Posted on 08/15/2017 11:14:44 AM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
MOLINE -- Building the new Interstate 74 bridge will take years, but certification to bid on the jobs building it should only take about 90 days.
The Illinois Department of Transportation held a Disadvantaged Business Enterprise certification and supportive services workshop Monday evening at the Moline Public Library, 3210 41st St.
At the workshop, officials from IDOT shared information on how those who are in presumed disadvantaged groups can bid on contracts associated with the project. To qualify for DBE certification, the business owner must have a personal net worth of less than $1.32 million. Engineering consulting businesses must average less than $15 million in receipts over the previous three fiscal years. Heavy construction businesses are limited to $23.98 million over the same time frame.
Only one group, which had already received certification, was in attendance. The group watched a slide show featuring the timeline of the I-74 cridge project, similar to one shown at public meetings held in July at the iWireless Center in Moline and the RiverCenter in Davenport.
Tony Day, Southern Unit DBE certification manager, noted those interested in bidding on the jobs must get certification first. In order to qualify, those interested must own their own equipment and have training or work experience, Mr. Day said.
Lakeisha Purchase, supportive services specialist, said IDOT offers up to six hours of services to in-state applicants to help complete the application process.
The next letting of contracts for the I-74 bridge project is set for September. Information on how many contracts have been signed for the $1.2 billion project was not available at the workshop.
Mr. Day said more certification workshops will be held across the state, with a workshop planned for later this month in Peoria. The date of the workshop has not been announced. He did say the group plans on making its way back to the Quad-Cities again in the future.
Those interested in applying for certification to bid on the jobs can access the application online at idot.illinois.gov. Once completed, the application can be printed out and then mailed to IDOT.
They’ll get a disadvantaged bridge too.
Hmmm. Is there a REASON why these contracting companies are “disadvantaged”?
Note to states - provide a single office with a single check list, with staff assigned to focus on single cases on either first-in or priority basis, and complete the process in 15 days. Provide state level demand that any request that office needs from any state or local agency be answered immediately, in hours, not days.
Preface that with an application that knows what questions will be asked on the check list, and the data or facts needed to address the questions submitted with the application - no continuous rounds of new unexpected questions.
This is about 20 miles from me. Illinois roadbuilding and maintenance is already a joke. It was nearly impossible to make it any more inept and expensive but the bureaucrats have risen to the challenge. Two more years and I’m out of here.
More illegal preferences in favor of phony “minority” and “woman owned” businesses.
They don’t actually do the work. Once they get the contract because they are disadvantaged, they then subcontract the work to real companies and just take a cut of the contract.
This is minority set asides, a pleasant name that means Whitey and normals will not be getting the contracts. An illegal way to Shit on us. It’s illegal even if a law allows it. That law is invalid and not binding.
Why the heck does it take three months just to qualify to bid on a contract?
That means the bridge itself will take a decade to build.
They’ll start at one end, work their way across, and by the time they get to the other end the starting end will be falling down.
For some reason, I kept mis-reading IDOT as IDIOT.....wonder why?
Why is anyone surprised?
Iowa is collaborating with Illinois to build the bridge.
Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan will be there in 2020 to cut the ribbon and inaugurate the first pothole!
This is actually in Moline, so they'll be using Dispatch-Argus print editions in the foundations.
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