Norton’s Aggressive Outreach to Yield More Construction Jobs for D.C. Residents

Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today announced nearly consistent hiring gains of D.C. residents on over a dozen federal projects in the District of Columbia, despite the winter season, when construction generally slows. At the Department of Homeland Security St. Elizabeths headquarters project in Ward 8, Clark Construction's hires remain at 22% D.C. workers to date, the highest for any federal project, although its building, the first one on the site, is nearly complete. Because Clark used residents in most of the construction trades, Norton used its figures as an indication of the available pool of qualified residents. Smaller companies, however, will not use the same cross-section of trades. Grunley's adaptive reuse work at St. Elizabeths showed gains in hiring, rising to 9% D.C. workers, its highest mark, and Balfour Beatty also increased from 4% D.C. workers to 5%, but Norton said there is room for improvement. General Dynamics fell from 16% D.C. workers to 13%, but D.C. residents were hired during this period.

Whiting-Turner, which is working on the General Services Administration (GSA) headquarters building, remained at 7% D.C. workers. Gilbane-Grunley, working on the Hoover Building, rose from 10% D.C. workers to 11%. Grunley Construction, working on the Lafayette Building, also rose from 5% D.C. workers to 7%. Clark/Smoot/Russell, building the Smithsonian National Museum of African-American History and Culture, increased from 18% D.C. workers to 20%. Gilbane-Grunley, which is working on the west wing of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, the most recent project to begin, reports 15% D.C. resident participation. Not hiring last month were Turtle Associates, at the Roosevelt Building and the Reagan Building, Teng Construction, at the Cohen Building, and DS East, at the Environmental Protection Agency building.

"With the exception of three projects that have done no new hiring in the past months, all of the federal construction sites continue to increase the number of construction workers from D.C. each month," said Norton.

Norton has used several strategies to get D.C. resident hiring results because federal law prohibits requiring contractors to hire workers based on the location of the site. She met in January with one of the lower-performing construction companies on developing an improved approach within current law for increasing the number of D.C. residents hired. She also makes unannounced visits to federal construction sites and holds congressional hearings and roundtables. Norton also has begun to collect and publish hiring reports for the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, which has recently begun a $37 million renovation of its west wing.

Norton pairs her aggressive local outreach with assurances to companies that GSA and even she, a former chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, are available for assistance in reaching out to D.C. residents.

"We are encouraged by our strategy of close monitoring of federal construction projects as we continue to see more D.C. residents hired," said Norton. "With the exception of contractors on the two smallest projects, which have few workers, including Teng Construction, which still has hired no D.C. residents, and DS East, which has hired only one, D.C. residents remain a significant presence on most of the sites."

Below is the January D.C. hiring breakdown by company and total D.C. hiring at federal construction sites to date.

Published: March 6, 2013