NYSDOT Invites Minority And Women Owned Business Enterprises To Certification Workshop For Kosciuszko Bridge

ALBANY, NY (05/14/2012)(readMedia)-- New York State Department of Transportation Commissioner Joan McDonald today invited Minority- and Women Owned-Business enterprises (M/WBE) to participate in a certification workshop hosted by NYSDOT in connection with the Kosciuszko Bridge replacement project.

The workshop will be held Tuesday, May 15, from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. on the 5th floor of the E Building at LaGuardia Community College, 31-10 Thomson Avenue, in Long Island City, Queens.

NYSDOT also announced that two NY Works infrastructure contracts recently awarded in New York City exceeded the 20 percent M/WBE goal threshold for the first time. A $9.7 million contract to re-pave the Major Deegan Expressway in the Bronx includes an M/WBE participation rate of 26 percent, while a $17.9 million project to re-pave the West Shore Expressway in Staten Island and the Prospect Expressway in Brooklyn includes a participation rate of 22 percent.

New York State Department of Transportation Commissioner Joan McDonald said, "Under the leadership of Governor Andrew Cuomo, the NY Works program is at the forefront in opening new opportunities for women- and minority-owned businesses throughout New York State. With efforts like these workshops, NYSDOT is working to ensure that when construction on the new Kosciuszko Bridge begins, every interested business owner in the New York City area will be ready to go to work."

Alphonso David, Governor Cuomo's Deputy Secretary for Civil Rights, said, "The mission of this program is to promote economic opportunity for minority- and women-owned business enterprises and to eliminate barriers to their participation in state contracts. This workshop will help contractors obtain critical information and resources they will need to bid and participate in building the new Kosciusko Bridge."

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The workshop will guide business owners through the process to become certified as a Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE). DBE certification is a federal requirement in order to receive credit for participation on federally funded contracts such as the Kosciuszko Bridge replacement project. The workshop is being held in cooperation with the United States Department of Transportation's Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization.

The Kosciuszko Bridge project represents the largest single infrastructure project under Governor Cuomo's NY Works initiative. The bridge carries the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (Interstate 278) between Brooklyn and Queens. Through the NY Works effort, the first two contracts to replace the bridge will be awarded in the beginning of 2013, a full 18 months earlier than originally planned, at an approximate cost of $460 million. Successive contracts will complete the new bridge by 2020.

During the workshop, NYSDOT staff will describe the upcoming project, and U.S. DOT staff will explain the DBE certification process and answer any questions. Staff will also provide one-on-one assistance in completing the DBE certification applications.

About NY Works:

NY Works is the centerpiece of Governor Cuomo's jobs program, reinventing state economic development with an innovative new strategy to put New Yorkers back to work rebuilding the state's infrastructure. The program is designed to create tens of thousands of jobs by coordinating comprehensive capital plans, overseeing all investment in infrastructure projects, and accelerating hundreds of critical projects across the state. NY Works leverages four federal dollars for every dollar of state spending.

About Governor Cuomo's M/WBE team:

Upon taking office, Governor Cuomo issued an executive order establishing the M/WBE team, in order to explore ways to meet his goal of expanding M/WBE participation in state contracting to 20 percent. The team includes members of the state Legislature, commissioners of state agencies and leaders from industry and education. Commissioner McDonald is a member of the M/WBE team.

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