Norton Announces Latest DHS Results on Jobs and Small Business Contracts During Her Business Fair

Norton Announces Latest Ward 8 DHS Results on Jobs and D.C. Small Business Contracts During Her Access to Capital Small Business Fair

D.C. DHS Minority Small Business Contractor Named Small Business of the Year

April 26, 2011

WASHINGTON, DC -- During Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton's (D-DC) plenary session of her annual Access to Capital Small Business Fair today, the Congresswoman announced the latest report on jobs and small business contracts for the construction underway at the U.S. Department Homeland Security (DHS) headquarters on the St. Elizabeths campus in Ward 8. February's site report, on the latest verified information on employment and small business contracts, shows that of 793 total workers on the job so far, 25 percent are DC residents. Of these, 73 are journeymen and 62 are apprentices. (These figures do not reflect the large number of D.C. truck drivers, who accounted for approximately 70 percent of the drivers who hauled millions of tons of dirt and rock in preparation for the construction.) D.C. small businesses have won 20 percent of the small business contracts, including 12 multimillion dollar contracts and 16 contracts from Ward 8.

Although D.C. residents are only 10 percent of the region's population, from which most small business hiring is done, D.C. residents are employed and are getting small business contracts considerably higher than their percentage in population. Federal regulations do not permit the General Services Administration (GSA) or the Congresswoman to require a specific number of people to be hired or to be selected for small business contracts. However, outreach is permitted, and Norton's efforts to ensure training for both potential D.C. hires and small businesses, along with her detailed monitoring, are credited with helping to ensure the results.

The Congresswoman, who is the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management, which has jurisdiction over the GSA, the contracting agency, has been continually monitoring and reviewing reports on hiring and small business contracts at the project. Norton holds frequent meetings with GSA, requires progress reports and holds hearings to monitor progress of the DHS headquarters construction.

Last week, the Congresswoman made one of her an unannounced visits to the DHS site to speak directly with residents working there about how they were hired, training, wages, and employment conditions.

Norton also had Clark Construction build a prefabricated Opportunities Center, where small businesses and employees have been recruited and trained. She also got stimulus funds for apprentice training, and said she is especially pleased with the number of D.C. apprentices because they will be ready to work on other construction sites after the DHS project is done. She said that many of the residents have been hired from Project Empowerment, the city's agency that serves unemployed residents.

"These latest job and small business results offer positive evidence of what our residents who seek employment and D.C. small business can achieve in a tough competition, particularly considering that federal regulations do not permit hiring exclusively from the jurisdiction where a project is being constructed," said Norton.

The Congresswoman also honored one of the DHS minority business contractors as her D.C. Small Business of the Year. Native Washingtonian and business owner Walter "Merrill" Smith, founder and president of Metropolitan Fire Sprinkler, won one of the largest small business contracts to date at the DHS headquarters construction project. She also announced the names of several other minority contractors who had won contracts at the DHS site.

The DHS project is expected to generate 38,000 construction-related jobs and many small business contracts through 2016, in addition to the 14,000 additional permanent federal jobs, the first ever east of the Anacostia River.