[WardFive] Fw: PRESS RELEASE: Norton Releases Witness List for Upcoming Roundtable Hearing on Federal Construction Hiring

Forwarding from Mrs. Norton.

 

"Let there be Light"
 
Albrette "Gigi" Ransom
Commissioner, ANC 5C12
_________________________________________

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: "McCrary, Scott" <Scott.McCrary@mail.house.gov>
To:
Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2012 9:19 AM
Subject: PRESS RELEASE: Norton Releases Witness List for Upcoming Roundtable Hearing on Federal Construction Hiring

 

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                      Contact: Scott McCrary

       August 14, 2012                                                                          o: 202-225-8050

c: 202-225-8143

 

 

Norton Releases Witness List for Upcoming Roundtable Hearing on Federal Construction Hiring

 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Office of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today released the list of witnesses who will appear at her roundtable hearing on hiring at federal construction projects in the District on Tuesday, August 21 at Rayburn House Office Building Room 2167 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.  Norton scheduled this hearing after reviewing a monthly report revealing that a disappointing number of D.C. residents were being hired at a number of federal construction sites in the city.

 

At her roundtable hearing, Norton will hear from Shapour Ebadi, the General Services Administration (GSA) Deputy Regional Commissioner in the National Capital Region; Derek Ross, Chief of Construction for the Smithsonian Institute; representatives from two minority woman-owned D.C. businesses, AV Smoot and Shelton Federal Group; a representative from Whiting-Turner, the general contractor for the GSA project at 1800 F Street NW; and D.C. residents who work at some of the sites, who will speak about their experiences in obtaining employment and working at their respective sites.

 

"My office continues to keep a close watch, monitoring the hiring of D.C. residents and the contracting of D.C. businesses for large federal construction projects in the District.  Work on the largest project, the Coast Guard Headquarters building, the first of several buildings slated for the new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) headquarters at St Elizabeths in Ward 8, is finishing up, and the design process for the DHS Secretary's office in the historic center building is underway," Norton said.  "Meanwhile, we continue to focus on other projects, particularly considering that D.C. has more of them than other jurisdictions because of the focus of the stimulus funds on repairing federal buildings.  This roundtable hearing will give us a comprehensive view of the status of hiring and small business contracting on large federal projects now underway in D.C, and where the hiring shortfall is.  We want to diagnose the problems and barriers in order to solve them, not simply to criticize the results.  For example, the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture is in its start-up phase.  Other projects have been underway for longer periods of time.  The success D.C. had with hiring and small business contracting at the Coast Guard headquarters building shows us that there are plenty of residents with the requisite skills, as well as small businesses in our city, to get good results at the federal sites here."

 

Hiring for federal projects cannot be based on location, race, or similar categories, but the federal government encourages aggressive outreach to the communities where projects are under construction.  Norton has used this authority to good effect at the St. Elizabeths site and is measuring other sites using proven benchmarks from the St. Elizabeths site.

 

http://www.norton.house.gov/

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