SAN JUAN, PR – The U.S. Small Business Administration today honored Dionisio Ortiz, president of Bayamón-based Corporate Development Solutions Inc., as Minority Small Business Person of the Year for the district of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

“Dionisio Ortiz is a vivid example of successful minority entrepreneurship,” said SBA Regional Administrator Jorge Silva-Puras upon bestowing the award. “Not only has he excelled at providing highly sophisticated Information Technology solutions, but he has raised the bar for others in his field of expertise as well. The SBA is proud to honor him with this award.”

With over 25 years of experience and hands-on implementation of high-tech communications systems, Ortiz has succeeded in establishing a serious presence for CDS in the Caribbean region as a leading IT infrastructure installation and services provider.

After the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the federal government selected CDS to install the Local Area Network (LAN) & Wide Area Network (WAN) at all U.S. Caribbean international airports.  In the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Wilma, the U.S. government contracted CDS again to re-build telecommunications facilities destroyed in New Orleans and Florida, the latter being the first time a Puerto Rican-based company was asked to mobilize state-side for said type of work.

“The U.S. government is the world’s largest buyer of goods and services, with purchases reaching nearly $500 billion every year,” said SBA Deputy District Director María de los Ángeles de Jesús. “When one of our very own entrepreneurs is hand-picked to execute federal contracts, we know that we have succeeded at providing small businesses with the right tools and resources to compete effectively in the federal marketplace.”

Corporate Development Solutions has completed projects for such federal agencies as Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Homeland Security, Transportation Security Administration, U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, U.S. Customs & Border Protection, U.S. Air National Guard and the Disaster Recovery Division of the U.S. Armed Forces, as well as in the Communications, Hospitality, Construction, Healthcare, and Airline industries.

Certified under the SBA’s 8(a) Business Development program since 2009, CDS employs 30 people and reports annual sales of $1.3 million.

For more information on SBA programs and services, visit http://www.sba.gov/pr