County Plans Meeting for Public Input into FTA Grant Funding

COURT HOUSE – Cape May County will hold a public meeting from noon to 2 p.m. Oct. 29, in the commissioners’ meeting room, located at the County Administration Building, 4 Moore Road, Court House.
According to a county release, the purpose of the meeting is to solicit input from local Disadvantaged Business Enterprises (DBE), as well as minority owned businesses and workers, as it relates to opportunities concerning the Federal DBE process and how the county can improve opportunities in current and future Federal Transportation Administration (FTA) Grants. 
Cape May County is the recipient of FTA federal grant funding, in the amount of $1,200,000, to offset a portion of the county’s cost with the construction of a new Government Services Building (GSB). The funds will be used for the construction of a new facility for the Cape May County Transportation Department (Fare-Free Services), as well as the Public Works Department. The new GSB will replace the existing World War ll-era facility. The current facility is outdated, deteriorating, and does not allow for efficient use between departments. 
The new facility will consolidate the services into one main structure for greater efficiency and future costs savings to the taxpayers. As part of the grant process for this project, the county was required to calculate an accurate and reasonable DBE goal for this project and any future FTA projects that will proceed through 2023. 
The county’s approved DBE goal is 4%. The purpose of the meeting is to develop an outreach to interested DBE firms and minorities that may have an interest in participating in this and future projects. The county will use this meeting to begin to develop a database of qualified and interested parties so that the list can be provided to prospective bidders seeking DBE firms. 
The meeting will also provide a brief and general overview of federal and state guidelines relative to the DBE process. Interested parties are encouraged to attend and offer comments at these public meetings. 
Those individuals that cannot attend can review the solicitation on the county’s website and can forward their information/comments to the attention of Robert Church P.E., Cape May County engineer, by writing to the County of Cape May, 4 Moore Road, Court House, 08210, or e-mail at Robert.church@co.cape-may.nj.us. 
Although comments will be accepted throughout the current DBE goal period, the county encourages comments within 10 days following the public meeting, so that it can ensure that the bidders of this particular project have the ability to network with qualified individuals.