Bay Region Public Works Night Showcases Upcoming Capital Projects, Reforms
By: Russell W. Snyder
2007-11-14
It was a grand re-opening of sorts for the troubled San Francisco public works program at AGC's Bay Region Public Works Night.
Long scorned by contractors as being perhaps the worst place to do business in America, Mayor Gavin Newsom and city bureaucrats have reluctantly admitted they have a problem and have asked AGC to help them identify solutions.
Two years and numerous meetings, personnel changes and pronouncements later, the city has indeed made measurable progress, and contractors are beginning to take notice.
In recognition of its reform efforts, AGC invited San Francisco Public Utilities Commission Deputy General Manager Tony Irons to give contractors a progress report at its Sept. 27 Public Works Night event in Emeryville, attended by a record 200 construction industry leaders and many public agency representatives. The San Francisco report card so far includes:
- Implementation of a Dispute Resolution Board specification;
- A prompt-payment and partial-payment directive from the mayor, and rolling out of an electronic payment system to speed money to contractors;
- Placing the hostile Human Rights Commission and Office of Labor Standards and Compliance under a microscope.
At this juncture the San Francisco report card is neither pass nor fail, but rather an incomplete – with more work to be done. Still, none of the reforms implemented so far, Irons noted, could have been pushed through without the assistance of AGC and its members.
"I really do appreciate the work that the AGC have done in improving the city's contracting climate," he said.
And much is at stake. Irons' SF PUC is moving forward with an ambitious, $4.4 billion, 12-year construction program to rehabilitate the Hetch Hetchy water system of pipes, pumps and dams that delivers water from the Sierra Nevada mountains to more than 2 million Bay Area residents.
The contracting community has begun to take notice of the changes taking place in the city, and City Administrator Ed Lee told AGC recently that officials have noticed a slight upturn in the number of contractors bidding city work.
Also on the Public Works Night program was new state Labor Commissioner Angela Bradstreet, who charmed the audience with her wit and willingness to work collaboratively with all parties to implement policies that create a level playing field for contractors. Caltrans District 4 Deputy Director Bob Finney also briefed the group on the various transportation improvement projects that are expected to be put out to bid this year.
San Francisco District Chairman Miguel Galarza of Yerba Buena Engineering & Construction, delivered the opening remarks and gave special thanks to the generous event's sponsors, McGraw Hill Construction, Union Bank of California and Contra Costa Builder's Exchange.
For the first time, AGC partnered with the Northern California chapter of the Construction Management Association of America, and many CMAA members were in attendance.
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