The National Park Service aims to employ five percent minority businesses but 40 percent small businesses on the Arch project, said park service project managers. About $200 million of the $380 million project is on federal land and under the park service’s jurisdiction – thus their minority procurement goals.
Construction for the CityArchRiver 2015 project – to connect the Arch with the Mississippi River – is split up into 10 phases. Contracts have already been awarded for three of them, but none have begun work yet. The first project on the south park ground will begin construction next week. Currently the National Park Service is accepting bids on the North Gateway project to transform the parking lot on the north side into a green walkway.
The 40 percent on small-business hiring is a federal goal, said NPS project manager Raymond Prazak. However, in its contracts with contractors, the park service is mandating that 35 percent of the contract value goes to small businesses.
“That will ensure that small businesses get a piece of the pie,” he said.
In federal procurement, minority-owned businesses are called “small disadvantaged businesses” (SDBs). Prazak said the federal government sets a goal of hiring five percent SDBs, but the park service aims to exceed that amount.
On Sept. 30, Great Rivers Greenway, the local nonprofit that is facilitating the project, held a pre-bid meeting for the North Gateway project. About 80 people attended.
David Thomas, contracting officer with the park service, said the contractors will be required to report their small disadvantaged business numbers with every invoice. If the contractor does not meet the five percent SDB goal, then he will send out a warning that their contract could be “liquidated,” he said. The public can request the progress of the minority business numbers through Thomas’ office, but the numbers will not be publicly posted on the NPS or Great Rivers Greenway websites.
As far as boots on the ground, the federal government sets a goal of employing 14.7 percent minority and 6.9 percent women workers. Contractors are required to produce a report to the Department of Labor regarding hiring minority employees.
By federal regulations, the project leaders are not allowed to hire a third-party monitor to review the numbers on minority participation on workforce and subcontracting, Prazak said. The St. Louis City ordinance that requires contractors to hire 25 percent minority-owned businesses and 5 percent women-owned businesses gets trumped by federal regulations, he said, because the project is on federal land.
The National Park Service issued a solicitation for proposals on the project on Sept. 22. More details on the project and instructions on how to submit a proposal can be found at: http://www.fbo.gov Solicitation No. P14PS02494. Responses are due October 22, 2014, 5 p.m. Central Standard Time.
