Small Business Administration Honors Clark Construction

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) selected Clark Construction Group as the national winner of the 2013 Dwight D. Eisenhower Award for Excellence, Construction Category. This award recognizes large prime contractors who have excelled in their utilization of small businesses as suppliers and subcontractors. Clark received the award during the SBA's National Small Business Week celebration in Washington, D.C. Since 2007, Clark has awarded nearly $2 billion of contracts to hundreds of small businesses.

This award honors the efforts of Clark's Subcontractor Development Group (SDG), which develops and manages the company's efforts to identify, train, mentor, and counsel local, small, and minority-owned businesses. Through the SDG, Clark identifies ways for small businesses to increase their capacity and provides business and industry resources, including the Strategic Partnership (SPP), a 10-month executive MBA-style program to help small business owners and executives improve their construction management and business skills. Since its inception, 217 small businesses have graduated from the program and these companies have been awarded $170 million in Clark subcontracts.

In addition to the SPP, Clark's commitment to growing small businesses includes formal and informal mentor/protégé arrangements. In 2012, the company mentored four small businesses through GSA’s Mentor-Protégé Program and two in the Veterans Affairs Mentor-Protégé Program.