USACE-Albuquerque District hosts Business Opportunities Open House

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-Albuquerque District hosted its annual Business Opportunities Open House (BOOH) at the Sid Cutter Pilot’s Pavilion at the Balloon Fiesta Park here, Feb. 20, 2025.

This year, more than 150 industry attendees and 50 federal and state representatives and partners from across the region participated.

“Events like this bring USACE together with its partners and build the relationships necessary to safely deliver quality projects on time and on budget,” said Lt. Col. Matthew Miller, commander, USACE-Albuquerque District.

The open house focused on networking with industry to discuss the USACE mission, highlight current Albuquerque District priorities, and build commitment to support upcoming opportunities.

“Albuquerque District programs, project management, contracting, and small business professionals participated in open networking with current and potential industry partners to communicate upcoming procurement needs, to identify opportunities for early collaboration, and to build commitment to support mission requirements,” said Stephanie Parra, office of small business programs, USACE-Albuquerque District.

“The event was an outstanding success and reinforced the district’s commitment to its community, to its partners, and to safely delivering quality projects on time and on budget,” Parra said.

The open house is also a way for employees from the district’s main divisions and branches to inform and educate partners about what their particular office does and how the business community can partner with the Corps.

“Had a lot of interested AE firms and construction companies come to the desk,” said Chris Velasquez, chief of the district’s Design Branch. “They want to know what Design Branch does and [I] let them know what we execute, how we execute AE contracts. The majority of interest was on the forecast and what’s coming up within the district and I think we were able to provide a lot of good information that they’re going to be able to use for bidding on future contracts.”

Along with district staff, the event was supported by the USACE-Sacramento District, the base squadrons from Kirtland and Cannon air force bases, and White Sands Missile Range.

Other partners present included the Small Business Administration, the New Mexico APEX Accelerators, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Minority Business Development Agency, the Albuquerque Hispano Chamber of Commerce, the Society of American Military Engineers (SAME), and the Energy, Technology and Environmental Business Association (ETEBA).

“I work very closely with Stephanie Parra. She is an advocate for small business,” said Kala Naranjo, procurement center representative with the SBA. “We all have the same mission, and the goal is to increase small businesses in federal contracting. We’re happy to partner and to help the small business community.”

Visit www.spa.usace.army.mil/Business-With-Us/Small-Business-Program to learn more about doing business with USACE and the district’s Small Business Program.