Left to right, front row: Paul Kindzierski, VP Grainger Industrial Supply Sales; W.W. Grainger, Inc. – Supplier Performance Award, Robert Mitchum, CEO; Cleanwise, LLC – Supplier Performance Award, David Young, CEO Coventry Healthcare, Inc.; First Script Network Services – Supplier Performance Award, Ted Shelton, General Manager; Tarheel Paper and Supply Company – Supplier Excellence Award, Frank Barretta, Executive VP; Cleanwise, LLC – Supplier Diversity Award, Rob Laughlin, VP Government Sales; W.W. Grainger, Inc. – Postal Supplier Council Excellence Award, Joseph Corbett, USPS CFO and Executive VP
Left to right, back row: Susan M. Brownell, USPS VP Supply Management, Ben Graham, VP; Bell Incorporated – Supplier Sustainability Excellence Award, David Wheeler, President & CEO; Wheeler Bros., Inc. – Supplier Performance Award, Eric Lawton, VP; BGA, Inc. – Supplier Excellence Award, Royce Graham, Executive VP; Western Industrial Contractors – Supplier Excellence Award, John E. Potter, USPS Postmaster General & CEO

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Postal Service has honored eight suppliers for superior supply chain performance in 2008.

For 19 years, the Postal Service has recognized top-performing suppliers who deliver best-value solutions and integrated supply chains that are timely, cost effective, and operationally efficient.

This year’s awards program honors suppliers in five categories: Supplier Performance, Supplier Excellence, Supplier Diversity, Postal Supplier Council Excellence, and for the first time, Supplier Sustainability Excellence.

“Our relationships with our suppliers, especially in these challenging financial times, are one of the most important stakeholder relationships we have,” said Postmaster General John E. Potter, who presented the 2008 Supplier Performance Awards at a recent ceremony in Washington, DC. “And for an organization as large as the Postal Service, it’s a critical relationship.”

Susan M. Brownell, vice president, Supply Management, helped present the awards. “We take great pride in honoring suppliers who exemplify superior supply chain performance and exhibit a true spirit of cooperative business relationships,” she said. “The suppliers and postal teams here today exemplify a collaborative spirit of partnership that has helped, and will continue to help, us do things we never thought possible,” added Brownell.

Eligibility for the Supplier Performance award is reserved for suppliers designated as key suppliers that demonstrate outstanding supply chain management performance and positive business relationships with the Postal Service. All other suppliers (those not designated as key) may be nominated for the Supplier Excellence award, which is based on criteria similar to that used in the Supplier Performance award.

The Supplier Diversity award recognizes suppliers for diversity efforts that have had a positive impact on Postal Service diversity goals, such as exceeding agreed-upon spend commitment to small-, minority- and woman-owned subcontracting firms on USPS contracts or participating in mentor/protégé efforts with small-, minority- or woman-owned companies.

The Supplier Sustainability Excellence award recognizes significant documented achievements in green business practices that help the Postal Service achieve its sustainability goals and reduce its carbon footprint.

The Postal Supplier Council Excellence award honors individuals or teams who have made the greatest contribution to the success of Postal Supplier Council initiatives.

The 2008 supplier winners are:

BGA, Inc.
A ConEdison Solutions Company
Supplier Excellence Award

BGA provides energy consulting services, including energy audits, design and build services, monitoring, and verification of energy savings.

Michael W. Gibson
President
“It is an honor for our team to be recognized by the Postal Service through this award. BGA, along with our parent company, ConEdison Solutions, places significant value on providing energy conservation services to quality clients such as the Postal Service. It is the dedication and hard work of both our company employees, and the employees of the Postal Service, that makes such a fruitful relationship work so well.”

Bell Incorporated
Supplier Sustainability Excellence Award

Bell is a small business that provides expedited packaging paperboard envelopes and related services. As the first winner of the Supplier Sustainability Excellence award, Bell successfully accepted the challenge to become Cradle to Cradle* certified on all its postal products.

Mark S. Graham
President and CEO
"As we look back at the immensely rewarding projects Bell and the Postal Service have worked on together for nearly 20 years, being first to achieve sustainable certification for courier envelopes has to be one of the most rewarding. We are all winners in sustainability endeavors, both as citizens of our planet and as employees working for businesses that care. Bell Incorporated is proud to be recognized by our valued customers at the U.S. Postal Service, and we look forward to many more mutually rewarding years as their supplier and partner.”

Cleanwise LLC (recipient of two awards)
A wholly owned subsidiary of Network Services Company
Supplier Diversity Award
Supplier Performance Award

Cleanwise LLC is a provider of janitorial supplies, equipment and services to national customers.

Robert D. Mitchum
CEO
"Awards are symbols of achievement, and we could not be more pleased that the Postal Service has chosen to honor us with the Supplier Performance award and the Supplier Diversity award. Our achievements are the result of the relentless drive and desire of great people at the Postal Service, the Dallas Category Management Center and Cleanwise to do more, be better and use our partnership to secure the best solutions."

First Script Network Services
Coventry Workers’ Comp Services
Supplier Performance Award

First Script provides injured USPS workers with access to prescription drug benefits and provides related pharmacy benefits management services.

David Young
Chief Executive Officer, Coventry Workers’ Comp Services
"We are truly honored to have our pharmacy benefit management program, First Script Network Services, selected as a winner of a USPS Supplier Performance award. Our staff has enjoyed working closely with the many dedicated professionals at the Postal Service, and we are committed to supporting its ongoing efforts with supply chain management best practices.”

Tarheel Paper and Supply Company
Supplier Excellence Award

Tarheel is a small, family-owned business that provides stretch wrap used in automated and manual material handling operations to wrap skids consisting of different sizes of packages and parcels.

Ted Shelton
General Manager
“It is an honor winning the Supplier Excellence Award. We at Tarheel always strive for excellence in all we do. Now that we have achieved this level of service we will accept nothing less.”

W. W. Grainger, Inc. (recipient of two awards)
Supplier Performance Award
Postal Supplier Council Excellence Award

Grainger provides a full range of maintenance, repair, and operating and janitorial supplies and related services.

Rob Laughlin
Vice President, Government Sales
“Grainger is honored to receive the U.S. Postal Service Supplier Performance award for the fourth time. The hundreds of Grainger employees that support the USPS each day are proud of our collaboration in building industry-leading practices that streamline and improve processes for purchasing maintenance, repair and operating supplies. We look forward to continuing to serve the USPS and contributing to its future strength and innovation.”

Rob Laughlin
Vice President, Government Sales
“The Postal Service Supplier Council Excellence award is a great honor for Grainger. The opportunity to work on key task forces enabled Grainger to increase our understanding of the needs of the Postal Service and improve our overall service and customer satisfaction.”

Western Industrial Contractors
Supplier Excellence Award

Western Industrial is a small business that provided several fixed mechanization and modernization projects in USPS facilities, including Tray Transport Systems fabrication and installations, OSHA fixed mechanization upgrades and demolitions, and Bulk Mail Center improvement projects.

Robert M. Vacek
President and CEO
“On behalf of our entire team at Western Industrial Contractors, we are enthused and appreciative of the opportunity to accept the United States Postal Service Supplier Excellence award. Throughout our history with the USPS, we have enjoyed the exceptional relationships that we have built with the professionals throughout the organization. These relationships have been critical in our ability to complete various fixed mechanization and modernization projects with consistent high quality at multiple facilities throughout the country. As we move forward, we remain focused on continual improvement and helping the USPS meet its strategic objectives.”

Wheeler Bros., Inc.
Supplier Performance Award

Wheeler Bros. is a small, woman-owned business that provides vehicle repair parts in support of all makes and models of the USPS vehicle fleet, as well as inventory management services.

David L. Wheeler
President and CEO
“Wheeler Bros., Inc. strives to exceed our customers’ requirements and satisfy our contractual obligations by providing quality products and services. Winning this award is an honor to all our valued employees and those involved in our 20-year supply management partnership with the Postal Service. It truly has been a cooperative effort by everyone toward innovative ideas, continuous improvement, cost savings and the spirit to get them done.”

*Cradle to Cradle is an environmental certification by McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry, awarded to Priority Mail and Express Mail packaging and envelopes produced by Bell that have met 39 criteria for human and environmental health characteristics, including recyclability and manufacturing attributes.

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An independent federal agency, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation, 149 million residences, businesses and Post Office Boxes, six days a week. It has 34,000 retail locations and relies on the sale of postage, products and services, not tax dollars, to pay for operating expenses. Named the Most Trusted Government Agency five consecutive years by the Ponemon Institute, the Postal Service has annual revenue of $75 billion and delivers nearly half the world’s mail.