Sonja A. Maclin
Headquarters, Washington, DC                     September 
17, 1996
(Phone:  202/358-1761)


RELEASE:  96-189

NASA ANNOUNCES MINORITY CONTRACTORS OF THE YEAR

     NASA has named Scientific and Commercial Systems (SCSC) 
Corp., Falls Church, VA, Minority Contractor of the Year and 
Software Maintenance Specialists (SMS), Inc., Santa Ana, CA, 
Minority Subcontractor of the Year. The two companies will be 
honored by NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin at a awards 
ceremony during National Minority Enterprise Development Week 
September 23-27.

     SCSC was nominated  by NASA's Dryden Flight Research 
Center, Edwards, CA.  The company, a prime contractor for 
Dryden that provides technical and logistics services, has 
400 employees and is a graduate of the Small Business 
Administration's 8(a) program.  SCSC's President and CEO is 
Vernon C. Stansbury, Jr.

     SMS was nominated  by Rockwell Aerospace -- Space 
Systems Division, Downey, CA, which is under contract to 
NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX.  SMS, with a staff 
of 256, provides mainframe computer processing for Rockwell's 
engineering requirements associated with Space Shuttle 
Orbiter support and manages mainframe network communication 
links to other Rockwell facilities and NASA centers.  SMS's 
President and founder is Miguel Winder.

     The NASA Minority Business and Advocates Awards Ceremony 
honoring these companies will take place at 2 p.m. EDT on 
Tuesday, September 24 , in the NASA Headquarters Auditorium, 
300 E St. SW, Washington, DC.

     During the ceremony NASA also will award three of its 
employees Exceptional Achievement Medals for their 
significant support of the Agency's programs in the small 
business, technical, and procurement arenas.  They are Debra 
Johnson (Johnson Space Center);  Laszlo Berke (Lewis Research 
Center, Cleveland, OH); and Rene Paquette (Kennedy Space 
Center, FL). Carol Saric and David Gayle of NASA Headquarters 
and Albert Murrietta of Murrietta Systems, Anaheim, CA, will 
receive Certificates of Appreciation for their special 
contributions to NASA's small business programs.  In 
addition, six centers will be recognized for meeting or 
exceeding all of their negotiated small business goals for 
Fiscal Year 1995.  They are NASA Headquarters; Dryden Flight 
Research Center; Kennedy Space Center; Marshall Space Flight 
Center, Huntsville, AL; Lewis Research Center; and the Jet 
Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA.


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