Metropolitan Sewer District giving small businesses a leg up
More than 50 SBE firms got an opportunity to showcase their expertise in front of 19 local, regional and national engineering firms. Also in attendance were SBE officials from Cincinnati and Hamilton County and a representative from the Greater Cincinnati/ Northern Kentucky African American Chamber of Commerce.
MSD Executive Director Tony Parrott kicked off the event with a presentation that focused on the organizations’ dedication to small businesses. Parrot said MSD is committed to meeting annual goals of at least 10 percent for small business enterprise participation for professional services contracts, 15 percent for commodities and general services contracts and 30 percent for construction contracts. MSD also recently selected an SBE firm as the prime design consultant for a large improvement project in the Westwood area and has exceeded 10 percent participation by SBEs in two other projects.
The second part of the workshop gave small business firms a chance to network one-on-one with large firms that currently have service contracts with MSD.
“It was like speed dating for the small businesses,” said MSD employee Sarah Anderson, who organized the workshop.
SBE participants called the workshop “very helpful and on target” and were grateful for the opportunity to showcase their skill set. “We hope some future partnerships were started here today. MSD has a large capital program and we need the best and brightest providing many types of professional services. There is untapped local talent within these SBEs, said Parrott.
The Metropolitan Sewer District will be hosting additional SBE workshops later this year. They will also sponsor “matchmaker lunches” which will highlight two or three small business enterprises per session.
