The $380 million Arch project aims to employ five percent minority businesses but 40 percent small businesses, said project managers with the National Park Service (NPS).
Construction for the CityArchRiver 2015 – to connect the Arch with the Mississippi River – is already well underway. The project is split up into 10 phases. 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. There are still four more projects left to come up to bid.
NPS project manager Raymond Prazak said they are encouraging minority businesses to bid as small businesses rather than “small disadvantaged businesses” (SDBs). 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. The project managers will be tracking the numbers by requesting the information “whenever we can get help from the contractors,” Prazak said. Contractors are required to produce a report to the Department of Labor regarding hiring minority employees, but Prazak was not sure on when and how often they are required to do so.
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.
