Louisiana Contractors: Start Your Engines
Here is a quote from New Orleans’ Mayor Ray Nagin in a recent USA Today article titled "$700M in federal aid finally flowing to New Orleans:"
Construction on jails, police and fire stations, playgrounds, theaters and mixed-income housing developments — all battered by the 2005 floods — has started or will start this year, as public federal funds finally were unleashed from bureaucratic tangles, Mayor Ray Nagin said in an interview with USA TODAY.
"You’re going to be able to see, touch and feel it," Nagin said. "We’re really headed into a year of unprecedented construction."
Certainly this is exciting news for contractors in Southeast Louisiana, who experienced a surge of work in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, but has since succumbed to the rigors of the national recession.
The news of Katrina-related aid coming to the region is icing on top of the cake for the Louisiana construction industry, who is looking forward to a large amount of stimulus cash being spent in the state’s infrastructure.
Just this weekend there was news out of Baton Rouge that despite previous resistance, Governor Bobby Jindal would likely be accepting all stimulus aid. The state launched a stimulus spending website, http://www.stimulus.la.gov/, and identified the first LA project to use stimulus funds (the long awaited Larose bridge).
How Do You Take Advantage of The Stimulus?
If your company is interested in taking advantage of the planned stimulus projects it must get familiar with public contracting, Davis-Bacon prevailing wage requirements, the public bidding process and more.
A great resource to learn more the requirements and strategies of public contracting is Mike Purdy’s Public Contracting Blog.
With more than 29 years of public contracting and procurement experience, Mike helps government agencies and businesses develop contracting strategies, solve contracting problems, and get better informed on a wide variety of public contracting and procurement issues. His consulting company, Mike Purdy & Associates, is based out of Seattle, WA.
Here at the Construction Law Monitor, we provide commentary and insight on the legal components of government contractor (state and federal). You can read posts related to public contracting through the category Public Contracting here.
Last month (Feb. 2009), we posted a particularly helpful article for businesses unfamiliar with the public contracting process called "The Stimulus Package and Your Construction Business."
The article briefly breaks down the legal and practical differences between public and private work, and outlines the basics for contractors interested in preparing their company to bid on public jobs.
Wolfe Law Group Can Help
If your construction company is in Louisiana or Washington, we’d be happy to discuss Public Contracting with you further, and to help your organization position itself to responsibility bid on upcoming stimulus work. Learn more about our practice at http://www.wolfelaw.com.
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