§ 1265-B — Metropolitan transportation authority small business mentoring program

* § 1265-b. Metropolitan transportation authority small business\nmentoring program. 1. Definitions. As used in this section, unless the\ncontext requires otherwise: (a) "authority" means the metropolitan\ntransportation authority and its subsidiaries consisting of the Long\nIsland rail road company, Metro-North commuter railroad company,\nmetropolitan suburban bus authority, Staten Island rapid transit\noperating authority, MTA bus, MTA capital construction company, and\nfirst mutual transportation assurance company, and its affiliates\nconsisting of the New York City transit authority, triborough bridge and\ntunnel authority, and Manhattan and Bronx surface transit operating\nauthority;\n (b) "chairman" means the chairman of the authority and its\nsubsidiaries and affiliates;\n (c) "small business" means a business in the construction trades which\n(i) is independently owned and operated; (ii) has annual revenues not\nexceeding a fiscal limitation of ten million dollars or such lesser\namount as established by the authority pursuant to these provisions; and\n(iii) meets additional criteria as otherwise established by the chairman\nin consultation with the members of the MTA small business mentoring\nprogram advisory committee. The chair of the committee shall be the\nchief diversity officer of the MTA. The authority shall establish a\ndetailed definition in general and specific to different segments of the\nconstruction industry to the extent necessary to reflect differing\ncharacteristics of such segments based on the criteria used by the\nUnited States small business administration for loans to small\nbusinesses as set forth in Sections 121.301 through 121.305, or for\nawarding government procurements as set forth in Sections 121.401\nthrough 121.413, of Subpart A of Part 121 of Chapter I of Title 13 of\nthe Code of Federal Regulations as amended, and such other criteria as\ndetermined by the authority;\n (d) "small business mentoring program" is a program established by the\nauthority pursuant to these provisions to provide small businesses\naccepted into the program with the opportunity:\n (i) for up to five years, to compete for and, where awarded, to\nperform certain authority public work contracts to be designated by the\nauthority for inclusion in this program under this subparagraph, with\nthe assistance of an authority-provided mentor, which shall be a firm\ncompetitively selected by the authority that has extensive construction\nmanagement and mentoring experience, with the mentor to provide the\nsmall business with advice and assistance in competing for and managing\nauthority public work contracts; and\n (ii) for a small business mentoring program participant which the\nauthority has determined has successfully completed the program under\nsubparagraph (i) of this paragraph, for up to five additional years, (A)\nadditional opportunities to compete with other designated small\nbusinesses in the program for certain public work contracts to be\ndesignated for inclusion under this subparagraph and, where awarded, to\nperform such authority public work contracts, with the further\nassistance of an authority-provided mentor, which shall be a firm\ncompetitively selected by the authority that has extensive construction\nmanagement and mentoring experience, with the mentor to provide the\nsmall business with advice and technical assistance in competing for and\nmanaging authority public work contracts, and (B) authority-provided\nassistance, as determined by the authority, for such a small business to\nobtain bonding for public work contracts that are competitively awarded\npursuant to provisions of law other than this section.\n (e) "small business mentoring program contract" means a non-federally\nfunded, unless authorized by the applicable federal funding agency,\nauthority public work contract designated by the authority, in an\nestimated amount of not more than one million five hundred thousand\ndollars for contracts under subparagraph (i) of paragraph (d) of this\nsubdivision and five million dollars for contracts under subparagraph\n(ii) of paragraph (d) of this subdivision, for which bids or proposals\nare to be invited and accepted only from businesses that are enrolled in\nthe small business mentoring program and have been selected by the\nauthority to compete for the contract.\n 2. Small business mentoring program. (a) Pursuant to these provisions,\nthe authority may establish a small business mentoring program. In\nconnection therewith, the authority may determine the criteria pursuant\nto which a small business shall be eligible for and selected to\nparticipate in the program under subparagraphs (i) and (ii) of paragraph\n(d) of subdivision one of this section, the number of participants to\nparticipate in each such components of the program, the criteria for the\ncompetitive selection of the firms that will provide small businesses\nwith mentoring services, the assignment of a mentor to a specific small\nbusiness in the small business mentoring program, and the funding for\nthe program.\n (b) Under the small business mentoring program, the chairman or the\nchairman's designee is authorized, notwithstanding any other provision\nof law:\n (i) to designate which eligible public work contracts shall be small\nbusiness mentoring program contracts under subparagraphs (i) and (ii) of\nparagraph (d) of subdivision one of this section, respectively;\n (ii) to establish standards for qualifying small business mentoring\nprogram participants to compete for a small business mentoring program\ncontract, provided that no less than three qualified small businesses in\nthe program must submit responsive offers to perform the contract;\n (iii) to determine when bids or proposals for a small business\nmentoring program contract should be restricted to small business\nmentoring program participants which, prior to the receipt of bids or\nproposals, have been qualified by the authority for such competition;\n (iv) to competitively select, designate and contract with one or more\nexperienced construction management firms that, under the general\nsupervision of the authority, will provide mentoring services to the\nsmall businesses participating in the small business mentoring program,\nand to assign such mentors one or more designated small businesses\nparticipating in the program;\n (v) for small business mentoring program contracts, except as set\nforth herein, to waive requirements for the solicitation and award of a\npublic work contract pursuant to sections twelve hundred nine, twelve\nhundred sixty-five-a and twenty-eight hundred seventy-nine of this\nchapter and any other provision of law;\n (vi) to assist only small business mentoring program participants that\nhave been awarded small business mentoring program contracts to obtain\nany surety bond or contract of insurance required of them in connection\nwith such contract only notwithstanding any provision of section two\nthousand five hundred four of the insurance law to the contrary; and\n (vii) for small businesses that have been accepted into the small\nbusiness mentoring program under subparagraph (ii) of paragraph (d) of\nsubdivision one of this section, in addition to the benefits of such\nprogram and notwithstanding any other provision of law, to provide\ntechnical assistance in obtaining bid, payment and performance bonding\nfor authority public work contracts that are not small business\nmentoring program contracts, for which the small business is otherwise\nqualified.\n 3. Withdrawal of designation of small business mentoring program\ncontracts. (a) If the total number of qualified small business mentoring\nprogram participants that respond to a competition and are considered\ncapable of meeting the specifications and terms of the invitation to\ncompete is less than three, or if the chairman or the chairman's\ndesignee determines that acceptance of the best offer will result in the\npayment of an unreasonable price, the authority may reject all offers\nand withdraw the designation of the contract as a small business\nmentoring program contract.\n (b) If the authority withdraws the designation of contract as a small\nbusiness mentoring program contract, the firms, if any, that made offers\nshall be notified. Invitations to compete containing the same or\nrewritten specifications and terms shall then be re-issued as a small\nbusiness mentoring program contract for one or more additional contract\nperiod.\n 4. Construction manager mentors. A mentor shall provide services and\nassistance to a small business as designated by the authority, which may\ninclude the following: (a) provide business training in the skills\nnecessary to operate a successful construction business and to compete\nfor and perform a public work contract;\n (b) provide technical assistance to the small business to assess the\noutcome if the small business competes for but is not awarded a\ncontract;\n (c) if the small business mentoring program contract is awarded to the\nsmall business, provide guidance, advice and technical assistance to the\nsmall business in the performance of the contract;\n (d) provide other technical assistance to the small business to\nfacilitate learning, training and other issues which may arise.\n 5. The authority may delegate to the chairman or the chairman's\ndesignee, the authority's responsibilities set forth herein.\n 6. The small business mentoring program contracts authorized by this\nlegislation shall, for the initial year of the program, be in an\naggregate amount of not less than ten million dollars, and shall not\nexceed one hundred million dollars, with the maximum amount in future\nyears to be set by the chairman.\n 7. The authority shall submit a report, no later than September\nthirtieth, two thousand twenty-five, and annually thereafter, to the\ngovernor, the temporary president of the senate, and the speaker of the\nassembly regarding procurements made pursuant to this section. Such\nreport shall include a description of each procurement made pursuant to\nthis subdivision and the rationale for why the public work contract was\nselected as a small business mentoring program contract, information\nregarding the procurement process for each such mentoring program\ncontract and the name or names of the small businesses that fulfilled\nthe contract, the project identification number and a description for\neach such project performed pursuant to the contract, the contractual\ncompletion date for each contract, the status of each such project, the\ncontract price, including executed modifications, whether a project\nreceived surety bond or insurance contract assistance pursuant to\nsubparagraph (vi) of paragraph (b) of subdivision two of this section,\nthe total dollar value of monies paid to minority-owned and women-owned\nbusiness enterprises and disadvantaged business enterprises pursuant to\nthis section itemized by year and including the total dollar values for\nthe five years preceding the respective annual report's release date.\nSuch report shall additionally identify the authority-provided\nconstruction manager mentors and describe their competitive selection\nprocess, describe the technical assistance and advice provided by the\nauthority and the mentors to program participants, and describe the\nbusiness training provided by such mentor. For annual reports, any new\nprocurements and changes during the period covered by the report shall\nbe identified separately.\n * NB Repealed December 31, 2029\n