Author Archives: Victor Valdez

Caltrans Surpasses Record $15 Billion in Transportation Construction Projects

The California DOT (Caltrans) recently hit a record milestone: $15 billion in contracts under construction across the state. The state also reached a record 1,060 projects in progress across the state last month. A large percentage of these projects, according got Caltrans, are under $10 million for opportunities for smaller and disadvantaged companies to bid […]

SBA Certification Portal Update

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) will be upgrading how its customers apply for and manage their federal contracting certifications. What do you need to know? SBA’s certification upgrade to the Certify.sba.gov portal will start sometime this fall. Initial certification applications will not be accepted during the upgrade period. The upgraded system is expected to […]

SBA Announces Extension of Moratorium on 8(a) Eligibility Requirement

Yesterday, Administrator Isabel Casillas Guzman, head of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and the voice in President Biden’s Cabinet for America’s more than 33 million small businesses, announced that the moratorium on the 8(a) Business Development Program’s Bona Fide Place of Business (BFPOB) requirement will be extended through Sept. 30, 2025, for small disadvantaged […]

1-Year Extension of SBA’s Federal WOSB Program Recertification

On May 30, 2024, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Administrator issued a program update to firms participating in the Women-Owned Small Business Federal Contract Program (WOSB Program).  The announcement provided SBA certified Woman-Owned Small Businesses (WOSB) and Economically Disadvantaged Women-Owned Small Businesses (EDWOSB) an additional year of eligibility to those firms whose three-year certification […]

Costs for California’s Delta Conveyance tunnel project hits $20B

As part of a May 16th update on the project that will rebuild the infrastructure that sends water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta in Northern California to central and southern portions of the state, the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) reported that the estimated cost of the conveyance tunnel project is $20.1 billion, up […]

UC Merced, Turner break ground on $300M medical building

University of California Merced officials broke ground Tuesday on its new $300 million, four-story Medical Education Building at its Merced, California campus. Turner Construction Company, headquartered in New York City, announced earlier this year that it had been selected to serve as construction manager at risk (CMAR) for the 203,500-square-foot project. ZGF Architects, based in […]

California to make $3.3 billion available for mental health, substance use treatment centers

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Hammered by mounting pressure to address the growing homelessness crisis in California, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Tuesday his administration will make $3.3 billion available ahead of schedule for counties and private developers to start building more behavioral health treatment centers as part of his efforts to fund housing and drug use […]

Generative AI is a looming cybersecurity threat

Cybercriminals are focused on ransomware, business email compromise and cryptojacking right now, but a recent report from IBM X-Force thinks AI and ChatGPT could be next. IBM X-Force hasn’t seen any AI-engineered campaigns, yet, but mentions of AI and ChatGPT are proliferating on the dark web. The X-Force Threat Intelligence Index 2024 report identified over 800,000 references […]

What DOT’s final DBE rule means for civil contractors

On April 9, the DOT issued a new final rule for its Disadvantaged Business Enterprise workforce participation plan. The program, first signed into law by President Ronald Reagan in 1983, sets goals to award at least 10% of DOT-funded projects to companies owned by minorities, women and other socially and economically disadvantaged individuals. The federal program […]

Prime Contractors Are on the Hook for Subcontractors’ Prevailing Wage Violations

In the course of my career working with federal contractors, I’ve seen it happen time and time again: a subcontractor violates an applicable prevailing wage statute (either the Davis-Bacon Act or the Service Contract Act) by failing to provide its employees with the required wages and/or fringe benefits. The Department of Labor gets involved, and […]