Baltimore District leaders highlighted contracting opportunities for the Maryland construction community during a roundtable discussion hosted by Sen. Barbara Mikulski May 30 in Baltimore.
“I’m really excited about this,” Mikulski said to a standing-room-only audience at the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation (DLLR).
Contractors, representatives of the Maryland DLLR and Col. Trey Jordan, Baltimore District commander, met to strengthen the partnership and relationship between veterans, small businesses, major contracting companies and the state of Maryland.
According to the most recent figures, the District issues contracts for approximately one-third of one billion dollars to Maryland’s construction sector, which includes designing and constructing projects critical to the nation’s warfighter.
“The Corps needs a robust private industry that can spur innovation and competition to build each project, whether it is a military hospital or covert data center, and deliver it to the our valued customers,” said Jordan.
In fiscal 2014, the Baltimore District will undertake construction of numerous projects, which run the gamut from environmental cleanup at former munitions sites and defense relocations to facilities necessary to medical research and cyber security. These high profile projects, and others like them, require firms with unique expertise.
Mikulski described the core values that make a firm – and, in turn, a project – successful: honesty, integrity, reliability, price, past performance and specialization. There are many local firms with the skillset to work with the District on projects that are of great benefit to the nation, said Mikulski.
The meeting included Leonard J. Howie, III, secretary, Maryland DLLR, James R. DeJuliis, commissioner of labor and industry, members of major and small construction firms, unions and industry associations. Jordan engaged with the audience in a robust question and answer session on everything from contractor evaluations and licensure to security processes and better ways to find out about project announcements.
“We work hard to award contracts as quickly as possible,” said Jordan. “We do this while still maintaining a quality product, increasing project innovation and partnering with industry.”
As a follow-on event to the roundtable discussion, the Baltimore District will host an industry day in the fall, complete with workshops and networking opportunities.
For more information on doing business with Baltimore District, visit: http://www.nab.usace.army.mil/BusinessWithUs