M/WBE Firms Score Huge Wins in Major St. Louis Projects - Busch Stadium and Lambert-St. Louis Airport
May 04, 2006
Cardinals Busch Stadium & Lambert-St. Louis Airport Expansion® completed in April
ST. LOUIS -- More than 180 St. Louis minority and woman-owned businesses finished work last month on two of the largest projects in St. Louis history as stronger and more capable firms, according to Tony Thompson president of St. Louis-based Kwame Building Group (KWAME), a pure construction and project management firm. The minority and women-owned firms were involved in innovative mentor/protégé and inclusion programs at the new $300 million Cardinals Busch Stadium project and the $1 billion Lambert-St. Louis International Airport“ Expansion.
"These projects are by far the most significant in the history of St. Louis, perhaps in the country, in terms of development for minority-owned businesses," said Thompson. KWAME, a minority-owned firm itself, served as full partner on the lead construction teams for both the Busch Stadium and Lambert Airport Expansion projects.
The Busch Stadium project was managed by Hunt Construction Group in association with Kwame Building Group. The Lambert-St. Louis International Airport® expansion was led by the SPK Team, a joint venture of Jacobs Engineering, Parson Corp and Kwame Building Group. KWAME also provides construction management services on the $42 million renovation of the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport and the $320 million Pittsburgh Light Rail System.
“On both projects, minority and women-owned firms had formed joint ventures with major contractors. They also held prime contracts, leads on contract packages and subcontract awards,” said Thompson. “This is the first time we’ve seen projects this size fulfill this level of commitment to minority and women-owned businesses.”
New Busch Stadium Project
At the Busch Stadium project, 22 minority and women-owned firms participated in a mentor-protégé program and received a total of $21 million in contracts, an average of more than $800,000 per contract. In all, 80 minority and women-owned firms worked on the $300 million Busch Stadium project and received 130 contracts totaling $65 million.
The commitment at Busch Stadium came from the top, the Cardinals management team, which was concerned about the impact the project might have on small businesses in the local construction industry. They decided to create a program that would do more than just track M/WBE participation statistics.
"Too often, large construction projects leave small businesses financially ruined because they can’t keep up with the fast pace and demands,” said Thompson " The goal was to leave the market stronger, to make sure it's not 'business as usual' when the project ends.”
The mentor-protégé program at Busch Stadium went well beyond set-aside goals or voluntary commitments, Thompson said. Every prime contractor on the project was required to actively mentor at least one city-certified minority or woman-owned (M/WBE) firm, many of whom were small start-ups or inexperienced in working on large, fast-paced projects.
Mentor-protégé teams developed their own programs and agreements, which were reviewed and monitored by the Hunt/Kwame team. Teams were required to meet weekly, submit monthly meeting minutes and adhere to the agreement. The prime contractors provided training, integrated business services, lent equipment, purchased software, helped firms develop management and bookkeeping skills, even introduced them to potential clients and suppliers. The Hunt/Kwame team also provided free team-building workshops and technical training programs.
"The Cardinals broke new ground with the stadium project, in more ways than one," said Thompson. "The M/WBE companies are now capable of doing more work and growing their firms. This effort helped build capacity and actually change the way that primes and subcontractors relate."
Lambert-St. Louis International Airport® Expansion Project
The Busch Stadium mentor-protégé program was modeled after a pilot program developed on a much larger project, the Lambert-St. Louis International Airport® Expansion. When the City of St. Louis and the airport initiated the expansion program in the late 1980s, one of their goals was to use the mammoth project to spur growth among small and emerging companies in the design and construction industry. The mission of the pilot project was to study ways to build effective working relationships between leaders of established companies and emerging, disadvantaged businesses, with the goal of helping smaller firms grow and develop over the long term.
The Lambert-St. Louis Airport Expansion program was the largest public works project in St. Louis history, spanning a seven-year project schedule. The expansion included more than 115 separate projects spread over an area more than twice the size of New York’s Central Park. Enough soil was moved to create a pile six feet high by six feet wide from the Mississippi River to Seattle, Washington. Elements included the 1,400-foot Lindbergh Tunnel, the first traffic tunnel in Missouri, a new runway, two parallel taxiways and a series of connecting taxiways.
When the ribbon was cut to open the new Lambert-St. Louis runway and expanded airfield last month, the massive expansion project had exceeded federal Disadvantaged Business Enterprises (DBE) participation guidelines. Planners had split the $1 billion, seven-year project into many smaller projects to give small and emerging firms greater opportunities for participation. Approximately 22 percent, or nearly one in five of the more than 550 companies and organizations involved, were DBEs.
Successful elements of the airport expansion DBE inclusion program included:
- Certification - the airport and City of St. Louis DBE Office streamlined the DBE certification process and established certification agreements with other public agencies.
- Joint ventures - the expansion team helped facilitate joint ventures with prime contractors and DBE firms.
- Business workshops – a series of free workshops over several years were focused on business topics of interest to DBEs.
- Networking events and exhibit halls – held in conjunction with pre-bid meetings, these networking opportunities brought prospective primes and DBEs together.
- Technical Assistance Resource Center – an audio-visual educational center.
- Financial management and back-office assistance – helped DBEs establish internal systems to prepare for work in the Expansion Program.
- Fitness and readiness assistance – prior to start-up, program staff verified that DBEs were ready and capable of the work, and helped shore up any areas that needed attention.
- Compliance and monitoring – the team conducted audits to verify DBE participation, reviewed billings, attended regular meetings and provided other coordination and verification support.
A workforce development program also was launched to help individual minority and female construction workers find employment in the airport expansion project. Minorities accounted for approximately 21 percent of all construction workers, and women made up 8 percent. Federal guidelines were 14.7 percent and 6.9 percent, respectively.
Kwame Building Group is one of the largest pure program and construction management firms in the country, providing estimating, scheduling, project planning, value engineering and other project management services as an independent advocate for owners and developers. Public and private sector projects include educational facilities, major airports nationwide, light-rail systems, hospitals and government facilities. For more information, visit www.kwamebuildinggroup.com or call 314.862.5344.
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