Multibillion-dollar civil projects present a significant opportunity for smart, small businesses to access large amounts of grants. according to panelists during the New York Build Expo at the Javits Center in New York City last month.
The session explored the infrastructure development landscape, where small businesses are gaining ground. Federal and state governments have long been important players in financing infrastructure projects.
Initiatives such as the Federal-State Partnership Grant Program for Passenger Rail Projects and the Mega Grant Program, established to fund large and complex highway, bridge, freight, passenger rail and transit projects, provide avenues for access critical infrastructure development money.
“They are expected to bring national and regional economic mobility and security benefits, including the reliability of the movement of goods and people in rural and urban areas,” said Rena Barta, vice president of transportation infrastructure at Parsons Corp., a company based in Chantilly, Virginia. technological engineering company. “We are very lucky in this [New York] region to have some of these grant recipients.”
Some of the top projects in New York with this type of grant include:
- Segona Avinguda Phase 2 metro station.
- Hudson Tunnel Project.
- Addition of a multimodal community connection lane to the Cross Bronx Freeway.
- East River Tunnel Rehabilitation Project.
Opportunities for smaller businesses
While big infrastructure contracts often go to major players in the construction industry, these big projects also create opportunities for smaller contractors, said Ryan White, head of transportation planning at Jacobs, a Dallas-based construction services.
“I think it’s important to remember that these projects, while big, shouldn’t be thought of in isolation,” White said. “Remember that these projects are part of a system. There are other ancillary benefits.”
This is because an essential aspect of many projects to qualify for these grants in the first place is the inclusion of disadvantaged business enterprises. Certification as a DBE not only opens doors to hiring opportunities, but also serves as a testament to a company’s commitment to diversity and inclusion.
DBE certification for these smaller businesses can often lead to an immediate increase in contracts, said Lizbeth Rodriguez-Rios, Northeast Region Director of the Small Business Transportation Resource Center, a program under the U.S. DOT that provides assistance to small and disadvantaged businesses.
Rodríguez-Rios shared the story of a Massachusetts-based recruiting firm that provides services related to airport operations with annual revenue of about $200,000. After achieving DBE certification, the company won numerous contracts, expanding its revenue to about $3 million, from DBE-related projects alone, he said.
“Many of these projects require [general contractors] to bring in small businesses, just to put some funding,” Rodríguez-Rios said. “We don’t have enough DBEs and this is the opportunity.”
White agreed that even companies the size of Jacobs, for example, also struggle to find qualified DBE companies from time to time.
For smaller companies to find these opportunities, Barta highlighted professional associations, where contractors or consulting engineering firms can meet these large agencies. Rodríguez-Rios also suggests matchmaking sessions that facilitate face-to-face interactions. These events pave the way for collaboration between small businesses and larger companies.
“Once you have the DBE, [the next step] it’s just identifying and doing the market research on the projects that require DBE,” Rodríguez-Rios said. “You can take advantage [the certification] Right Now.”
