ARTHUR A. GIANELLI, PRESIDENT/CEO, NASSAU HEALTH CARE CORPORATION, ANNOUNCES CONCRETE MANIFESTATION OF ITS COMMITMENT TO MINORITY/WOMEN BUSINESS ENTERPRISE PARTICIPATION IN THE NHCC CAPITAL PROGRAM THROUGH ITS ASSOCIATION BETWEEN THE NHCC AND THE GILBANE BUILDING COMPANY THAT HAVE RESULTED IN 23% OF $2.7M ROOSEVELT COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTER PROJECT OR $600,000 M/WBE PARTICIPATION, THE HIGHEST ACHIEVEMENT IN MINORITY AND WOMEN BUSINESS OWNED PARTICIPATION TO DATE FOR THE NHCC

November 25, 2008

Contact: Shelley Lotenberg
516-572-6055
shelley@numc.edu

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

ENSURED EFFECTIVE M/WBE PARTICIPATION THROUGH EXTENSIVE OUTREACH PROGRAM THAT HAS DOUBLED THE VALUE OF MINORITY/ WOMEN BUSINESS PARTICIPATION AND INCREASED THE NUMBER OF FIRMS PARTICIPATING AT VARIOUS LEVELS OF THE ROOSEVELT PROJECT

East Meadow, NY……..In affirming the NHCC’s commitment to Minority/Women Business Enterprise participation in the NHCC capital program, Arthur A. Gianelli, President/CEO, announces that the association between the NHCC and the Gilbane Building Company has resulted in a concrete manifestation of its commitment to minority and women business owners in 23% of the $2.7M Roosevelt Community Health Center project, resulting in $600,000 in minority and women business owner participation, the highest achievement in participation to date for the NHCC, ensuring M/WBE participation through its effective outreach program that has doubled the value of M/WBE participation and increased the number of firms participating at various levels of the Roosevelt project.

“The philosophy of our Board of Directors’ commitment to ensuring M/WBE participation is to open up every door of opportunity for minority and women business owners and through our collaboration with the Gilbane Building Company, we have succeeded in 23% participation for the Roosevelt project, the highest participation that I am aware of in the NHCC capital program and our mission does not stop there, as we remain committed to providing quality, results oriented opportunities for minority, women and other disadvantaged groups, ” said Mr. Gianelli.

The NHCC abides by Nassau County Local Law 12 Title 13 that requires that every NHCC contract and purchase order in excess of $100,000 providing for acquisition construction, demolition, replacement, major renovation or repair of real property and improvements on property, and any other procurement of goods and services in excess of $25,000 contain a clause against discrimination because of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. Every reasonable effort possible will be made by the purchasing department to solicit quotations and bids from qualified and certified M/WBE either by direct bid by M/WBE trade contractors and suppliers or by M/WBE subcontractor/supplier participation from majority bidders. A minority or women enterprise is a business that is owned by one or more minority or women, with ownership interest over 51%. The NHCC requires all qualified trade contractors to be fully bonded and insured and that the bonding and insurance requirements of the particular project be presented to potential M/WBE prior to bid proposals being issued or submitted.

“Realizing that M/WBE firms face challenges to participation due to not having large financial capabilities, having limited access to credit and inability to produce required bonds for bidding on public projects, Gilbane Building Company is committed to minority and women owned business participation through our nationwide procurement policy and process, our agreements with subcontractors and our extensive outreach program to attract project specific bidders in the metropolitan area,” stated Neil Heyman, Gilbane’s Senior Project Executive. “On the Roosevelt interiors build-out for the health center, we achieved a high goal of minority/women participation and instilled a high level of competition during the bidding process by breaking the work out into a maximum number of smaller bid packages to increase the level of M/WBE participation and spread the work over a greater number of contracts, thereby lowering the value of each contract and increasing the opportunity of minority and women owners to participate,” added Mr. Heyman.

The NHCC and Gilbane networked with hundreds of local vendors and contractors at the June 2008 Nassau County Minority Vendor Fair sponsored by the Nassau County Office of Minority Affairs, the New York State Dormitory Authority Fair and at the Albany Annual Fair in October 2007, advertised in general circulation media, trade association minority focus and women focus media and received solicitations from 130 potential contractors, a third being potential minority or women owned contractors. Even though 95 bidders picked up documents, only 38 out of the 95 responded to the bid, with 9 being M/WBE responses.
Of those 9, only one was the lowest responsible bidder, which would have resulted in 12% participation. “In order to drive the number higher, through negotiations, obtaining subprimes and materials vendors, we were successful in achieving 23% of the $2.7M project or $600,000, doubling the minority and women owners’ participation from our best faith effort to achieve a higher level of participation in alignment with our board’s commitment,’ added Mr. Gianelli. Mr. Heyman also added: “By adding a supplementary tier, we achieved the desired goals by creating additional contracts allowing for increased opportunities for M/WBE participation in the bid phase..”

In conclusion, Mr. Gianelli stated: “We remain committed to undertaking and continuing existing programs of affirmative action to ensure that minority and women groups are afforded equal opportunities to meaningful participation in the performance of NHCC contracts. Our focus and collaboration with Gilbane, in addition to our staff being extremely sensitive to our goals have resulted in the concrete manifestation of this significant minority and women owned business participation,” concluded Mr. Gianelli.

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