4.29.24 - Governor Hochul Announces JFK Airport Construction Sets Record MWBE Participation With $2.3 Billion in Contracts Awarded
' Governor Kathy Hochul today announced a historic milestone in the ongoing transformation of JFK International Airport, where a record $2.3 billion in contracts have been awarded to Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprises (MWBE). This is the largest participation of MWBE firms on any public-private partnership project in New York State history. With construction of new airport facilities fully underway, MWBE participation at JFK will continue to break records until the redevelopment is substantially complete expected in 2028. JFK redevelopment also demonstrates a significant focus on working with local contractors, awarding more than $950 million in contracts to Queens-based businesses to date.
"New York remains committed to providing travelers with a premier experience that includes world-class amenities and record involvement by local minority- and women-owned businesses will ensure just that," Governor Hochul said. “This transformative project uplifts these businesses and deepens investments in the community while bolstering the state workforce.”
With today’s announcement JFK surpasses the LaGuardia Airport redevelopment, which set the previous New York State record for MWBE participation in a public-private project with $2.2 billion in contracts awarded. As the $19 billion JFK project moves forward, additional contracts with MWBE firms will be awarded to meet with the Port Authority’s goal of 30 percent MWBE participation for the agency’s capital projects, consistent with Governor Hochul’s nation-leading goals for MWBE utilization in state projects. The Port Authority is working closely with its private terminal developer partners – the New Terminal One, Delta Air Lines and JFKIAT, JFK Millennium Partners, and American Airlines – to engage minority and women-owned businesses along with local businesses in every aspect of the redevelopment program. To date, 680 MWBEs have been awarded contracts at JFK along with more than 200 businesses based in Queens.
The latest MWBE and local business participation milestones were celebrated at JFK’s Building 111, a 76-year-old office building on the airport’s north side that underwent extensive renovations in order to create a collaborative workspace for the JFK Redevelopment construction and program management teams to work alongside each other, including the private terminal developers who are financing and overseeing the terminal projects. The $20 million renovation of Building 111 was designed and constructed mainly by MWBE and local contractors. Sabor Restaurant & Bakery, a local, Queens-based MWBE food vendor, will operate out of a brand-new cafeteria.
To increase MWBE participation at the JFK Redevelopment Program, and across the agency, the Port Authority and its private terminal partners at JFK hosted a variety of capacity-building and technical training programs that prepared firms to be successful in navigating what can at times be complex airport-related procurements. These programs include an academy for principals at architecture and engineering firms, contractor coaching programs that train firms to apply for contracts and construction mentoring programs that recruit, train and mentor MWBE firms to bid on large public construction projects, and project readiness bootcamps. The redevelopment team has also sponsored hundreds of seminars, webinars and forums to help firms become MWBE certified, meet and network with prime contractors, and build the skill sets needed to be successful in the field.
Port Authority Chairman Kevin O’Toole said, “The Port Authority is committed to supporting inclusiveness in the design, financing, construction and operation of our major redevelopment projects across the region by setting ambitious goals for MWBE participation. Just as we’ve done at Newark-Liberty’s new Terminal A and at LaGuardia Airport, JFK’s redevelopment is a game-changer for MWBE firms that were too often left on the sidelines during these historic capital projects.”
Port Authority Executive Director Rick Cotton said, “When we embarked on this historic, $19 billion public-private effort to transform JFK into a world-class international gateway we pledged that the economic opportunities generated at the airport would flow fairly to the neighborhood surrounding the airport. Working with our private partners at JFK and with our JFK Redevelopment Community Advisory Council, we have turned that pledge into economic reality for hundreds of MWBEs and local businesses.” '