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WSP and Archer Western Fosterning Inclusion on DART Silver Line
WSP and Archer Western Fostering Inclusion on DART Silver Line
The Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) Silver Line Regional Rail Project represents one of the largest transit projects in the history of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. The $2.09 billion transit line adds 26 miles and 10 new stations to the DART rail system. It extends from the northeast suburb of Plano through Richardson, Dallas, Addison, Carrollton, and Coppell to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. The project also includes an adjacent 26-mile bike and pedestrian trailway. The project began in 2018 and plans to open for business in 2026.
WSP, USA formed a joint venture with Arredondo, Zepeda & Brunz, LLC, a local small business and former DBE firm, to serve as DART’s Program Manager/Owner’s Representative (PMOR). The team oversees the DART Silver Line to ensure it is built to specifications, within budget and provides safe and reliable in-revenue service.
Archer Western has partnered with Herzog to serve as the design/build team responsible for completing the project. DART has charged both entities with striving to maximize opportunities for Disadvantaged Business Enterprises to participate in this megaproject. The Silver Line is currently more than 50% complete, and the PMOR and design-build teams are ahead of DART’s goals for DBEs on the project.
Ruben Landa, WSP's Assistant Vice President for Communications and Public Involvement (CPI), leads DBE outreach initiatives in Texas. His role includes connecting qualified professional services firms to the PMOR team and helping to create a talented and diverse team to complete the project. The team includes ten diverse firms performing a wide range of critical services to date. “We are doing all that we can to maximize opportunities for DBE firms on both the engineering and construction sides of the project,” Landa said.
Similarly, Archer Western’s Regional Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Compliance Officer Marvin Jackson leads inclusion efforts for the design/build team. Jackson’s role includes finding diverse companies with the experience and capacity to work on a significant infrastructure project and creating strategies to connect firms with contracting opportunities that fit within their existing capabilities. “This project has some specialized scopes of work that not many DBEs perform, but we have been successful in finding DBEs with the ability to help us complete the project,” Jackson said.
Community Engagement and Leadership
A primary reason for the project’s success in achieving D/M/WBE goals and maximizing opportunities is the extensive communication and outreach efforts of the PMOR and design-build teams in reaching out to the North Texas business community. These activities gave advance notice to the community about the project, and they also added a greater degree of credibility by demonstrating a sincere desire to make opportunities available to diverse firms.
Landa is a respected and well-known advocate for diversity and inclusion in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, serving in leadership positions leading nonprofit agencies serving minority- and women-owned businesses. He is the current President of the Greater Dallas Planning Council and a former Chairman of the Regional Hispanic Contractor’s Association (RHCA), and President of the North Texas Chapter of the Conference of Minority Transportation Officials (COMTO). Landa’s engagement with these and other local organizations provides a platform to promote the Silver Line project while assuring DBE firms they will have a true opportunity to work on it. “My involvement in community organizations certainly provides a different level of exposure for our work on the Silver Line,” Landa said.
Jackson has led extensive outreach efforts for the Silver Line and is active in the local business community. The Archer Western Herzog (AWH) team began outreach on the project early in the development stages while seeking to win the design-build contract. These outreach efforts continued after the team secured the contract and began design activities before the pandemic started in 2019. Jacobs is the lead designer for the AWH team and has assumed their share of responsibility for exceeding DART’s DBE goal. “We have over 80 contracts with DBE firms so far on the project, representing around 60 individual firms,” Jackson said.
Jackson’s community engagement also lends credibility to the AWH team’s outreach and recruitment efforts. He is the President of the North Texas Chapter of COMTO and a Board Member of the RHCA. He is also an active member of the Dallas Chapter of the National Association of Minority Contractors (NAMC). “It means a lot when people know you not only from the company you work for but also as a member of the community,” Jackson said.
Results Tell the Story
The WSP-Arredondo, Zepeda & Brunz, LLC (WSP|AZB) joint venture has assembled a comprehensive group of diverse firms to complete their team. These firms include Foster CM Group, Iconic Consulting Group, K Strategies Group, MasTek Engineering, McKissack & McKissack, Swayzer Engineering, Raul V. Bravo & Associates, and VIA Architects. This group of sub-consultants has resulted in 56% of revenues earned by the PMOR team going to diverse firms. “We have been intentional about not only working with diverse firms but with firms that can provide critical services to help complete the project,” Landa said. As of September 2023, WSP|AZB is achieving a 51.8% participation.”
The design-build team has achieved similar success thus far. AWH is tracking ahead of the project’s DBE goal of 7% and the 23% goal for businesses owned by minorities or women. AWH has already engaged the services of numerous firms to work on the project, resulting in more than $100 million in payments to diverse companies. “We still have a ways to go, and we are still seeking firms to complete work as we get into the additional portions of the project,” Jackson said.
Landa and Jackson expect the completed Silver Line project to produce diverse business success stories. The large size of the project allows DBE firms to expand capacity, leading to continued growth in the North Texas Market. One emerging success story is the Fort Worth-based Post L Construction Group. The company expanded from commercial construction into civil infrastructure services, including installing MSE retaining wall systems, sound walls, cast-in-place retaining walls, T-Panel retaining walls, cast-in-place coping, barrier rails, and moment slabs. Jackson believes more firms like Post L will expand their capabilities working on the Silver Line, leading to increased opportunities in the future.
Most diverse firms working on the Silver Line are based in North Texas. Landa says having local firms participate and increase their capacity is vital to the continued growth of the North Texas Region. “We have more than a quarter trillion dollars in infrastructure projects coming to Texas over the next 10 years due to the federal infrastructure bill and other funding sources in the state and region, so we need firms with the capacity to help complete all these projects,” Landa said.
