Black contractors obtained a letter from a Missouri Department of Transportation official stating that MoDOT “will not pursue” separate goals for Disadvantaged Business Enterprises in the Mississippi River Bridge project.
The decision in the Oct. 5 letter, sent from MoDOT’s director Pete Rahn to the Illinois Department of Transportation, was not announced to the public or minority contractors.
“We hadn’t gotten that far,” said Lester Woods, director of MoDOT’s newly created external Civil Rights division. “But I’m more than sure we will.”
Rahn stated in the letter that the waiver application – to separate inclusion goals for women-owned contracting businesses and minority-owned enterprises – does not meet federal standards.
“We have concluded that any further delays to the Mississippi River Bridge project could have significant effects on the project schedule and budget,” Rahn stated. “Given the amount of work necessary to meet the Federal Highway Administration standards, we will not pursue joint, split DBE goals on the main span and approaches.”
It comes as a surprise to the minority contractors and politicians after MoDOT postponed awarding contracts for the main span of the Mississippi River Bridge to November 5, in order to get federal confirmation on the DBE waiver application.
Advocacy groups believe minority-owned construction firms would have a better shot at getting contracts if a federal law regarding Disadvantaged Business Enterprises is waived.
By federal law, minority- and women-owned businesses are lumped together as Disadvantaged Business Enterprises.
In order to receive federal money for transportation projects, the State must include these enterprises in the projects. However, numbers from the recent federal stimulus package show a disparity in how the funding was divided among women-owned businesses and minority-owned enterprises.
“The black contractors are in full battle mode now with MoDOT having betrayed its commitment to seek the waiver,” said Eric Vickers, spokesperson for the Minority Inclusion Alliance.
The African-American Business and Contractors Association (AABCA) and the Metro East Black Contractors Organization (MEBCO) held an emergency meeting last week and sent a letter to Rahn, stating:
“Because MoDOT has demonstrated a lack of good faith by deciding to not pursue with IDOT a waiver for the MRB project, we resolve to use any and all legal means necessary to implement separate goals for minorities and women implemented on the MRB project.”
Rahn’s letter states that MoDOT has committed to undertake an availability and disparity study in Missouri that will meet the federal requirements. However, the department anticipates that it will take 18 months to complete. The letter also includes a subhead of “contract language,” stating that in the contracts, prime contractors will be evaluated on their “responsiveness to meet the DBE requirements of the contract in addition to the low bid.”
Contractors also must meet the same requirements held on the I-64 project, the letter states, including providing a DBE performance plan within seven days of bid opening, performing monthly DBE workforce progress reports, and providing a full time Civil Rights Compliance manager.
In an email to Vickers, Woods told the contractors that information regarding DBE goals with the bridge project would be made public. “The Mississippi River Bridge main span DBE goal has not been finalized,” Woods wrote. “MoDOT and IDOT are still in the developmental phase of setting the DBE goal, and it will become public once finalized. Per our discussions, at the MRB Roundtable meetings, the main span DBE goal is estimated to be between 15 to 20 percent.”