ST. LOUIS, March 06, 2008 -- The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] will host a small-business supplier forum March 19 to attract the best of industry as the company prepares to compete for NASA's Facilities Development and Operations Contract (FDOC).

"We want to offer NASA the best value and lowest cost," said Peggy Thomas, Boeing FDOC program manager and director of avionics and software for the International Space Station. "We are especially interested in those suppliers who are currently supporting NASA's missions operations. This forum creates an opportunity to speak with representatives of small businesses that have innovative and cost-effective solutions and want to do business with Boeing."

The FDOC is administered by NASA's Johnson Space Center. It includes development, sustaining engineering, operations and maintenance of the training, flight planning, reconfiguration and control-center facilities for human spaceflight programs. The contract also includes developing and maintaining the software applications used in these facilities.

Boeing has three objectives for the supplier forum:

• Help NASA's Mission Operations Directorate (MOD) achieve its strategic vision, including life-cycle cost reductions through small-business utilization to the greatest extent practical.
• Encourage small-business participation to help NASA MOD achieve its supplier diversity goals and financial objectives.
• Tap into small businesses' unique strategies for innovation in a competitive marketplace.

To reduce costs, FDOC consolidates a portion of NASA's Space Program Operations and Mission Support Operations contracts. NASA is scheduled to select a contractor in November, with work starting in January 2009. The four-year contract will have two one-year options that could extend the agreement to 2014.

Boeing has teamed on the FDOC contract bid with United Space Alliance (USA), which is also assisting with the small-supplier forum. USA is currently supporting NASA on the Space Program Operations Contract and is a world leader in space operations, with extensive experience in virtually all aspects of the field. Headquartered in Houston and employing 10,000 people in Texas, Florida and Alabama, USA is applying its broad range of capabilities to NASA's Space Shuttle, International Space Station and Constellation programs as well as to space operations customers in the commercial and international space industry sectors.

Interested businesses can sign up for the small-business supplier forum at the following Web site: http://specialevent.web.boeing.com/fdoc. Registration will end at noon Central time, March 14, 2008. The event will be held at the Hilton Houston NASA Clear Lake, 3000 NASA Parkway, Houston.