Minority-Owned Businesses

D.C. Cuts Forrester Payment by $1M Over MBE Joint Venture

by administrator · Comments 0

“One of the Washington, D.C. area’s biggest general contractors agreed to take $1 million less than it had requested for a big district high school renovation project because the district said the company had misrepresented its work with a minority-owned business enterprise on the project and two others.

The contractor, Rockville, Md.-based Forrester Construction Co., made itself the majority and controlling partner of the joint ventures, entitling it to most of the profits, without informing the district and in violation of its contracting rules, the district alleged in the settlement.

Irv Nathan, the district’s attorney general, said in a statement on May 9 that Forrester had engaged in a pattern of using EEC of D.C., a certified, minority-owned company, to gain preference points that helped the joint venture win three recent major projects. The projects include the $49-million Anacostia High School renovation, for which Forrester had requested a major payment.”

Click here to access the full news article

Watchdog Cites Early Contract Award ‘Congratulations’ as Violation

by administrator · Comments 0

“A former Illinois Tollway official and one of its major contractors violated agency rules in awarding a $35 million construction contract on the Tri-State Tollway (I-294), according to a watchdog’s report Thursday.

Tollway Inspector General James Wagner said in a report to the tollway board that the agency’s then-chief of procurement acted improperly in allowing a prime contractor to violate policy regarding a disadvantaged business enterprise subcontractor.

State agencies require that these companies are given a share of work because they are owned by women or minorities.

The former official also acted inappropriately by sending a letter to the construction company and congratulating it for winning the contract on Oct. 2, 2007, three weeks before the tollway board approved the contract, Wagner said.”

Click here to access the full news article

Fair shake for disadvantaged businesses urged as New Orleans schools are rebuilt

by administrator · Comments 0

“Almost seven years into a historic drive to rebuild schools in New Orleans, education officials have begun putting teeth into efforts aimed at hiring more disadvantaged businesses to do the work, hoping to bring in more small local contractors owned by women and minorities. With more than $1 billion in contracts left to bid out, the state-run Recovery School District said Monday that it will put a new disadvantaged business enterprise, or DBE, program in place, requiring contractors to make a good-faith effort to ensure as much as 25 percent of all construction work is handled by disadvantaged companies.

Though it is still working out the specifics, the Orleans Parish School Board, which has joint oversight with the Recovery School District over the master plan for school construction, is getting ready to vote on a more ambitious goal of 35 percent, in line with City Hall’s target for contract spending. The board had a long-standing DBE program, but it fell by the wayside in the wholesale reorganization that followed Hurricane Katrina.”

Ensure project compliance by doing business with Assurance Screening. Be Sure.

Click here to access the full news article

Contractor accused of fraud in demolition at MCAS Beaufort

by administrator · Comments 0

“The president of a Pennsylvania environmental company was charged this week with two counts of wire fraud for failing to disclose information about a government contract to demolish a building at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, according to federal court records.

Michael Fullard of Fullard Environmental Controls in Ford City, Pa., was indicted Monday by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for allegedly attempting to defraud the Department of the Navy during negotiations in 2006 and 2007, according to the indictment. He failed to disclose his company’s profit margins and a deal he had cut with a subcontractor on the $2.2 million demolition job, court records say.

The indictment said Fullard agreed to pay a Pennsylvania subcontractor about $800,000 to do the bulk of the work but told Navy officials the demolition would be performed by his company and its employees. He “knew such representation was false and fraudulent when made,” the indictment says.

Fullard’s company earned the contract through a Small Business Administration program that sets aside certain federal contracts for minority-owned businesses, the indictment said. The program requires the businesses to disclose their subcontractors and profit margins, which Fullard allegedly never did when negotiating with the Navy over the cost to demolish the building, which was identified in the indictment only as “Building 7.”

Click here to access the full news article