Repost: Plan Gives Women, Minority Cos. 20% of Stadium Construction

by Jake Anderson
February 11, 2013

The group overseeing construction of a new $975 million Vikings stadium approved a plan that calls for one-fifth of construction contracts to go to Minnesota-based businesses that are women- and minority-owned.

The Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority (MSFA), which will own and operate the new stadium, on Friday outlined a plan that is meant to involve a substantial number of women, minorities, and veterans in the stadium construction process.

The plan calls for 11 percent of the contracts to go to women-owned firms and 9 percent to minority-owned businesses—and only work performed by Minnesota-based companies will count toward that goal.

The total construction cost is estimated to be around $690 million, the majority of the overall stadium budget, meaning the construction contracts expected to go to women- and minority-owned businesses will together total about $130 million, MSFA Chair Michele Kelm-Helgen told Twin Cities Business on Monday. (Other costs include design contracts and some external plaza construction, among other things.)

The MSFA also set a “work force goal,” which calls for 32 percent of all hours worked on the stadium project to be performed by minority workers and 6 percent to be performed by women.

In addition, the plan includes “an outreach strategy” aimed at awarding contracts to Minnesota-based veteran-owned businesses and recruiting and training veterans to be included in the construction work force, the MSFA said. No specific benchmark was given for the number of veterans to be hired, but the outreach involves working with business support organizations to increase awareness of the project among veterans, among other things.

“These goals are going to be tough; they’re no doubt a challenge,” Kelm-Helgen said. “They’re definitely achievable, but it will take a lot of work and focus.”

The MSFA’s hiring goals were announced one day after the association confirmed that two companies remain in the running for the contract to oversee the stadium’s construction: Golden Valley-based Mortenson Construction is one; its competitor, Scottsdale, Arizona-based Hunt Construction, is the other—and it has ramped up efforts to win the contract by partnering with Minneapolis-based Kraus-Anderson Construction Company.

To read the full article, visit the Twin Cities Business website.