Doing Business with the SSO Program

The Office of the Mayor-President, the Department of Environmental Service (DES), and the SSO Program Management Team (CH2M HILL, Sigma Consulting, and ILSI Engineering) are working in partnership to strengthen local business capacity and encourage minority-owned business participation on Baton Rouge SSO Program projects.

Mentor-Protégé Program.

CH2M HILL entered into the first Mentor-Protégé relationship in Louisiana state history. As such, CH2M HILL and Parms Construction, a Baton Rouge based minority business enterprise, signed an agreement to provide assistance in strengthening the construction firm’s management and technical capacity. As part of this mentoring program, Parms Construction staff are receiving training in construction administration (including contracting, scheduling, contract document preparation, construction administration, measurement and payment, and field safety) and field observation (including construction methodology, field problem solving, construction communications, and construction reporting).

Apprentice Land Acquisition Agent Program.

To strengthen the capacity of local and minority businesses to provide land acquisition services, the SSO Program team with support from the Mayor’s office developed an acquisition agent apprentice program. Under this initiative, nine local minority/disadvantaged businesses have been trained in procedures and practices for land acquisition related to infrastructure projects and are completing a two-part training program that provides initial close supervision of apprentices through completion of easement acquisition followed by agents managing the process of subsequent parcels with limited supervision. This program has been extremely successful.

Outreach to Local Small/Disadvantaged Businesses.

In addition to the formal initiatives, CH2M HILL’s DBE Coordinator monitors M/DBE and local business participation on SSO Program projects and provide support to small and disadvantaged businesses in Baton Rouge who are interested in providing services and participating on the Program. Business owners are provided information on Program contractors, upcoming projects, registering with the City-Parish’s database, and available support and resources. Program staff also assists business owners in developing capabilities statements and provide instructions on how to access solicitations for services through RFQ Manager (for Design Consultants) and BIDX (for contractors).