Tetra Tech has collaborated with Oneida Total Integrated Enterprises (OTIE) for two decades. As a tribally-owned Native American, SBA-certified 8(a) small disadvantaged business, OTIE can compete on a wider range of higher-value contracting opportunities than other SBA-certified 8(a) small business enterprises. Although much of OTIE’s services in remediation, civil infrastructure, environmental, and construction overlap those of Tetra Tech, our firms complement one another strategically. Tetra Tech’s considerable technical capabilities have strengthened OTIE’s competitiveness and helped prepare them to win as a prime on federal contracts.

Tetra Tech’s relationship with OTIE has introduced us to other tribes, who trust us to work with them on federal contracts and other opportunities. Over the years, Tetra Tech and OTIE have built a national presence providing outstanding team performance on federal contracts in which the prime contractor-subcontractor roles alternate regularly. OTIE was the prime contractor, Tetra Tech the subcontractor, on a contract with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s National Center for Environmental Assessment. Now those roles are reversed. For our work with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Huntington District, Tetra Tech placed OTIE on a remediation contract for an ordnance facility in Ohio. When an Omaha District contract came due for re-compete, the Corps designated it a small business set-aside, which OTIE was awarded and on which Tetra Tech continues to work, now as a subcontractor. OTIE is the prime contractor supported by Tetra Tech at Buckley Air Force Base; Tetra Tech is the prime contractor supported by OTIE at Edwards Air Force Base.

OTIE’s Matt Christian, Vice President and Director of Business Development, sees the relationship as an “opportunity to deliver more value to our customers” and, from our performance together, “to instill trust in our customers.” He attributes elements of OTIE’s growth and organizational development to its relationship with Tetra Tech.

“Members of Tetra Tech, working with TN & Associates [later acquired by OTIE], mentored OTIE under a mentor-protégé program with NAVFAC [Naval Facilities Engineering Command] in the late 1990s. They introduced OTIE to key U.S. Navy decision-makers, which really helped to develop our small business,” Mr. Christian says. OTIE benefitted by learning and improving its accounting and financial management systems for federal contracting. “We strengthened our bidding qualifications and improved our marketing and business development program.” He also says Tetra Tech’s technical assistance and technology transfer helped OTIE improve its operations in health and safety and in risk assessment. This has become vital as the two firms look for new work in construction and overseas for work in our core services.

Matt Christian states that the relationship and the opportunities that are presented to OTIE result “from the dedication of Tetra Tech staff who put actions behind our stated desires, who have a real commitment to mutual business growth.”