Membership Spotlight
FORT BELVOIR, Va. – The Defense Logistics Agency has named American Apparel Inc. as a top performing supply contractor for Fiscal Years 2013 and 2014. American Apparel Inc. is based in Alabama and is a Business Council of Alabama (BCA) member with manufacturing locations in Centre, Opp, and Selma.
“The Business Council of Alabama is very proud of this outstanding accomplishment and honor for American Apparel, its employees, and its leadership to be recognized in this manner,” said BCA President and CEO William J. Canary. “This once again proves the importance of supporting exiting industry, an industry that fuels job creation in Alabama.”
The Gold Star designation is part of the Department of Defense’s Superior Supplier Incentive Program. The SSIP is an extension of the Department’s Better Buying Power initiative and is designed to incentivize contractor performance by identifying suppliers with the highest rankings in areas such as cost, schedule, performance, quality, and business relations, the DLA said.
“Given DLA’s mission to support our warfighters around the world, it’s important to recognize those companies with proven track records for superior performance in government contracting,” said Matthew Beebe, head of DLA’s acquisition directorate.
DLA considered 153 of its parts and commodity suppliers with the largest contracts that have done business with the agency over the past two years. To be eligible for consideration, companies – or their subsidiary business units – had to have DLA contracts with a proven record of performance as well as an established rating in the federal Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS). Companies with primarily service-oriented contracts were not considered at this time.
American Apparel was one of only 15 companies identified in the highest tier as Gold Star suppliers.
“We are honored to be selected for this award and it is a tribute to the attitude and effort of all our employees. American has been a major supplier of military uniforms for over 25 years and our employees take a tremendous pride in the support of the Warfighter,” said Chuck Lambert, Chief Operating Officer for American Apparel.
As a Department of Defense combat support agency, the DLA in Fort Belvoir, Va., provides the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, other federal agencies, and joint and allied forces with a variety of logistics, acquisition and technical services. The agency sources and provides nearly 100 percent of the consumable items America’s military forces need to operate, from food, fuel and energy, to uniforms, medical supplies, and construction and barrier equipment. DLA also supplies more than 85 percent of the military’s spare parts.
– Dana Beyerle