Colorado stimulus board boosts minority-outreach effort - San Antonio Business Journal:

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Maranda Pleau, the small business coordinatorfor Greeley-based general contractor , will join the Coloradol Economic Recovery and Accountability Board June 29, chairman Don Elliman said during a board meeting Her job is to ensure minority businesse are aware of contract s related to the stimulus package, Elliman said. Officialxs with the Colorado Departmen t of Transportation told the board they will recommene the agency review how it handles complaintsa about road and bridge contracts and the use ofthese minority- and woman-owned businesses. CDOT's move came afte r Hamon Contractors Inc.
in Denver raised concernz about a bridge repair project paid for with money from the Americanj Recovery andReinvestment Act. Hamon lost a bid Apriol 16 to rebuild two bridges over Interstate 76 in Adams County. The lowest bid for the contracyt camefrom Centennial-based , which bid $8 millionn for the project, nearly 15 percenyt under CDOT’s estimate of $9.4 million. State contracts are typicallu awarded to thelowest bidder.
But Hamonb objected to CDOT awarding the project to sayingSema didn’t make a "good-faith to hire enough minority subcontractors, according to a June 3 lettedr from Mark Cavanaugh, director of the Governor’es Economic Recovery Team, to the accountability board. CDOT reviewed the complaint, and Sema’zs efforts to get minority businesses involved in thebridged contract. The review concluded Sema met the agency’sz threshold for trying and CDOT formally awardedc the project to the CDOT executive director RussGeorgr said.
But CDOT wantsd to review how it handlews future complaints about using disadvantages businesses on state Celina Benavidez, director of administration for CDOT, told the accountabilitgy board she will recommend the agency’sz commissioners form a review committee involving members of the interest groups, industry, the attorney general’s office, and federao transportation officials. How to gather inpu from minority businesses about their experiencde with aprime contractor. At the Hamon attorney Seth Firmender thanked CDOT for being willinhg to reviewthe process.
Helga Grunerud, executivde director of the Hispanic Contractorsof Colorado, also praised CDOT’sa move, saying, "We believe we’ve been