[WardFive] Norton to hold Roundtable Hearing on Federal Construction Hiring After Reviewing Latest Disappointing D.C. Stats

Norton to hold Roundtable Hearing on Federal Construction Hiring After Reviewing Latest Disappointing D.C. Stats

 

Norton to hold Roundtable Hearing on Federal Construction Hiring After Reviewing Latest Disappointing D.C. Stats   WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Office of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today announced a Roundtable Hearing on Tuesday, August 21 at the Rayburn House Office Building Room 2167 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., following results of a disappointing monthly report on federal construction projects underway in the District of Columbia.  Norton’s office also released the cumulative statistics on the number of D.C. residents working on nine General Services Administration (GSA) construction projects of various sizes now underway throughout the city, and, separately, the number of D.C. residents employed by the four general contractors working on the Department of Homeland Security consolidated headquarters construction project at the old St. Elizabeths West Campus, and the first hiring report from the Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture, which started construction recently.  Norton will question witnesses on local hiring and small business outreach on the various GSA projects and on the Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture project.  The roundtable will feature contractors, workers, and small business owners.     The statistics to date on D.C. residents working on the St. Elizabeths Department of Homeland Security project are as follows: Clark Construction, U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters building, 407 of 1913 or 21% of workers are D.C. residents; Washington Gas-Honeywell, central utility heating plant, 31 of 145 or 21 % of workers  are D.C. residents; Balfour Beatty Construction, security perimeter fence, 12 of the 239 or 5% of workers are D.C. residents; Balfour Beatty Construction, site utilities, six of the 237 or 2% of workers are D.C. residents; and Grunley Construction, adaptive reuse, 42 of the 515 or 8% of workers are D.C. residents.  Norton noted the low number of D.C. residents involved in the work being performed by Balfour Beatty Construction and Washington Gas-Honeywell.  This work is substantially complete, with little new hiring taking place.  However, when these and other companies compete for federal construction contracts in the future, GSA will take into account how well they have engaged the communities.    The statistics to date on D.C. residents working on other federal projects in the District are as follows: Whiting-Turner, GSA headquarters building, 40 out of 738 or 5% of workers are D.C. residents; Gilbane-Grunley, the Hoover building, 72 out of 731 or 10% of workers are D.C. residents; Turtle Associates, the Roosevelt building, five out of 36 or 14% of workers are D.C. residents; Turtle Associates, the Ronald Reagan building, five out of 10 or 50% of workers are D.C. residents; Marada Contracting-DS East, the Markey National Courts building, 5 out of 40 or 13% of workers are D.C. residents; Grunley Construction, the Lafayette building, 27 out of 512 or 5% of workers are D.C. residents; Teng Construction, the Cohen building, 0 out of 14 or 0% of workers are D.C. residents; DS East Joint Venture, the Environmental Protection Agency headquarters building, one out of 17 or 6% of workers are D.C. residents; and Marada Contracting, the Weaver Housing and Urban Development headquarters building, eight out of 61 or 13% of workers are D.C. residents.    At the National Museum of American History and Culture, 10 of the 79 or 8% of workers to date have been D.C. residents during the pre-construction and excavation stages, when typically there is a well-qualified pool of D.C. residents.    Norton said, “We recognize that the varying percentages of D.C. workers on these projects do not tell the entire story.  We must look at when the projects began, where the contractors are in their construction cycles, their outreach efforts have been, what crafts are being utilized, and many other relevant factors.   But many of these contractors have not been paying the necessary attention to the effort it will take to employ D.C. residents for construction jobs in the city where they live.  Initially, with the construction project at the DHS headquarters, Clark Construction helped our office set expectations and calculate the potentially available and trained pool of D.C. residents for various crafts and apprentices.  Norton said, “Federal projects may not hire by location, race, or other similar categories, but the federal government encourages aggressive outreach to communities where federal construction is occurring.  We stand willing and ready to be of assistance to contractors and subcontractors and have already met with them.  However, it is not acceptable for contractors and subcontractors to bring workers to a new job in the District of Columbia without also making a strong good faith effort to employ local labor.”    Norton is the ranking Democrat on the Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management, which has jurisdiction over GSA, including federal construction sites.