MTA awards two contracts under new small business program

Metropolitan Transportation Authority awarded voucher-based car service contracts to eight minority-owned or women-owned companies based in New York City. The awards, estimated to be worth $26.6 million over three years, dramatically increase the proportion of minority-owned and women-owned firms that are providing this service to the MTA customers. The awards result from a period of concerted outreach to small businesses that had not previously done business with the MTA. Over the past several months, MTA officials called companies that are or are expected to be State-certified as being minority- or woman-owned and invited them to a special pre-bid conference. "One of my priorities when I returned to the MTA last year was to increase contract awards to minority-owned and women-owned firms and disadvantaged small businesses. These recent awards send a clear signal to the vendor community that the staff of our Department of Diversity and Civil Rights and I are working hard to do that," said MTA Chairman Jay H. Walder. "As we continue to transform the MTA into an organization that makes every dollar count, we have to be as proactive as possible in assisting small businesses, which account for nearly half of all private sector jobs in New York City and beyond, become viable vendors." A second contract was awarded to a Brooklyn construction firm; the first contract under a new program created to help small businesses win MTA construction contracts. Under the MTA's new Small Business Mentoring Program, Arch Builders & Developers, Inc., of Brooklyn, will replace the badly deteriorated stairway canopy at MTA New York City Transit's Junius Street 3 station in Brooklyn. The program was created in June under New York State authorizing legislation sponsored by Senator John Sampson and Assemblyman Keith Wright. The program matches emerging small businesses with a larger construction management firm, TDX Construction Corp., to facilitate a transfer of knowledge that will enable the participants to become regular MTA contractors and larger subcontractors. "I am delighted that this program is now enabling the MTA to expand the pool of qualified contractors who can complete MTA projects successfully, on time and within budget," said MTA Chairman Jay H. Walder. "The more construction firms we have bidding on our projects, the easier it will be for us to reduce our construction expenses as we fundamentally overhaul the MTA's cost structure. This program has been especially helpful in allowing us to engage more small businesses, including minority-owned, women-owned and disadvantaged businesses."