

For the Air Force to take the top award attests to the strong partnership between small business specialists and Air Force leaders, he said. Wing commanders, and support group commanders in particular, also play a vital role in promoting the advocacy of small businesses.

“And the senior Air Force leadership continues to emphasize that small business provides affordable, effective, and sustainable warfighting capabilities to the Air Force,” he said

Ms. Bryant earned the honor for her education and recruiting program that doubled the number of small business awards at her wing since 2002. Her business strategy also enabled the unit to exceed its HUBZone (historically underutilized business zone) goal for the first time.

Ms. Alecozay earned the award for pioneering Air Force Education and Training Command’s first set-aside for the Foreign Military Sales aircraft maintenance services. The resulting “best-value” award to a small business contractor has the potential to save more than $10 million over the five-year life of the contract.