The U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU) recognized Tetra Tech with the 2016 Mentor of the Year award.

The Mentor of the Year award annually recognizes a large, prime contractor for effective development assistance given to a small business. The award is the result of a nomination from SSG Advisors, a valued small business with whom we hold a USAID mentor-protégé (M-P) agreement. Tetra Tech is proud to have SSG as a valued and respected partner. Tetra Tech received the award at the USAID Annual Small Business Conference held on May 4, 2016, in Washington, DC.

“SSG complements Tetra Tech’s international development services by providing innovative, sustainable, and scalable solutions for strategic alliances and impact investment,” said Jan Auman, president of Tetra Tech International Development Services.

The partnership between Tetra Tech and SSG Advisors is built on technical excellence, mutual trust, and collaboration. In 2015 Tetra Tech entered into the M-P agreement with SSG, a small, woman-owned business based in Burlington, Vermont. As a mentor, Tetra Tech worked closely with SSG to prepare a USAID-approved M-P work plan with specific objectives, goals, and deliverables. Under the plan, Tetra Tech is providing technical, managerial, and business development training and support to assist SSG to further develop its capacities, systems, and processes so SSG can win more business, manage larger projects, and bid as a prime contractor.

Over the past year, the agreement has resulted in significant benefits for SSG’s business development and management systems and has helped SSG grow its revenue twofold. In a perfect match with Tetra Tech’s USAID-funded programs, SSG provides innovative approaches to development challenges as a subcontractor in the area of global partnerships and investment leveraging. 

The successful relationship with SSG is an example of Tetra Tech’s commitment to helping small businesses become more successful while also providing added value to our customers. SSG is not only one of our most trusted subcontractors, it also is one of the international development industry’s most innovative small businesses. SSG received the prestigious P3 Impact Award at the 2015 Concordia Summit as a result of the public-private partnership through the USAID-funded ECOFISH project, of which Tetra Tech is the prime contractor.

Tetra Tech recognizes the tremendous entrepreneurial spirit and innovation that exists in the small business and partner community. Tetra Tech is a proud mentor to its small business protégés. We have provided training in technical, managerial, business development, and financial systems to develop or enhance our protégés’ capabilities as government contractors. We have developed long-term relationships with firms such as SSG that benefit our government customers, our protégés, and Tetra Tech.