Transit agencies in Chicago and Philadelphia signed an agreement Monday to share their small business certification databases, in what they hope will be a first step toward a national database that would boost hiring of historically underutilized businesses.
The MOU was organized by the Equity in Infrastructure Project, a group founded last year that asks public entities to take a pledge to "build generational wealth and reduce the racial wealth gap by creating more prime, joint venture and equity contracting opportunities for historically underutilized businesses," or HUBs. The pledge includes taking actions like the small business certification agreement.
EIP was founded by then-Denver International Airport CEO— and now President Biden's nominee to head the Federal Aviation Administration — Phil Washington and former U.S. deputy transportation secretary John Porcari.
"We have an unprecedented opportunity with the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law," Porcari said Monday during a signing ceremony in Washington, D.C. "The real opportunity here is making dollars work harder; to turn these projects into a two-fer or a three-fer," he said. "The signing ceremony you see today is two agencies recognizing the nuts and bolts that holds back historically underutilized businesses and saying, 'We're going to do something about it.'"
Chicago Transit Authority president Dorval Carter said the joint certification — which would allow HUBs to work in both Chicago and Philadelphia — benefits the CTA. "Competition is good; it drives our prices in the right direction and improves the quality of work," he said. "If we do this the right way…it will be successful, and the first step to doing that is institutionalizing what it is we're trying to do," so that "long after I'm gone from the CTA, this MOU will be here.
EIP also wants public agencies to pledge to hire to minority or women-owned businesses for prime contracts, Washington said.
"We know there are sub [contracting] opportunities, we get it," he said. "But there's nothing like a prime opportunity for a minority business to increase generational wealth with the expectation that those who are awarded will look to hire people in those underserved communities," he said.
"We hope this becomes a national certification database and model," Washington said. "When we have a national certification database for small and minority businesses, it gets rid of the idea of good faith efforts," and agencies saying that they can't find any businesses to act as prime contractors.
The CTA and Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority are two of the first public agencies to sign the EIP pledge. There are now 13 public agencies or governments that have signed the pledge, including six state departments of transportation: Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, California and the District of Columbia.
The signing ceremony was held at the headquarters of American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, which represents state departments of transportation and supports EIP's efforts, said AASHTO director Jim Tymon.
"This is something that we're very interested in getting state DOTs more involved in over the next year," Tymon said. The group hopes to sign up more states during its annual Washington briefing in February, he said.
