In an article from the St. Louis Small Business Monthly dated September 2002:

Small, Emerging Firms Parlay Their Expertise Into Contracts On Airport Expansion Project

The expansion of Lambert-St. Louis Airport represents the largest public works project in the history of the City of St. Louis. The $1.09 billion Phase I project requires significant expertise in planning, surveying, engineering, demolition, construction and hauling. The massive project offers opportunities for major construction and engineering contractors in the region, but its scope and size has permitted small emerging firms to get a piece of the action as prime contractors and sub-contractors.

In fact, the airport expansion’s Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Inclusion Program assists small emerging firms to enhance their business capacity and their ability to successfully bid on and be awarded airport expansion contracts. The information and knowledge these firms glean from their participation in the expansion will benefit them beyond airport expansion projects.

Three St. Louis-based firms that specialize in engineering and are seeing these benefits first hand are Zambrana Engineering, Inc., ABNA Engineering and AFRAM Corporation. All have between 44 and 47 employees. Two of the three had contracts with the airport prior to bidding on airport expansion work, but that alone was not a guarantee that they would be awarded any expansion work.

They all mention similar obstacles they faced in being awarded contracts on the expansion. “We had to overcome the perception that DBEs are under- performers,” says Luis Zambrana, president of the 19-year-old engineering firm.

Solomon Akinduro, president of AFRAM Corporation, which began in 1997, says he had to convey, “We’re hungry for work like every other firm fighting for contracts. It was a communications issue involving some of the prime contractors.”

AFRAM, which specializes in cost management, cost estimating, materials testing as well as engineering, was the first DBE firm to be awarded a contract as a prime contractor.

Some contractors have historically held the perception that DBEs and small emerging firms may not be capable of handling work on the scope and magnitude of the expansion. Prime contractors bid on large construction projects associated with the expansion and then routinely hire sub-contractors to handle certain elements of the contract.

“We very much wanted and asked for significant work…not just what a contractor wanted to farm out,” said Zambrana. To land his firm’s first airport expansion contract, Zambrana, Inc. employed a team-based approach.

“Actually, we bid on a contract, and the contract was awarded to another firm. We called them to congratulate them and asked if there was anything we could do to assist them. They asked how we could help, and we informed them of our knowledge of St. Louis, the surrounding areas and other things that would affect the airport expansion,” says Zambrana. That conversation led to Zambrana, Inc. teaming up with the prime contractor as a sub-contractor.

ABNA Engineering is a civil engineering firm that specializes in road design, transportation infrastructure analysis, surveying and construction management. The firm employs 44 and was inspired by the desire of Abe Adawele, its president, and Nicole, his wife, to run an engineering firm.

Both attained their civil engineering degrees from Georgia Tech University and took jobs until Nicole eventually quit her position to work full time on getting the firm up and running. Like most emerging firms, ABNA Engineering faced obstacles such as inaccurate perceptions. To overcome those perceptions, ABNA had to prove its worth and made the most of the opportunities it was presented by airport expansion work.

“We had to prove to the City that we had the capability and capacity to do the work. ABNA was unproven in the eyes of some prime contractors. “It was through our sheer persistence that the barrier was broken,” he says.

All three principals encourage DBEs and other small emerging firms to utilize the DBE office as much as possible. “We have a strong relationship with the airport expansion’s DBE office, and that affiliation has helped us a great deal in understanding how to work with the airport,” Adawele says.

AFRAM’s Solomon Akinduro offers this advice to DBEs. “Quality is job one. The DBE office and its personnel will fight for you…but you’ve got to perform to the maximum.”

© St. Louis Small Business Monthly, The Source for Business Owners September 2002.

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