Turner Construction Builds LDBE Capacity on Reagan National Project Journey

TURNER CONSTRUCTION Builds LDBE Capacity on Reagan National Project Journey

Reagan National Airport exterior rendering of the new 14-gate concourse looking to the southwest. (Courtesy: Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority)

“The journey of a thousand miles begins beneath one’s feet” is a quote attributed to the Chinese philosopher Lao-Tzu. The meaning of the quote is even the longest, most arduous undertaking is accomplished by taking small, seemingly inconsequential steps to reach the goal. In 2017, Turner Construction began the task of reaching a 25% contractual requirement for the participation of Local Disadvantaged Business Enterprises (LDBEs) on Reagan National Airport’s Project Journey, the capital program to transform the passenger experience. In a program budgeted at more than $500 million, this task is significant by itself, however, Turner Community Benefits Director Carolyn Ellison knows that finding willing and able contractors in the already stretched metropolitan Washington, D.C. construction market is an even tougher assignment.

Ellison’s role includes being Turner’s regional director for business diversity efforts, leading the company’s initiatives to meet the requirement established by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) on Project Journey. Her strategy to meet the project requirement has been to leverage all resources available to not only meet, but to exceed the client expectations for impactful participation of diverse firms on the major project.

Ellison and the Turner Construction team is using three important resources to help complete the journey to success and provide significant opportunities to diverse firms in the Greater Washington, D.C. area. The three resources being used by Turner include the benefit of an exciting and historic project at one of the America’s leading airports; a company with a strong reputation and a history of working well with diverse firms; and a supportive client willing to collaborate with Turner to achieve success. Armed with these three resources, Turner Construction is on track to achieve 29% participation of LDBE firms by the completion of the Project Journey program.

A Significant Project

Project Journey is offering qualified firms the opportunity to work on a major development project at one of America’s busiest and most prestigious airports – Ronald Reagan National. The project consists of building a new 14-gate concourse to replace busing to aircraft, two 50,000 square-foot security screening checkpoints, and reconfiguring an existing terminal to create new concessions and passenger travel areas. The project provides LDBEs the opportunity to gain experience working on an MWAA project through the LDBE program, hopefully building a track record of success that will lead to greater opportunities at the airport in the future.

Turner Construction’s Carolyn Ellison (3rd from left) and members of MWAA’s Procurement team including Wande Leintu, deputy vice president for supplier diversity (left); Julia Hodge, VP of supply chain management; and Darren Durbin, contracting officer. (Photo courtesy of Megan Falla)

The project also offers LDBEs the opportunity to gain experience working on state-of-the-art facilities containing the latest technologies, materials and construction processes in use in the current construction industry. Additionally, these opportunities are presented for an owner with a strong program supporting the growth, development and success of diverse firms. With most of the procurement activities on the project completed, Turner has bid more than 150 packages resulting in over $140 Million in contracts to LDBEs.

Partnership has really been the foundation for the success of the project,” Ellison said. “The entire Turner Team really worked together to ensure that the buyout of this project was an overwhelming success.” Ellison highlights the commitment from Turner’s estimating and procurement team, which met and engaged with over 2,000 firms. This allowed the team to create bid packages and opportunities that were accessible and appropriate for creating opportunities for LDBE firms. “The ongoing flexibility and engagement with MWAA are ensuring the success of LDBE firms,” Ellison said.

A Strong Company

Turner’s long history of partnering of diverse firms is another benefit the team utilized to attract capable firms to achieve MWAA’s LDBE project requirement. The company has developed industry leading outreach and contractor development programs to provide opportunities for diverse firms to thrive while working with Turner. The Turner Team leveraged the success of its 50-year-old Turner School of Construction Management to offer LDBEs classroom training on the information and skills necessary to work successfully on major construction projects, especially with Turner Construction. Since the kickoff of Project Journey, Turner has offered nine sessions of the School of Construction Management, providing training to over 350 LDBEs. The first session was held in 2016 in partnership with Venture 1863 (formerly known as Project 500), a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit with the goal of increasing the capacity of diverse firms located in the district. Turner also offered two sessions in Spanish and conducted two sessions focused on bonding education.

Turner has created a mentor/protégé program on Project Journey to provide in-depth and personalized assistance to five companies working with the company on the project. Protégé firms work directly with Turner project executives to better grasp the intricacies of working on a major project. They also focus on providing guidance and recommendations to increase the protégé’s capacity to enable them to have the ability to work on larger projects in the future.

A course facilitator presents a session during the Turner School of Construction Management offered in connection with Project Journey. Turner provided training to more than 350 students during nine sessions of the course, held in both English and Spanish.

Cap8 Doors & Hardware, a Washington, D.C.-based firm is a protégé working with Turner. The company is supplying doors on both the New North Concourse and the terminal renovation. Although Cap8 has worked with other projects with Turner, especially in the K-12 educational sector, this is the company’s largest project with Turner and first airport project. To help create a smooth transition to the airport industry, Cap8 founder and principal Lisa Williams has received ongoing mentoring from Chris Jahrling, vice president and general manager of Turner Federal Services. “He has been fantastic,” Williams said. “He has helped me better understand how to work in the airport environment and also to work with Turner more effectively.”

A Supportive Client

Collaborating with an engaged and supportive client has also helped Turner’s success on the project. MWAA has been fully supportive of Turner’s LDBE outreach and procurement efforts and has been a partner in striving for meaningful LDBE participation on the project. MWAA assisted with the marketing and implementation of outreach events to make the LDBE community aware of opportunities to do business with Turner. “We had over 18 outreach events for this project,” Ellison said. “We started with a big outreach event for the project and then had more targeted pre-bid meetings for each specific opportunity.”

Turner and MWAA worked to ensure the entire community was aware of the project and upcoming contracts. Turner used its project website to post bid opportunities and to market matchmaking meetings so smaller LDBEs could talk with first-tier contractors about subcontracting opportunities that matched their capacity. Turner worked closely with MWAA staff to identify specific trades and suppliers that matched their needs in order to implement a streamlined and efficient outreach effort.

Turner and MWAA continue to meet regularly to review progress and maintain an open line of communication. “MWAA has been aggressively open to working together to make this project successful,” Ellison said. “When we have challenges come up, they don’t ask who is to blame, they ask ‘how are we going to fix this.’ I feel really lucky to be a part of such an amazing team effort.”