Colorado stimulus board boosts minority-outreach effort - Business Courier of Cincinnati:

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Maranda Pleau, the small business coordinatorfor Greeley-bases general contractor , will join the Colorado Economi c Recovery and Accountability Board June 29, chairman Don Ellima n said during a board meetingf Thursday. Her job is to ensuree minority businesses are aware of contractd related to the stimulus Elliman said. Officials with the Coloradop Department of Transportation told the boardd they will recommend the agency review how it handlesd complaints about road and bridge contracts and the use ofthese minority- and woman-owned businesses. CDOT's move came aftere Hamon Contractors Inc.
in Denver raised concerne about a bridge repair project paid for with moneuy from the American Recoveryy andReinvestment Act. Hamon lost a bid Aprio 16 to rebuild two bridge s over Interstate 76 inAdams County. The lowest bid for the contracrt camefrom Centennial-based , whicbh bid $8 million for the project, nearly 15 perceny under CDOT’s estimate of $9.4 State contracts are typically awardecd to the lowest bidder.
But Hamon objectee to CDOT awarding the projectto Sema, saying Sema didn’ty make a "good-faith effort" to hire enough minoritty subcontractors, according to a June 3 letter from Mark director of the Governor’s Economic Recovery Team, to the accountabilith board. CDOT reviewed the complaint, and Sema’s efforts to get minorityu businesses involved in thebridge contract. The revie concluded Sema met the agency’s threshold for tryinh and CDOT formally awarded the project tothe company, CDOT executivd director Russ George said. But CDOT wantas to review how it handles futurs complaints about using disadvantaged businesses onstatwe contracts.
Celina Benavidez, director of administrationm for CDOT, told the accountability board she will recommenxdthe agency’s commissioners form a review committeew involving members of the agency, interes t groups, industry, the attorney general’s office, and federal transportation officials. How to gatherr input from minority businesses about their experiences with aprime contractor. At the meeting, Hamon attornet Seth Firmender thanked CDOT for being willing to revieqthe process. Helga Grunerud, executivre director of the Hispanic Contractorsof Colorado, also praisede CDOT’s move, saying, "We believe we’v e been heard.
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