Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s proposed Fiscal Year 2025 budget include additional funds for MI Contracting Opportunity, a program that supports contractors and suppliers who are socially or economically disadvantaged. The $5 million recommendation represents a renewal of the item in the previous budget, with a $2 million increase.
On this week’s edition of the Talking Michigan Transportation podcast, Lisa Thompson, who directs the Michigan Department of Transportation’s (MDOT) Office of Business Development, which includes the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) program, explains how the funding will help build on the success of assisting these businesses.
Thompson says the goal is to assist small businesses with tools to actively participate in the various phases of road and bridge design and construction.
Other objectives include:
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s proposed Fiscal Year 2025 budget include additional funds for MI Contracting Opportunity, a program that supports contractors and suppliers who are socially or economically disadvantaged. The $5 million recommendation represents a renewal of the item in the previous budget, with a $2 million increase.
On this week’s edition of the Talking Michigan Transportation podcast, Lisa Thompson, who directs the Michigan Department of Transportation’s (MDOT) Office of Business Development, which includes the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) program, explains how the funding will help build on the success of assisting these businesses.
Thompson says the goal is to assist small businesses with tools to actively participate in the various phases of road and bridge design and construction.
Other objectives include:
Hello, welcome to the Talking Michigan Transportation podcast. I'm Jeff Cranston. Earlier this week, Michigan Lieutenant Governor Garland Gilchrist joined MDOT Director Brad Weiferich and some private industry executives at Sweden Counter Bakery Cafe in downtown Lansing. I highly recommend Sweden Counter, by the way. They were there to celebrate the my Contracting program and they talked about how this initiative can build on the success of the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise program, which has been helping small businesses whose owners often face obstacles in breaking into industry.
Speaker 2:Today Lisa Thompson, who directs MDOT's Office of Business Development, which includes the DBE program, and who was at Tuesday's event, talks about what she's learned over the years and why this still gives her great satisfaction. So I hope you enjoy the conversation. So first, you know you've been on the podcast before, but talk a little bit about what the Office of Business Development does and, specifically within that, the DBE program. I know you don't want to tweet your own horn too much, but a lot of the things that were talked about in that announcement Tuesday, considering my Contracting and the extra assistance, I guess building on what we've already done, A lot of these things have informed the program at MDOT for a number of years, right? Yes?
Speaker 1:absolutely the Office of Business Development. We help small and disadvantaged businesses compete for contracts and successfully participate in contracts for the highway program, the FH Federal Highway Administration Funded Program, as well as Federal Transit Authority and Federal Aviation Administration. Our job is to encourage and support these small businesses as they're performing on state contracts. The DBE program is the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Program. It's one of the six programs we administer in our office and it's specifically designed for minorities and women and other disadvantaged or historically underutilized businesses and business owners to get involved in government contracting. And then we also administer a small business program, which is a race and gender neutral program with the same aim to get smaller businesses involved in MDOT and state government contracting. Our other programs are similar to that, just more based on individuals and getting them engaged in working in transportation.
Speaker 2:So when you think about success stories and Tuesday's announcement with Lieutenant Governor Gilchrist, there were people there that have absolutely benefited from the program and they've gone on to succeed, sometimes contract with MDOT and sometimes maybe with local road agencies. Can you talk about that, how you define success for these businesses?
Speaker 1:Food on the table? Absolutely, yeah. What we do is we honestly believe that small businesses drive the economy of Michigan and we work to help those businesses improve their bottom line, understand their business management and development. They know how to do their work, so the engineers know how to build stuff, the carpenters know how to work with their hands and they do amazing work. But business management is a completely different animal, and so in our office we've got a number of folks with degrees in business and communications and other areas that help come alongside and support these businesses as they work on our projects, as they build things.
Speaker 1:And then so we have firms that have had opportunity with MDOT. We have firms that have had opportunities with cities and counties. We've got fantastic folks right now working for the Canadians on the Gordie Howe International Bridge. Just, our job is to create opportunities. I've been with MDOT for 35 years now, and in the beginning our office was named the Office of Equal Opportunity. I like that because I think of what we do is simply creating the opportunity, opening the door, opening the window so folks can walk in and help us produce the things we need to produce for the citizens of Michigan.
Speaker 2:That's very, very well put. That is a long time and you've learned a lot along the way. Let me go back real quickly to the Windsor-Duterte Bridge Authority and the assistance that you're providing for the Gordie Howe International Bridge. Could you talk more specifically about that?
Speaker 1:Yes, I can. So the uh, the uh, it, the Gordie Howe International Bridges is a project that has some support. It's a multinational project but it has support from the Federal Highway Administration. So when that happens, we have to meet all the laws and regulations associated with federal funding, and that is where office has come in. So we have provided assistance to the companies that they have hired. We have provided, uh, we have a program that we provide called the Bonding Education Program, and it's something that we're going to wrap into my contracting, which is a, a support program around Michigan businesses. So that program helped our helps our businesses understand all the financial implications of being a business owner. It specifically connects companies with lenders and bonding agents that are in that are, uh, that use and support and lend to small businesses and it talks to them about all the things they need to do to get prepared.
Speaker 1:So, uh, uh, several of the companies working on the Gordie Howe International Bridge right now uh, have come through the Bonding and Education Program and their work on the, the GIB, which is what we call it, their work on the GIB is their first government contracting, um, and they were able to do that and do it successfully, because of our office's support and helping them understand the difference between working for government and working for the private sector. Um, I, I, we've got a supplier who, uh, is doing so well that he not only is working in Michigan, he's got a couple of contracts in New York now, and this is a gentleman who'd never worked in the government space. But they build and develop, um, uh, they build metal, they, they, they manufacture metal. Um, I'm not an engineer, so this is about to go off the rails a little bit, but you know, in my mind I'm thinking they make the railings you hold on to. They go across the bridge which are pretty important, which are very important.
Speaker 1:Yes, and it's magnificent that the, that's such a large undertaking, has been able to right size their contracts for this small business to succeed. Um, and I think that's something that government needs to do more of, because we are supporting all citizens in Michigan. We know that small businesses drive the economy. We know that small businesses hire more people than than the large businesses combined. So what they were able to successfully do on the Gordy Howe is make the contracts the, the, the, so that the company could do them and fulfill them, and then do another contract of the same size and then do an increase so that the small business could appropriately supply the, the, the, this huge endeavor, and be successful and deliver a great product. And so that's the kind of thing that I'm hoping for for MDOT and then all the state government is is that we help drive the increased engagement of small businesses in our work.
Speaker 2:So we always talk about how working with the Canadians on this project can be challenging. We speak the same language but in some ways we don't, and Canadians have their own version of these kinds of programs, obviously. But it sounds like the WDBA has been very amenable to the things that you've helped them understand and why Michigan and the Federal Highway Administration have their own ways of doing things. So has that been challenging at times.
Speaker 1:Yes, it has, Because, you're right, we speak the same language but we don't realize that sometimes we're speaking over each other. We're saying the same words. We had to delve into actually defining terms. That and generally it's something you do with technical terms. But when we were working with another country we had to do it with some terms that were non-technical, because our meaning of equal employment opportunity and their meaning of equal employment opportunity is very different and it helped us to make better agreements. As I've been working on other projects, like I-375 through downtown Detroit, the work with the Gordy Howe said to me. I said to them define every contract requirement, not just the technical ones. So if the contract requirement is hiring apprentices, define hiring and define apprentices and make it very clear what you're trying to do. But once we got over that hump, yes, they were very amenable to including small businesses and supporting the effort for small businesses and supporting the effort for hiring locally based workers as well.
Speaker 2:We will continue the conversation right after a quick break.
Speaker 1:Hey, did you see that sign on the side of the road? What about those workers? Are you even paying?
Speaker 2:attention to how you're driving. Work Zone Awareness takes all of us. So now that you've mentioned 375, let's talk about that for a minute, because that what you do and what your team does is very integral and vital to the overall mission behind that project and what the community wants to see coming out of it. So could you talk a little bit about that and what you're doing to help with those opportunities?
Speaker 1:So we've been involved from the beginning, from the development of the procurement Thank you process of the procurement type. We were on the committee that helped to select what we call a progressive design build, which is something that MDOT is just doing. This will be the second project that uses that process. We chose it because it provides a ton of flexibility in how you develop and engage different parts of the work. It allows us to have a goal around small and disadvantaged businesses being engaged during what we call pre-construction phase, when you're designing what the project looks like, as you're filling in what the lighting scheme is, all of those kinds of things before any dirt flies. We're engaged with that. We've got small business disadvantaged businesses. We've got a mentor protege program where businesses who aren't familiar with working for MDOT get the chance to work under an experienced business and learn the MDOT way of doing things. Again, these protege they've got the engineering degrees, the surveys degrees, the architecture. They've got all of the skillset. They're learning government and they're learning how to successfully contract with us.
Speaker 1:We've got a program with that. But we're also going to do the same thing when the dirt flies, which will be a year or two from now. When the dirt flies. We're able to I'm hoping model the same successful model that's been used on the Gordie Howe, where the packages, the request for work, the packages, what we call them Whether small, they're appropriately sized, they're timed and small businesses are informed, they can get engaged. I think with programs like this, there's always a thought that it's a handout, and it's never been, it never will be a handout. It's an opportunity for good quality work. It's an opportunity to contribute. It's an opportunity to participate as a taxpayer in the government that you support and wholeheartedly I enjoy my work because of that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I really appreciate your commitment and your passion to the causes, and we talked about this on Tuesday and you could talk about it forever. Probably. You're naturally going to face people who are skeptical about these programs and think that they're set-asides and that they actually advantage one group over another unfairly. But it's kind of like, instead of looking at things as trickle down from the top, it's like building from the bottom up right, lifting the boats by creating more opportunities, which is better for all of us. It's better for society right?
Speaker 1:Yes, and that's statistics. That's just statistically proven by folks smarter than me. It's very clear that as you grow and develop local businesses, as you empower individuals in the communities where we're doing work, we do better work, we create better products and we have more support and engagement. It's not the fastest way to get these things done, but I think it's the best way and I think, overall, it's a more efficient way of getting it done If you define efficiency by the result. So, in all honesty, I welcome talking to anybody about their concerns about this program or what we do. It's a small percentage of the overall work. Our goal right now is 9%. That's easy math. It means 91% of all the work goes to whoever, but this 9% we're trying to use. We're trying to get businesses started who have historically not been able to get started in government contracting, and it's a win for the government. Better pricing, more competition it's all the things that make us, as the department, more efficient.
Speaker 2:So I'm guessing, growing up in Battle Creek, as you were thinking about your career, it probably you never envisioned doing something like this, right, no?
Speaker 1:not at all. Transportation was not on my radar.
Speaker 2:So talk about what the changes you've seen in 35 years. I mean different presidencies, which means different heads at the Federal Highway Administration, different philosophies different governors. Yeah, yes, and you've kept your optimism. You've butted up against a lot of obstacles, I'm sure, over the years, so talk about that.
Speaker 1:Actually, what I think makes this job, this work, fulfilling is I spend a lot of time working on big picture issues and I spend a lot of time talking to people and hopefully enlightening them, changing their mindset, helping them see that opportunity is a good thing. That's not what sustains me. What sustains me and makes this work worthwhile is when individual companies owners talk about how they got the opportunity to do this one job. They did great work and then they were able to get the second job and the third job and now they went from being a one-man show or a husband and wife, mom and pop, to having employees seven, eight, nine, 10, 12. It's amazing.
Speaker 1:And when individuals we have other programs and one of them is the on the job training program where we give individuals the support they need to get into the skill trades, and when somebody talks about going from McDonald's to being a journeyman carpenter and being able to buy a house. Those are the amazing things that come from providing opportunity to people who are ready and willing to get their hands dirty. And so that's what's helped me over the 35 years because, like you said, presidents and governors, and all these changes are philosophies, change and all that stuff, but at the end of the day it's the people, and when I can get that call or have that conversation where a person talks about how we've helped them grow and improve in life, it just it. The rest of the stuff is irrelevant.
Speaker 2:So Tuesday's event featured, I mean, just one really good example. It's success story is Onyx Enterprise and Terrell and Buckles, who started out as a young student at MDOT, basically has risen to grow her own company, employ people, has contracts with MDOT and many other organizations. So it must just make you really happy when you see something like that.
Speaker 1:It really does. It really does Because, if she works 24 hours a day, seven days a week, I'm always joking with her and I'm like you just keep going. You keep going Like I don't know where you get the energy. But yeah, it does, because she just needed a door open and then she busted through the door and found four other doors. It's fantastic and it does.
Speaker 2:It's very encouraging, Is there anything else you want to say about this? I didn't really plan this to be a Black History Month episode, but it does dovetail with that obviously.
Speaker 1:For me, this job is, it's less about specifics with regard to a Black, hispanic, asian specific, whatever it is. For me, the value of this is access and opportunity that has historically not been made available to people who deserve access and opportunity. The fact that there's been African American engagement, I love it, it's wonderful, I wholeheartedly very much support it, but it's not a competition between people. It is opportunity for all, and that is what I work for. Opportunity for all and all includes all. It includes those who are differently abled, it includes individuals from the LGBTQ community, it includes African Americans who've historically been kept out of contracting, and we still have a ways to go as a department, but we are making progress and folks like Terrilyn are huge examples of that.
Speaker 1:The business I was talking about earlier, owned by an American Indian, native American individual, fantastic, got one opportunity to turn it into five. The tenacity and grit that they exemplify is, I think, part of what you learn when you're successful as a woman, as a minority. You learn how to hang in there. You learn how to open close doors, and so that's what I wanna actually that's what I wanna celebrate, and I think that's what Black History Month celebrates how African Americans historically, have found ways to open close doors or find windows that they could sneak into in order to make themselves heard and to accomplish their dreams. That's what I love about this.
Speaker 2:That's very well said and you're right, I think, about having to overcome those obstacles creates a sense of resilience that a lot of people might not have, and I think the same thing applies to immigrants who come here and work very hard.
Speaker 1:Yes, absolutely yes, and that's the way I feel, and I will talk that all day because I've got proof.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I'm glad you mentioned the differently able to. In fact, next time we talk about this, I'd like to talk about that in a moment alone, because I think that's a really important point, so All right. So thank you, lisa, so much for taking time to do this and talk about this, and congratulations on your successes and we'll talk more in the future.
Speaker 2:We will thank you, Jeff. I'd like to thank you once more for tuning in to Talking Michigan Transportation. You can find show notes and more on Apple Podcasts or Buzzsprout. I also want to acknowledge the talents of people who help make this a reality each week, starting with Randy Debbler, who skillfully edits the audio, Jesse Ball, who proofs the content, Courtney Bates, who posts the podcast of various platforms, and Jackie Salinas, who transcribes the audio to make it accessible to all.