Equity Contractor Support Programs

A desire for greater equity is driving more and more public agencies to develop goals for contracting with minority-owned, women-owned and other disadvantaged firms. The challenge is many of those firms are running out of capacity. We need to take action to help existing firms expand their capacity and help new businesses form. The Formation Lab is here to help, delivering support programs for disadvantaged businesses that support success on today’s project, while creating capacity for tomorrow’s opportunities. These programs help public agencies deliver on the intent of disadvantaged business programs and not just check a box or meet a percent.

Selected Projects

Portland Bureau of Environmental Services
CBWTP Secondary Treatment and Expansion Project (STEP)
Jacobs Design Team

The Formation Lab worked with BES to pilot the DBE Support Program and Performance Management programs on this important project for BES. The project included 15 subconsultants—several of the firms had not previously worked on a project with BES, nor with the Jacobs project team. The capacity building program was offered to all firms. Examples of capacity building support provided include:

• Conducting a project delivery assessment that resulted in a firm shifting smaller projects to a junior PM to increase availability of senior staff for STEP and new projects for the firm.

• Supporting a firm in offering health and retirement benefits for the first time, enabling staff expansion.

• Supporting a firm in updating their Quality Assurance/Quality Control program to meet the needs of 3D Building Information Modeling (BIM) design.

• Supporting a firm through ownership transition, with the goal of maintaining excellent delivery and continuing COBID certification.

• Providing project management training on reviewing contracts and managing scope changes, available to all firms. 

The Performance Management program was developed in collaboration with BES engineering and equity staff. The goal of the performance management program is for 100% of the participating firms to be successful in meeting schedule and quality expectations on draft deliverables by the end of the project. The project has been successful in meeting this goal—several firms did not met expectations on early deliverables, but got the support they needed to be successful on later deliverables.

Portland Water Bureau
Bull Run Treatment Projects
Brown and Caldwell Program Management Team

The Formation Lab is working with Portland Water Bureau to drive equity efforts through the Bull Run Treatment Projects. Our services include a capacity building program offered to the 24 COBID-certified subcontractors working through the program, as well as a performance management program for the filtration facility and pipeline design teams. The Water Bureau has also been proactive in creating opportunity for new COBID-certified firms to be added to the team—especially for firms new to the Water Bureau and this work. The Lab has helped find and onboard those firms, then provide them with the support they need to be successful.

Some success stories from the Bull Run Treatment Projects are:

• Supporting formation of a new Indigenous-owed firm to lead an evaluation of opportunities for Indigenous Traditional Ecological and Cultural Knowledge (ITECK) in restoration of the site. The Formation Lab is support the firm and the process—helping the firm through start-up, supporting development of their scope of services, providing facilitation support, and taking on direct expenses for recognition of community members.

• Onboarding a black-, female-owned business to co-lead the CM/GC partnering sessions. As it was a new service, the firm was paired with a more-experienced practitioner to provide mentoring and support. The Lab is providing capacity-building support including business administration training for a key staff person transitioning from a retail background.

• Onboarding a Native-owned firm to facilitate an Urban Indigenous Engagement Circle, with the goal of improving the Water Bureau’s long-term relationships with the Indigenous community. Capacity building included software training and support. 

• Providing task lead training to a minority-owned business to support development of a larger pool of task leads and project managers, supporting further firm growth.