The Missouri Senate approved a bill this week that would allow use of federal stimulus funds for school construction.

As we reported last month, $20 billion was cut from the final version of the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Although the legislation does not include a specific line item for school construction, $39.5 billion of the act’s $53.6-billion state fiscal stabilization fund would go to local school districts, and school modernization would be one of several eligible uses for those funds.

SB 291 would create a new state fund for new construction or repairs to school buildings. The state would distribute the stimulus money to districts based on their average daily attendance.

Senate President Pro Tem Charlie Shields said he hopes to put roughly $500 million from the stimulus package into the fund. He estimated that Missouri schools have roughly $4 billion in infrastructure needs.

Also, Missouri House  Budget Chairman Allen Icet will propose a special stimulus spending package that likely will include money for repairs, maintenance or construction at state-owned buildings and public universities.

Source: Associated Press

Dan Frisbee, CEO of Walton Construction Company, was quoted in the Wall Street Journal last week in an article on small businesses benefiting from federal stimulus funds. Walton has offices in St. Louis, Kansas City, Springfield, Missouri, Dallas and New Orleans.

According to the article by Kelly Spors, the small companies best-positioned to take advantage of the stimulus money are those that already have established relationships with government officials and have experience doing government contracting work.

Walton, a construction firm with about 550 employees, currently gets about 60% of its revenue from public and government projects such as constructing military barracks. Dan Frisbee says his company has seen the number of inquiries from prospective subcontractors double to more than 300 in the past six months.

But even with his experience, Mr. Frisbee says the process isn’t easy. “The government has a lot of regulations you have to be aware of,” he says.

Source: Wall Street Journal

The Associated General Contractors has created a web page Rebuild America’s Future which outlines how the money will be distributed, which is typically through state governments, as well as specific policy provisions and AGC’s efforts on the stimulus.

To keep track of how the stimulus package is progressing, check out www.recovery.gov, the federal website set up to monitor the distribution of funds and results from the stimulus package.

Right now, the site offers an overview of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and an explanation of what it hopes to accomplish. Eventually, you’ll have access to data on how Federal Agencies plan to allocate the money — which states and sectors of the economy are due to receive what proportion of the funds. As money starts to flow, more data will become available.

Stephen Sandherr, the CEO of the Associated General Contractors, calls the economic stimulus package “the most significant investment in infrastructure in my lifetime,” according to Engineering News Record.

With $130 billion set aside for highways, buildings and other public works projects, the $787.2-billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 is good news for the construction industry.

The biggest surprise in the package was the $8 billion for a new high-speed rail corridor. The biggest disappointment was the $20 billion proposed funding for school construction cut from the final package. School modernization is permitted in the $39 billion set aside for educational purposes, and some of that is likely to be spent on uprading buildings. New school construction is not eligible.

About $35 billion or 11% of the bill’s total funds for actual appropriations outlays will be spent by September 2009. The construction portion of that will go to “shovel-ready” projects. The pace will pick up in 2010, with $110.7 billion in appropriations-related outlays spent (not all construction-related).

The federal DOT has 21 days to formally apportion  highway stimulus funds to the states, but industry officials are hearing that the funds could clear to the states in seven days. States could then put projects out to bid.

For infrastructure funds, the bill set a goal of using at least 50% of the funds on work that can start within 120 days, with “use-it-or-lose-it” mandates in place.

Defense and Veterans Affairs must report to Congress within 30 days on how they plan to spend allocations. The GSA has 45 days to produce its spending report.

For a detailed list of allocations, visit ENR.

Source: ENR

The ink was barely dry on the economic stimulus bill signed by President Barack Obama when Missouri began work on the first transportation project in the country funded with the federal dollars, according to MissouriNet.

State transportation officials and construction officials gathered in Tuscumbia, Missouri yesterday to start construction on a new bridge across the Osage River.

The bridge project, approved within minutes of the President signing the federal stimulus bill, is one of four Missouri projects to be funded with federal stimulus money. Missouri Transportation Director Pete Rahn proclaimed it the first construction project anywhere in the country awarded with stimulus funds.

The 1,000-foot-long bridge spans a Missouri River tributary about 30 miles southwest of the state Capitol in Jefferson City. Built in 1933, it was closed to large trucks in 2007 because of structural concerns.

Rahn expects to receive $637 million in transportation funds through the stimulus package, with $525-million targeted for MoDOT-controlled projects. These funds don’t need to go through the regular legislative appropriations process if approved by the state Transportation Commission, which they are.

Missouri plans to begin work Tuesday on three other highway projects.

Source: MissouriNet