ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, March 10, 1997 TAG: 9703100004
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER THE ROANOKE TIMES
Most minority companies are small and often lack the financial capability to bid on projects, school officials said.
The NAACP wants Roanoke school officials to make changes in the way they award contracts for school renovation projects to ensure that black companies get more of the business.
Black-owned firms received less than 1 percent of the contracts on school renovation projects during the past decade, according to city school records.
Since 1988, the school division has spent $28 million on nine elementary and middle school projects, but black firms received only $113,700 of the business.
"The figures tell us something is seriously wrong and amok," said Martin Jeffrey, president of the Roanoke branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
"The only thing they can seem to find for African-American firms to do is to wash brick," Jeffrey said. "And at Forest Park Elementary School, in the heart of the African-American community, a minority firm was not even hired to wash bricks."
Most of the contracts for black companies involved the cleaning and repointing of brick. The black-owned firms were subcontractors on some projects, but none was the general contractor.
"These numbers show there has not been a history of inclusion in school projects, but there must be an immediate change in the process of awarding contracts," Jeffrey said. "They've got to re-evaluate the way they're doing things."
There were no black subcontractors on several projects, including the $6 million renovation of Breckinridge Middle School that is now underway.
School officials said they have tried to increase minority participation in projects but few black-owned companies bid on projects. Contracts must be awarded to the lowest bidder.
School officials said they can't dictate the general contractor's selection of subcontractors if black companies don't submit the low bids.
But they will begin requiring contractors to provide a listing of bids from subcontractors and identify firms that are owned by minorities or women. General contractors will be required to provide the reason for not selecting a subcontractor that submits the low bid.
Most minority construction companies are small and often lack the financial capability to do large projects, school officials said. Most are experienced in a specific construction trade, but they do not have the management experience to bid and complete larger projects.
Some small firms do not have the financial capability to secure the insurance, bonds and licenses that are required for school projects.
Few black-owned companies have submitted bids to be the general contractor for school projects, school officials said.
Superintendent Wayne Harris said the school system has developed a plan to recruit and provide assistance to small businesses that are owned by minorities and women to do projects for the schools.
Several minority- and women-owned firms were identified last year and hired for small summer projects so school officials could develop a business relationship with them and evaluate their capabilities.
Harris said a workshop was held last fall for small businesses, particularly those owned by minorities and women, to provide them with information on proposed school projects, bonding and insurance requirements and other details about bidding.
Another workshop has been scheduled this month to inform small businesses about the project requirements for the Woodrow Wilson Middle School renovation and Round Hill Primary addition.
General contractors that bid on the Woodrow Wilson and Round Hill projects will be given the school system's list of small businesses and asked to seek bids from them on subcontracts.
School officials also will ask cultural and social organizations in the community to encourage small businesses to participate in school projects, Harris said.
Jeffrey said the NAACP and other black community organizations want to ensure that black-owned businesses get part of the contracts for the Addison Middle School renovation that will be done in the 1998-99 school year.
Jeffrey tried recently to get the School Board to delay the selection of the architect for the Addison project until the black community could express its views.
But the board voted to hire Rife & Woods, a Roanoke firm that also is the architect for the Breckinridge and Woodrow Wilson projects.
There is only one black-owned architectural firm in the Roanoke Valley and it is not large enough to do the Addison renovation alone, Harris said.
School officials said the selection committee that ranked Rife & Woods as the best-qualified firm for the Addison renovation included two black parents and a member of the Addison Heritage Association.
Harris said the school system tried to get the community involved in the selection of the architect.
But Jeffrey said school employees composed a majority of the nine-member selection committee for the architect. It included Addison's principal, assistant principal and school secretary, in addition to the construction and maintenance supervisors for the school system and the director of business services.
"We want to make sure that what happened on the selection of the architect for Addison doesn't happen again," Jeffrey said. The NAACP and several other groups are working to ensure that black firms bid on the Addison project, he said.
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