Nov. 26, 2002 – Certified Disadvantaged Business Enterprise owners are invited to attend an open house on Wednesday at the Public Works Department headquarters on St. Thomas to get information about subcontracting opportunities for the construction of the Red Hook Marine Terminal.
The terminal is being built in conjunction with development of the Enighed Pond commercial port on St. John. Both projects are being financed with GARVEE (Grant Anticipated Revenue Vehicle) bonds backed by future Federal Highway Administration funding. The V.I. government will pay the principal and associated costs of the bonds out of the $12.5 million a year that the government gets from the FHA.
The Disadvantaged Business Enterprise program is designed to ensure equal opportunity in transportation contracting markets, address the effects of discrimination in such contracting, and promote increased participation in federally funded contracts by small, socially and economically disadvantaged businesses, primarily those owned by minorities and women.
In order to qualify for DBE certification, a business must have at least 51 percent minority or female ownership and have minority or female managerial and operational control.
At least 10 percent of the money made available for federally funded highways, mass transit systems, and transportation research and technology programs must be expended with certified DBE's. In the case of the Red Hook Marine Terminal project, a joint venture of Public Works and the Port Authority, the set-aside is 21 percent for DBE subcontractors, according to a Government House release distributed on Tuesday.
The open house will take place from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday at the Public Works headquarters in Sub Base.
For more information about DBE certification, visit the U.S. Department of Transportation's Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization Web site, or call the Public Works DEB Office at 773-1290.
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