Great Rivers Greenway and the St. Louis city NAACP have an urgent message to minority-owned businesses who want a piece of the action on the next facet of the CityArchRiver 2015 project: get your bids in now, not later.
“Contracts for minority-owned businesses are a priority on this project,” said Susan K. Trautman, executive director of Great Rivers Greenway, which prepared the project description with CityArchRiver and the National Park Service.
The next project is construction on the south grounds component of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, which makes it a National Park Service project. That is what makes it urgent for minority subcontractors to bid early, given the exacting federal procurement process.
“With the federal guidelines for general contractors, stuff has to be in completed and in on time,” said Adolphus Pruitt, president of the St. Louis city NAACP. “Given the scope and size of the submittal, general contractors will have their packages together a week before the deadline of July 8. So if people want in those packages, they need to bid now.”
This component is the first of seven CityArchRiver 2015 projects on National Park Service property. It is also the first project funded by the Prop P initiative approved by voters in St. Louis County and city in April 2013.
“Our concern is that the NAACP endorsed the tax initiative,” Pruitt said. “This will be a source of jobs for our capable community if contractors collaborate to get the job done.”
The National Park Service will use a combination of technical criteria and price to evaluate bids through two package proposal submittals. General contractors must submit their package proposals by 4 p.m. Mountain Time (5 p.m. CST) on July 8, and they are required to include a Small Business Participation Plan, including 30 percent of their contract being for small businesses.
The south grounds are approximately 30 acres of the southern area of the Gateway Arch grounds that include a reflecting pond, processional walks, new accessible pathways and associated landscaping. The construction work will include selective removal of existing walkways, utilities and landscaping while creating new infrastructure, landscaping and lighting in the area.
“The task now is for subcontractors to partner with general contractors, giving them all the information and price requirements immediately, so they can submit a comprehensive proposal and win this business for the St. Louis economy,” Pruitt said.
Because the project is on National Park Service property, it requires the federal procurement process. Federal procurement law prohibits awarding bids based on geography. In addition, the National Park Services does not use a typical sealed bid process. Instead, bids are evaluated using a combination of technical criteria and price.
Pruitt also mentioned that beyond this specific project, Great Rivers Greenway and CityArchRiver have bids out for other project components, such as the Soil Blending project due June 20 (http://bit.ly/GRGSoilProject).
All of the information regarding the National Park Services solicitation for the south grounds project can be found at http://bit.ly/SGBid.