Norton Releases New Hiring Statistics for Federal Construction Projects in D.C.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Office of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today released her monthly report showing the number of D.C. workers on nine large U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) construction projects underway across the city.  Norton closely monitors the hiring of D.C. residents on federally funded construction projects in the city, does frequent unannounced visits to the projects, holds roundtable hearings, and requires contractors to provide her with monthly reports on the hiring of District residents on their projects.  While federal law prohibits requiring contractors to hire based on the location of the site, aggressive local outreach is encouraged, and past outreach efforts are considered when a company bids on future contracts. 

“The August reports from construction sites show little, if any, change because there was little hiring,” Norton said.  “Some contractors with shallow numbers of D.C. workers have reached their peak hiring and will not be taking on more employees.  Others have room for improvement because of their size or the amount of work still to be done.  We will continue to monitor these projects and expect improvements as openings occur.”

General Dynamics, the only new general contractor on the Department of Homeland Security headquarters site, has the large information technology contract there.  Their July report showed 10 of 97 workers are D.C. residents (10%), Congresswoman Norton had a meeting with them to discuss improvements in reporting as well as hiring.

At the Smithsonian African American Museum of History and Culture site, the general contractor, Clark/Smoot/Russell, reports 39 of 243 workers are D.C. residents (15%), a one percent increase over July 2012.

 

*Ward 8 Department of Homeland Security headquarters project on the St. Elizabeths Campus:

Contractor

Project

Total DC Residents Employed as of August 2012

Change in DC Residents Employed from Prior Month

Clark Construction

Coast Guard Headquarters

413 of 2002 (21%)

None

Balfour Beatty Construction

Security Perimeter Fence

12 of 312 (4%)

None

Grunley Construction

Adaptive Reuse

48 of 602 (8%)

None

*Other Large GSA Projects:

Contractor

Project

Total DC Residents Employed as of August 2012

Change in DC Residents Employed from Prior Month

Whiting-Turner

GSA Headquarters building

88 of 1042 (7%)

- 1%

Gilbane-Grunley

Hoover Building

110 of 1082 (10%)

None

Turtle Associates

Roosevelt Building

7 of 80 (9%)

None

Turtle Associates

Reagan Building

11 of 47 (23%)

+5%

Marada Contracting – DS East

Markey National Courts Building

5 of 40 (13%)

None

Grunley Construction

Lafayette Building

27 of 529 (5%)

None

Teng Construction

Cohen Building

0 of 14 (0%)

None

DS East

EPA Building

1 of 17 (6%)

None

Marada Contracting

HUD Building

8 of 61 (13%)

None

*Monitoring continues in case of expansion of workforce or hiring of replacements.

Published: October 4, 2012