Rep. Payne, Jr. Holds Hearing to Fight Discrimination in Passenger Rail Contracts
Media Contact: Patrick Wright -- Patrick.Wright@mail.house.gov
Washington, D.C. — Rep. Donald M. Payne, Jr., Chairman of the Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials for the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, held a hearing today to discuss how to improve the participation of minority and women-owned businesses in federal passenger rail construction projects. During the hearing entitled "Does Discrimination Exist in Federal Passenger Rail Contracting?," Subcommittee members heard testimony from six minority business leaders about the discrimination they faced in trying to do business with federal contractors. Several witnesses said they supported more Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) programs, which guarantees a certain percentage of work on federal projects must go to minority and women-owned businesses. Rep. Payne, Jr. is working to establish a DBE within the Federal Railroad Administration, which is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation, and sent a letter to U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to request it already.
"I held this hearing to learn how we can level the playing field regarding how we award federal passenger rail contracts and give everyone the opportunity to compete in projects across this great nation," said Rep. Donald M. Payne, Jr. "The new, $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is going to create opportunities for minority and women-owned businesses nationwide. We must not let discrimination in federal contracting deny them their right to participate in these infrastructure projects. As Chairman of the Rail Subcommittee, I will continue to work to make the process of how we award federal passenger rail projects more equitable and transparent for all American businesses."
The subcommittee heard from six different witnesses who talked about their experiences with discrimination in their attempts to participate in federal passenger rail projects. Then they discussed what could be done to make the process more equitable so that all businesses have a chance to bid on and be awarded federal contracts. A few witnesses said that discrimination has kept their small business from becoming a medium to large business. The witnesses were Ken Canty, President and CEO of Janus Materials; Melvin Clark, Chairman and CEO of GW Peoples Contracting Company; Victoria Malaszecki, President and CEO of Envision Consultants; Francisco Otero, President and CEO of PACO Group; Gnanadesikan "Ram" Ramanujam, President and CEO of Somat Engineering; and Evalynn Williams, President of Dikita Engineering.
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