The search is on for businesses owned by underrepresented groups to support infrastructure projects

With tens of thousands of workers needed over the next decade to complete a plethora of multibillion-dollar infrastructure projects, local leaders are also looking for a large pool of contractors and consultants who will help with supplementary services. That search is already underway, with a forum held earlier this week allowing small minority-owned businesses the chance to participate in jobs related to the Project Connect mass transit effort.

The forum, which was held by the Austin Transit Partnership, offered insights into how small businesses can become certified as a disadvantaged business enterprise (DBE) to qualify for a broad selection of contracting opportunities available to underrepresented groups. Sessions at the forum also looked at the accounting practices required to be compliant for local, state and federal contract work, as well as the many nuances and intricacies involved in obtaining and maintaining DBE certification.

Tina Cannon, president and CEO of the Austin LGBT Chamber, said companies from her chamber and others need to take advantage of the work needed to complete Project Connect, the Interstate 35 reconstruction, the expansion of Austin-Bergstrom International Airport and the reconstruction of the Austin Convention Center.

“Whether it’s the minority chamber or the general chamber members, we’ve been working on this for quite a while now trying to get all of our members certified to the extent that they’re able for whatever certification hub or DBE qualification they can get to better prepare themselves to be at the gate when the floodgates open,” she said. “You have to get certified, get your financials in order, have your line of credit ready. If you’re not eligible for a federal, state or local designation, the city, county and CTA will designate you in a different way … so that you’re ready to go when the (requests for proposal) are out.”

During separate panels, advisers from the EY accounting firm offered specifics on how businesses looking to participate in government work need to approach their bookkeeping, including the many different ways to calculate overhead costs and company business expenses. Those breakdowns are necessary for evaluating a company’s bids on a project, with John Gault, a government contract services manager, noting there are specific rules for details such as how much of a CEO’s compensation can factor into the labor costs for a job.

“Direct costs involve balancing the accuracy of the cost accounting and the administrative burden cost. … You may be able to (count) certain types of functions where you can figure out that we’re able to track this person’s working this amount of time on this contract,” Gault said. “Other times, like with a CEO-type executive, it’s too cost-prohibitive to try and track their time for the little pieces that they work on a direct contract.”

Paul Saldaña, a public relations consultant who sat in on a panel with Cannon and other chamber and workforce leaders, said the steps taken to qualify as a DBE for Project Connect work would more than likely open up years of other government contracts that have to meet a threshold of minority participants.

“It can be quite intimidating. It can be sometimes cumbersome. But if you are already certified, if it’s for local dollars going as a (minority- or women-owned business enterprise), or if it’s state dollars involved or it’s federal, they’re all one and the same. And literally, if you are certified, then you are automatically going to be notified whenever there are opportunities that are available and people really seek you out,” he said. “Lots of people wanted to know whether it’s worth their time for them to pursue being certified, for them to learn about the procurement processes with the different types of agencies – whether it’s Cap Metro, the city or, obviously, with transit folks.”

Photo by Larry D. Moore, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

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