Ken Atchison
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.                                    
September 27, 1991
(Phone:  202/453-8400)                                                             
2 P.M. EDT


RELEASE:  91-157

MINORITY CONTRACTOR AND SUBCONTRACTOR OF THE YEAR AWARDED


   Administrator Richard H. Truly today presented the Minority 
Contractor and Subcontractor of The Year Awards in recognition of 
minority businesses that made outstanding contributions to NASA.  
Consolidated Industries, Inc., of Huntsville, Ala., received the 
minority contractor award, and Network Solutions Inc., of Herndon, 
Va., received the minority subcontractor award.

   These excellence awards were presented as a part of Minority 
Enterprise Development (MED) Week established by Presidential 
Proclamation in 1982 to give recognition to the nation's minority 
business owners and their outstanding contributions to the U.S. 
economy.  This year, MED Week was celebrated from Sept. 24 through 
27.  NASA has traditionally recognized a minority contractor, but 
this year expanded the program to recognize a minority 
subcontractor.

   Consolidated Industries, Inc., nominated by NASA's George C. 
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, was chosen from a group 
of seven prominent minority businesses.  The company was 
recognized for its valuable contributions to the operations and 
maintenance of the facilities of the Marshall Propulsion 
Laboratory where Consolidated Industries, Inc., provided quality 
and responsive technical support, ensuring the integrity of test 
results and demonstrating success in dealing with the potential 
hazards in the propulsion test environment.

    Network Solutions Inc., was nominated by IBM Federal Sector 
Division, Houston, and selected from 11 outstanding minority 
firms.  The company was recognized for providing systems software 
maintenance and integration support to the entire institutional 
computing facilities at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.  
Throughout the history of this subcontract between Network 
Solutions Inc. and IBM, there has been a high degree of 
cooperation between the two companies at all levels.

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