In conjunction with National Small Business Week, the Small Business Administration  announced that Boeing Defense, Space & Security has received the Dwight D. Eisenhower Award  for Excellence. The administration highlighted Boeing’s mentor-protégé relationships with small businesses as a key reason for the company’s win.  

“It gives me pleasure to acknowledge Sherman Dupre with this prestigious award for his longtime leadership and acknowledge as well his Boeing staff for providing mentoring and subcontracting opportunities to small businesses throughout the nation,” said Patricia Brown-Dixon, the region VII administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration. Dupre, the director of the Boeing Defense, Space & Security’s Small and Diverse Business and Strategic Alliances organization, accepted the award on behalf of the company.  

The Small Business Administration gives its Dwight D. Eisenhower award by category to a single large organization who has excelled in its utilization of small businesses as suppliers and subcontractors. Boeing won in the “manufacturing” category.  

Overall, Boeing provides billions of dollars to small businesses around the country. In fact, in 2013, the company bought $5 billion in goods and services from small businesses, supporting thousands of jobs across all 50 states.  

This isn’t the first time that Boeing’s mentor-protégé relationships with small businesses have helped the company win an award. Back in March, Boeing received the Nunn Perry Award, which recognizes large- and small-business partnerships that have accelerated technical developments and cost efficiencies for both companies, while increasing business opportunities for the smaller firm. Boeing also works to share ideas across the supply chain to receive small-businesses innovation for solutions to customers’ problems.  

Boeing’s ongoing outreach programs indicate that this dialogue will continue well into the future. In 2014, Boeing paid nearly $50 billion to more than 14,800 businesses, supporting an additional 1.5 million supplier-related jobs across the country.