LABOR

Houston ISD Contracts Go To Minority Businesses

The Houston Independent School District recently awarded a lucrative construction management contract to an entirely minority-owned joint venture to kick off its latest multi-million-dollar building program.

According to a report in the Houston Chronicle, minority-owned businesses will realize about half of the $39 million spent to oversee the $808.6 million bond program approved by voters in November. That far exceeds the district's goals of 20 percent to 25 percent minority participation.

"We have a 100-percent, minority-owned business in a leadership position, and we're happy about the makeup," Richard Lindsay, chairman of the school district's Rebuild HISD program told the Chronicle.

The district is under no legal obligation to include minority- and women-owned business enterprises in district business, and said it tries to avoid politics in the awarding of contracts.

In the case of the coveted program administrator contracts, an internal district committee reviewed 25 teams, then whittled that field to four headed by three white-owned powerhouses with national reputations that build schools across the country.
The fourth program administrator is a wholly minority-owned joint venture called Team Advance.

"We've worked for the HISD bond programs for 14 years, but always as a subcontractor," Rick Castañeda, owner of Omega Engineers Inc. and a Team Advance partner told the Chronicle. "Now it's graduation day."

ACQUISITIONS

Southern Star Buys Hanson Concrete in Texas, Arkansas

Southern Star Concrete Inc., a majority-owned subsidiary of Austin-based Texas Growth Fund, recently announced it had acquired the ready mix business of Hanson Concrete in Texas and Arkansas.

The acquisition makes Southern Star the largest independent ready mix concrete business in the United States with more than 60 locations in Texas and Arkansas, 600 ready mix trucks and annual revenues in excess of $275 million.

In a July 18 letter sent to vendors, Southern Star CFO Leigh Ferguson said, "We are excited about the future of Southern Star and look forward to a long and mutually rewarding business relationship."

Southern Star will be headquartered on Freeport Parkway in Irving.

AWARDS

Austin Companies Share National Design Award

Austin-based commercial flooring company Intertech Flooring and architecture/interior design firm Graeber, Simmons & Cowan recently captured top honors in the national StarNet Design Awards.

The award was for the firms' work on the offices of international law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP in downtown Austin.

The project was selected as both grand prize winner and winner in the 2003 StarNet Design Awards' Large Corporate category, one of six categories in the competition.

Graeber, Simmons & Cowan is donating the $3,000 cash prize to the University of Texas Interior Design program to further expand its materials resource library into a state-of-the-art facility available to UT student architects and interior designers as well as the Austin design community.

In its fifth year, the StarNet competition recognizes outstanding creativity in flooring design and the innovative use of floor covering in commercial interiors. Projects are judged on their creative use of flooring, flooring design concept, special challenges and how well the design met client objectives.

ENGINEERING

Houston Engineering Firm Opens Office In Dallas

The Houston-based Southwestern Division of consulting engineer Smith Seckman Reid Inc. recently opened a Dallas office. It is the ninth office for the Nashville, Tenn.-headquartered firm, whose Southwestern Division has been based in Houston since 1984.

Smith Seckman Reid designed mechanical, electrical, fire protection and medical communications systems for healthcare facilities. Its principal in charge of the new Dallas office is vice president Kevin Wolfford.

The company's largest current profile in Texas is the $53 million in-patient expansion for Cook Children's Medical Center in Fort Worth. The 170,000-sq.-ft. addition is slated for completion later this year.

SAFETY

OSHA Fines Laredo Firm For Alleged Safety Hazards

The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced in mid-August that it had imposed $78,600 in fines against a Laredo construction company because it failed to provide its employees with adequate protection and training for the dangers of cave-ins and other hazardous conditions.

OSHA's Corpus Christi area office began an investigation Feb. 20 during a planned inspection at Closner Construction Co.'s worksite on Interstate 359-E in Laredo.

The company was cited with one serious and five repeat violations of safety standards. The alleged repeat violations include failing to conduct regular safety inspections, failing to adequately train employees on the hazards of possible trenching and cave-ins and failing to provide safe egress from a trench.

"This company has had five inspections since March 2000 resulting in penalties totaling almost $20,000," said John Giefer, area director of OSHA's Corpus Christi area office. "Repeated incidents indicate the company's indifference."

Closner Construction had 15 working days from receipt of the citations to comply, request an informal conference with Giefer, or contest the citations and penalties before the independent Occupational Safety and Health and Review Commission.

ECONOMY

PCA Adjusts Economic Outlook; Stays Optimistic

Slower than anticipated improvements in the U.S. labor markets are at the heart of recent adjustments in the economic outlook on cement and construction by the Skokie, Ill.-based Portland Cement Association.

While the previous forecast scenario from PCA Economic Research remains essentially intact, adjustments in the current forecast primarily reflect changes in the timing of turning points.

PCA has pushed back its forecasted turning point in the labor markets until October and reduced the magnitude of job creation following thereafter.

"The labor market will sit near the no-job-loss, no-job-creation saddle point for a period of time," said PCA chief economist Ed Sullivan. "Despite recent employment data indicating improvements in labor markets and the rate of monthly job losses on an apparent decline, this scenario should play out even if forthcoming employment reports confirm the turning point."

Key assumptions forecasted by Sullivan include a delay in the increase of interest rates by the Federal Reserve, continued strength of single-family housing starts, and the fact that office building construction activity will not turn around until late 2004 or early 2005.

SURETY BONDS

Agency Publishes Two New Free Brochures On Bonding

The Surety Information Office in Washington, D.C., recently released two informational guides aimed at general contractors.

"How To Obtain Surety Bonds" and "SBA's Surety Bond Guarantee Program," provide detailed information on the surety bonding process and programs available to small and emerging contractors.

The publications cover a variety of topics, including the basics of surety bonds; qualities contractors should look for in a professional surety bond producer; the benefits of bonding; eligibility requirements for different programs; and prequalification processes.

Free copies of the publications may be ordered online at www.sio.org or by calling the SIO at (202) 686-7463.