Transit President Dorval Carter Leads CTA to APTA Awards for Excellence and Equity

Transit President Dorval Carter Leads CTA to APTA Awards for Excellence and Equity

Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) is one of few transit systems that maintained full scheduled service throughout 2020 during the peak of the nationwide COVID-19 pandemic. CTA President Dorval Carter held fast to the belief that essential workers and the community-at-large needed reliable and safe transportation during the national crisis. His leadership kept the Chicagoland area moving during 2020, thereby creating business opportunities for small and diverse companies during the resulting economic recession.

Carter’s leadership and the stellar performance of the CTA organization were recognized by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) with two awards during their virtual 2021 APTA Awards Program. CTA received the 2020 Large Transit System of the Year award and President Dorval Carter received the Agency Executive of the Year award.

In making the award to CTA, APTA said in a press release:

Few transit agencies in the United States have made more progress in modernizing their system over the last several years than the Chicago Transit Authority. CTA has completed, started work on, or begun planning more than $8 billion in improvement projects, among them: reconstruction or rehabilitation of 40 CTA rail stations—nearly 30 percent of the entire rail system; purchase of the CTA’s newest-generation electric buses, delivery of CTA’s newest-generation railcars and started the largest capital project in CTA history, the Red and Purple Modernization project.

Carter was recognized for his success in guiding the agency trough the numerous challenges created by the pandemic, and for oversight of a record level of investment in the transit system. APTA also honored Carter for his commitment and leadership in creating greater equity. APTA said in a press release:

Equity and fairness have been guiding principles for Carter since he joined the CTA as staff attorney in the 1980s, and he has continually been a catalyst for expanding equitable opportunities. Through outreach, engagement and innovative partnerships, Carter has ensured that CTA investments directly boost the communities in which they are made and provide opportunities for those who live in those communities.” In response to the award announcements, CTA President Carter said: “It is an honor to receive these awards, because they are a recognition of the commitment and dedication our employees showed throughout the pandemic. It stands as a statement of the resilience, creativity and innovation that our agency showed during this time, which we are grateful to be recognized for.

Chicago Transit Authority President Dorval R. Carter Jr. received the 2021 Outstanding Public Transportation Manager Award from the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) for his leadership of the agency during the 2020 pandemic. (Photo courtesy of CTA)

Red & Purple Line Modernization Provides Opportunities

CTA moving forward on its planned Red & Purple Modernization (RPM) project was one of the reasons the agency was recognized by APTA. Design work on RPM Phase I began in 2019 and construction started in 2020, as the pandemic swept across the country. CTA pressed forward on the $2.1 billion project, providing DBE firms significant business opportunities during the process.

CTA established a 20% DBE goal for professional services and a 20% DBE goal for construction on the project to maximize opportunities for both design and engineering firms and construction-related firms. The agency began to use separate goals for the design and construction of major projects after CTA President Carter received recommendations from DBE consulting firms regarding the fact that most prime contractors rely only on construction firms to meet DBE goals, which limited opportunities for engineering companies. The agency responded to the recommendation by moving to separate goals on its major projects.

This change created more opportunity for DBEs providing professional services and kept the project on track to reach both participation goals. To date, 68 different DBE firms have been awarded contracts totaling $169 million. The separate goals opened the door to new firms getting involved, with the RPM being the first CTA program for 20 DBE firms. CTA expects total awards to DBEs on the project to exceed $200 million before the end of the project. “We’re on track to meet the goal. Right now, we are at 13% of a 20% goal, but we have quite a bit to go,” CTA Diversity Programs Director JuanPablo Prieto said.

CTA contractors continue construction on the $2.1 billion Red and Purple Modernization (RPM) Phase One Project. (Photo courtesy of CTA)

CTA made sure its contractor for the RPM Modernization made a robust effort to provide opportunity to DBEs by requiring the three shortlisted bidders for the project to submit a Diversity Outreach Plan detailing their actions to include DBEs and underrepresented workers in the project. CTA’s selection committee awarded as many as 25 bonus points to bidders based on the quality of their outreach and compliance plan. “The Walsh-Fluor DesignBuild Team submitted a great proposal and won the project. That was a huge difference maker among the proposals, and we saw some very innovative plans,” Prieto said.

Walsh-Fluor’s Diversity and Inclusion plan expressed a commitment to advocacy, opportunity, and mentorship for small minority businesses and craft workers respectively. Walsh-Fluor developed and implemented programs including the Building Small Businesses Program, Elevating Futures Scholarship Fund, and Tracks to Trades. Each of these programs has made an impact to date.

Through the Building Small Businesses Program, more than 20 small minority businesses have secured over $5.5 million in federal loans in 2020-2021 and 6 companies have been awarded contracts on the RPM project. “The initial plan was to provide firms with training and technical assistance to help them secure working capital and equipment financing, but when the pandemic hit, we switched the program to helping firms get the SBA PPP (Paycheck Protection Program) and EIDL (Economic Injury Disaster Loan). We are now moving back to the original plan,” Prieto said.

The Building Small Businesses Program is led by DBE firms participating on the Walsh-Flour team, Zann and ABF Consulting Group. The two firms have added expertise and experience with creating initiatives to assist small and DBE firms on major projects. “ZANN and ABF Consulting Group understand the obstacles diverse and small businesses face in obtaining financing, and created a laser focused direct lending program for DBEs” Suzanne Arkle, ZANN’s President + CEO said.

The effort of the CTA Diversity Programs Department working closely with the Walsh-Fluor team is producing significant opportunities for diverse businesses and underrepresented groups in the construction workforce. Kweku Thompson, Walsh-Fluor’s Diversity and Inclusion Manager said: “Our outreach and compliance plan communicated tangible ways to promote and achieve equity by focusing on ways to connect diverse firms and diverse people to contracting and employment opportunities. We believe awarding contracts to small minority business creates a more diverse workforce because those companies often have strong relationships with diverse individuals seeking employment – especially the communities impacted by this historic project.”

Training and Education

Carter and the staff of CTA understand that it is challenging for small and diverse companies to move into working for a large public agency. After talking with small firms about working in CTA projects, Carter recommended that the Diversity Programs Department develop a program to teach companies how to do business with the agency. This recommendation led to the creation of a series of classes to introduce firms to CTA and the contracting process. The first series, as part of the Green Line Small Business Initiative ran in 2017 as the agency prepared for improvements to four stations on the Green Line. Twenty-four companies participated in the program, and six of the firms won contracts to work on the Green Line stations improvements.

Carter believes the success of the program comes from taking the time to listen to the people impacted by CTAs. “I have always taken pride in talking to and engaging the stakeholders who are impacted by what we do to find out what barriers they are facing,” Carter said. “Rarely do I walk away without some understanding, or some new idea or some issue that wasn’t on my radar before having those conversations with them.

CTA Diversity Programs Director JuanPablo Prieto speaks to participants in the Small Business Educational Series. (Photo courtesy of CTA)

CTA continued the educational series in 2018 related to work on the Your New Blue Program, and in 2019 for the RPM Modernization project. The Diversity Programs Office turned the series into a standing annual program in 2020 called the CTA Small Business Educational Series. The program is currently a nine-part series covering topics such as marketing, safety, invoicing, project close-out and technology, all with the goal of making it easier for new firms to go business with the agency. “We recognized that doing business with a public agency isn’t easy. The amount of red tape, and the rules and regulations, and all the other things that go with our procurement process can be intimidating at best, and debilitating at worst,” Carter said. “We started the program because we don’t want companies that start doing business with us to fail. Because it defeats the purpose of why we set the program up.”

Unwavering Commitment and Support

Carter began his tenure as president in 2015 and Prieto said he has engaged with Diversity Programs team since “Day One.” As a results, he brought the department deeper into the decision-making process to ensure the agency was thinking about DBE participation and workforce development as early as possible in major projects. “For him, our goals are the floor, and he expects contractors to reach for the ceiling,” Prieto said.

Carter’s support and commitment to greater equity also promotes innovation by the agency to look for ways to move the needle for small businesses seeking business opportunities with CTA. “He keeps pushing us to do better and think more creatively; and when we come up with an idea, he puts his full support behind it,” Prieto said.

The result of the agency’s effort has been increasing the overall participation of diverse business in CTA contracts and greater engagement of the community in services and major initiatives. Carter believes this is how the agency should connect with the people it services. “An agency needs to reflect the community that it serves,” Carter said. “The only way that is going to happen is that it reflects the diversity of the community, and the diversity is seen and experienced across all levels of the agency.”