Orange County Branch Newsletter

May 2019

ASCE OC Branch

April Luncheon: LA Metro SBE/DBE Programs and Opportunities

By Jason Fix, PE | Programs Committee

On April 18, Jerry Jacobsen, Principal of Diversity and Economic Opportunity, Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority (LA Metro), presented an overview of the LA Metro Small and Disadvantaged Business Programs and Opportunities.

LA Metro uses the SBE/DBE programs to promote social responsibility, small business goals, and to provide growth opportunity to develop small businesses as Prime consultants. On a typical contract, larger firms will bring the small business in to create an organic mentorship situation. This setup allows smaller firms to learn and become leaders. In particular, the SBE Prime program allows small firms to manage, execute, and perform the project. The end result being that they graduate the program.

LA Metro Station

Interested firms should attend the monthly “How to Do Business with Metro” workshops held the 2^nd Tuesday of every month at LA Metro headquarters. Next, they should obtain the Plan Holders List for the upcoming projects to reach out to the leads.

Once they are ready to make the step to be a Prime consultant themselves, the SBE should research the SBE Prime Set Aside opportunities on the LA Metro Vendor Portal.

Jerry Jacobsen

Upcoming Projects, including SBE Prime set-asides, will be listed in the 12 Month Look Ahead. This provides time for the teams to form and prepare to bid. It is recommended to line up the NAICS Code on the Company Resume with those listed in the upcoming projects.

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About the Author

Jason Fix, PE, is a Bridge Engineer for McLean & Schultz. He has over 10 years of experience working on bridges and structures in Orange County. He is interested in exploring the civil engineering field and sharing knowledge within the professional network. Jason can be contacted at jfix@ms-ae.com.

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