Responding to “public concerns,” on Tuesday the Missouri Department of Transportation announced that the dates to advertise and open bids on the new $640 million Mississippi River Bridge in St. Louis have been moved.
The date to begin advertising the project to solicit bids from contractors has been changed from September 16 to October 30. The bid opening date has moved from October 21 to November 30.
In a press release, MoDOT said the new timelines will allow the agency “to further review the use of minority contractors on the project.”
The shift came after months of pressure from minority inclusion groups and press coverage, capped off by a stinging letter that U.S. Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay sent on Monday afternoon putting the heat on state transportation officials to initiate the process that would enable the federal government to modify contracting requirements in a way that would almost certainly increase minority inclusion dramatically.
Clay got hot when he learned that both the Missouri and Illinois departments of transportation are awaiting the results of a disparity study before requesting a waiver from the U.S. Department of Transportation to separate Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) goals into separate contracting goals for Minority-Owned Business Enterprises (MBE) and Women-owned Business Enterprises (WBE).
“I was astounded to learn that MODOT and IDOT have failed to request the waiver, even with the deadline for contracting on the new $640 million Mississippi River bridge project fast approaching,” Clay said.
“It would be outrageous and completely unacceptable to allow this contracting process to go forward without having this waiver in place. I urge MODOT and IDOT to immediately file this urgent separation waiver request.”
As Clay pointed out in a letter Monday to U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, proceeding with contracts without separating DBE goals into goals for MBE and WBE would widen inexcusable existing disparities in contracting.
“MODOT’s own analysis has revealed that a disparity currently exists between the availability of minority-owned firms to do work on the project and their actual utilization,” Clay wrote to Lahood.
“According to MODOT, 62 percent of DBE firms are minority-owned. However, only 12 percent of minority-owned firms received work, contrary to 38 percent of certified women-owned firms having received 88 percent of the work.”
In terms of dollars, Clay reminded him, of $198 million spent in stimulus-funded MODOT projects, “$2.7 million (1 percent) went to minority firms, while $15.3 million (8 percent) was awarded to women-owned firms.”
Clay’s personal appeal to LaHood comes as the Federal Highway Administration has launched an Inspector General’s investigation into disparities in minority hiring in stimulus projects across Missouri.
“It is imperative that action be taken to remove the inequities that currently exist within IDOT and MODOT,” Clay wrote to Lahood.
“I strongly recommend that the U.S. Department of Transportation separate the DBE goals for women and minorities for the new Mississippi River Bridge project.”