Metropolitan Sewer District leaders showed the community last week that they aren’t playing around when it comes to minority and women participation goals.
At the Nov. 8 MSD Board of Trustees meeting, Executive Director Jeff Theerman announced that his staff will not go forward with six contracts totaling $18 million in budgeted projects due to “concerns with the appropriateness of the MWBE participation listed with the bids.”
The contracts will not move forward until contractors provide appropriate bids that align the new minority and women participation goals, which the board passed in March, he said.
“Until we are satisfied that we have a low bidder that meets our requirements, we will not bring these contracts forward for board consideration,” he said.
Theerman wanted to send a clear message to the entire community, said MSD spokesman Lance LeComb. The changes that MSD made this year – which increased the number of minority and women workers and business owners on district projects – are important changes for the community and MSD, he said.
“If a firm is seeking to do business with MSD, they must comply with our inclusion requirements,” LeComb said. “If a firm can’t or won’t do that, then they shouldn’t seek to do business with us. These changes are here, they’re here to stay. They are not being made for show.”
LeComb was cautious to say that district was not trying to indict the contracting community as a whole. Several contractors stepped up to the plate in regards to the new requirements, he said.
MSD staff will continue to work with the construction community to make sure contractors understand how to provide appropriate bids, Theerman said. That means putting people to work – not just providing front companies on paper, Theerman alluded in his statement.
“Bidders that do not follow the requirements of the program or attempt to utilize subcontractors or suppliers that do not provide a commercially useful function will be rejected as non-responsive,” Theerman said.
The six contracts that were held from the board agenda are construction contracts designed to address storm-water and waste-water issues, LeComb said. The projects are located in Ballwin, Chesterfield, Fenton, St. Louis City, Florissant and Kirkwood.
The projects include: reducing the excessive water that enters into the sewer system through the Creve Coeur Creek Watershed, alleviating “building backups and overcharged sanitary sewers” in a Fenton area, removing a “sanitary sewer discharge to a sinkhole” in unincorporated St. Louis County, and reducing basement backups and yard flooding in the Tower Grove, Kirkwood and Florissant neighborhoods.
Over the next 20 years, MSD is legally bound to make $4.7 billion in sewer system improvements, which include eliminating illegal overflows of untreated raw sewage to reduce pollution levels in urban rivers and streams.
Earlier this year, the board commissioned a disparity study that is nearing completion. In the meantime, the board put in place interim goals for contracting and workforce, which MSD has included in its engineering and construction contracts.
The interim goals are:
- 25 percent MBE and 5 percent WBE on building construction $50,000 or more
- 15 percent MWBE (with at least 7.5 percent MBE) on non-building construction $50,000 or more
- 30 percent MWBE for professional service contracts $50,000 or more
- 25 percent minority and 6.9 percent women workforce goals on construction and professional service projects $500,000 or more.
LeComb said after the disparity study is complete, the district will process the information and then share it with the board. The study should be made public by the end of the year, he said. Â
In the meantime, the interim goals are firmly in place, he said.
“Any bid that is submitted to MSD,” LeComb said, “we are going to review them thoroughly and vigorously to make sure it complies with our program and make sure it is valid minority women participation.”