2023 New York Laws › PBA - Public Authorities › Article 5 - Public Utility Authorities › Title 11 - Metropolitan Commuter Transportation Authority › 1265-B - Metropolitan Transportation Authority Small Business Mentoring Program.

* §  1265-b.  Metropolitan  transportation  authority  small  business
mentoring program. 1. Definitions. As used in this section,  unless  the
context  requires  otherwise:  (a)  "authority"  means  the metropolitan
transportation authority and its subsidiaries  consisting  of  the  Long
Island   rail  road  company,  Metro-North  commuter  railroad  company,
metropolitan  suburban  bus  authority,  Staten  Island  rapid   transit
operating  authority,  MTA  bus,  MTA  capital construction company, and
first  mutual  transportation  assurance  company,  and  its  affiliates
consisting of the New York City transit authority, triborough bridge and
tunnel  authority,  and  Manhattan  and  Bronx surface transit operating
authority;
(b)  "chairman"  means  the  chairman  of  the   authority   and   its
subsidiaries and affiliates;
(c) "small business" means a business in the construction trades which
(i)  is  independently  owned and operated; (ii) has annual revenues not
exceeding a fiscal limitation of ten  million  dollars  or  such  lesser
amount as established by the authority pursuant to these provisions; and
(iii) meets additional criteria as otherwise established by the chairman
in  consultation  with  the  members of the MTA small business mentoring
program advisory committee. The chair of  the  committee  shall  be  the
chief  diversity  officer  of  the  MTA. The authority shall establish a
detailed definition in general and specific to different segments of the
construction industry to  the  extent  necessary  to  reflect  differing
characteristics  of  such  segments  based  on  the criteria used by the
United  States  small  business  administration  for  loans   to   small
businesses  as  set  forth  in  Sections 121.301 through 121.305, or for
awarding government  procurements  as  set  forth  in  Sections  121.401
through  121.413,  of  Subpart A of Part 121 of Chapter I of Title 13 of
the Code of Federal Regulations as amended, and such other  criteria  as
determined by the authority;
(d) "small business mentoring program" is a program established by the
authority  pursuant  to  these  provisions  to  provide small businesses
accepted into the program with the opportunity:
(i) for up to five years,  to  compete  for  and,  where  awarded,  to
perform  certain authority public work contracts to be designated by the
authority for inclusion in this program under  this  subparagraph,  with
the  assistance  of  an authority-provided mentor, which shall be a firm
competitively selected by the authority that has extensive  construction
management  and  mentoring  experience,  with  the mentor to provide the
small business with advice and assistance in competing for and  managing
authority public work contracts; and
(ii)  for  a  small  business  mentoring program participant which the
authority has determined has successfully completed  the  program  under
subparagraph (i) of this paragraph, for up to five additional years, (A)
additional   opportunities   to  compete  with  other  designated  small
businesses in the program  for  certain  public  work  contracts  to  be
designated  for inclusion under this subparagraph and, where awarded, to
perform  such  authority  public  work  contracts,  with   the   further
assistance  of  an  authority-provided  mentor,  which  shall  be a firm
competitively selected by the authority that has extensive  construction
management  and  mentoring  experience,  with  the mentor to provide the
small business with advice and technical assistance in competing for and
managing authority public work  contracts,  and  (B)  authority-provided
assistance, as determined by the authority, for such a small business to
obtain  bonding for public work contracts that are competitively awarded
pursuant to provisions of law other than this section.
(e) "small business mentoring program contract" means a  non-federally
funded,  unless  authorized  by  the  applicable federal funding agency,

authority public work  contract  designated  by  the  authority,  in  an
estimated  amount  of  not  more  than one million five hundred thousand
dollars for contracts under subparagraph (i) of paragraph  (d)  of  this
subdivision  and  five  million dollars for contracts under subparagraph
(ii) of paragraph (d) of this subdivision, for which bids  or  proposals
are to be invited and accepted only from businesses that are enrolled in
the  small  business  mentoring  program  and  have been selected by the
authority to compete for the contract.
2. Small business mentoring program. (a) Pursuant to these provisions,
the authority may establish  a  small  business  mentoring  program.  In
connection  therewith, the authority may determine the criteria pursuant
to which a  small  business  shall  be  eligible  for  and  selected  to
participate in the program under subparagraphs (i) and (ii) of paragraph
(d)  of  subdivision  one of this section, the number of participants to
participate in each such components of the program, the criteria for the
competitive selection of the firms that will  provide  small  businesses
with  mentoring services, the assignment of a mentor to a specific small
business in the small business mentoring program, and  the  funding  for
the program.
(b)  Under  the  small business mentoring program, the chairman or the
chairman's designee is authorized, notwithstanding any  other  provision
of law:
(i)  to  designate which eligible public work contracts shall be small
business mentoring program contracts under subparagraphs (i) and (ii) of
paragraph (d) of subdivision one of this section, respectively;
(ii) to establish standards for qualifying  small  business  mentoring
program  participants  to compete for a small business mentoring program
contract, provided that no less than three qualified small businesses in
the program must submit responsive offers to perform the contract;
(iii) to determine  when  bids  or  proposals  for  a  small  business
mentoring  program  contract  should  be  restricted  to  small business
mentoring program participants which, prior to the receipt  of  bids  or
proposals, have been qualified by the authority for such competition;
(iv)  to competitively select, designate and contract with one or more
experienced  construction  management  firms  that,  under  the  general
supervision  of  the  authority,  will provide mentoring services to the
small businesses participating in the small business mentoring  program,
and  to  assign  such  mentors  one  or more designated small businesses
participating in the program;
(v) for small business mentoring  program  contracts,  except  as  set
forth  herein, to waive requirements for the solicitation and award of a
public work contract pursuant to sections twelve  hundred  nine,  twelve
hundred  sixty-five-a  and  twenty-eight  hundred  seventy-nine  of this
chapter and any other provision of law;
(vi) to assist only small business mentoring program participants that
have been awarded small business mentoring program contracts  to  obtain
any  surety bond or contract of insurance required of them in connection
with such contract only notwithstanding any  provision  of  section  two
thousand five hundred four of the insurance law to the contrary; and
(vii)  for  small  businesses  that  have been accepted into the small
business mentoring program under subparagraph (ii) of paragraph  (d)  of
subdivision  one  of  this  section, in addition to the benefits of such
program and notwithstanding any  other  provision  of  law,  to  provide
technical  assistance  in obtaining bid, payment and performance bonding
for  authority  public  work  contracts  that  are  not  small  business
mentoring  program  contracts, for which the small business is otherwise
qualified.
3. Withdrawal of  designation  of  small  business  mentoring  program
contracts. (a) If the total number of qualified small business mentoring
program  participants  that  respond to a competition and are considered
capable of meeting the specifications and terms  of  the  invitation  to
compete  is  less  than  three,  or  if  the  chairman or the chairman's
designee determines that acceptance of the best offer will result in the
payment of an unreasonable price, the authority may  reject  all  offers
and  withdraw  the  designation  of  the  contract  as  a small business
mentoring program contract.
(b) If the authority withdraws the designation of contract as a  small
business mentoring program contract, the firms, if any, that made offers
shall  be  notified.  Invitations  to  compete  containing  the  same or
rewritten specifications and terms shall then be re-issued  as  a  small
business  mentoring program contract for one or more additional contract
period.
4. Construction manager mentors. A mentor shall provide  services  and
assistance to a small business as designated by the authority, which may
include  the  following:  (a)  provide  business  training in the skills
necessary to operate a successful construction business and  to  compete
for and perform a public work contract;
(b)  provide  technical assistance to the small business to assess the
outcome if the  small  business  competes  for  but  is  not  awarded  a
contract;
(c) if the small business mentoring program contract is awarded to the
small business, provide guidance, advice and technical assistance to the
small business in the performance of the contract;
(d)  provide  other  technical  assistance  to  the  small business to
facilitate learning, training and other issues which may arise.
5. The authority may  delegate  to  the  chairman  or  the  chairman's
designee, the authority's responsibilities set forth herein.
6.  The  small business mentoring program contracts authorized by this
legislation shall, for the  initial  year  of  the  program,  be  in  an
aggregate  amount  of  not  less than ten million dollars, and shall not
exceed one hundred million dollars, with the maximum  amount  in  future
years to be set by the chairman.
7.  The  authority  shall  submit  a  report,  no later than September
thirtieth, two thousand twenty-five, and  annually  thereafter,  to  the
governor,  the temporary president of the senate, and the speaker of the
assembly regarding procurements made  pursuant  to  this  section.  Such
report  shall include a description of each procurement made pursuant to
this subdivision and the rationale for why the public work contract  was
selected  as  a  small  business mentoring program contract, information
regarding the  procurement  process  for  each  such  mentoring  program
contract  and  the  name or names of the small businesses that fulfilled
the contract, the project identification number and  a  description  for
each  such  project  performed pursuant to the contract, the contractual
completion date for each contract, the status of each such project,  the
contract  price,  including  executed  modifications,  whether a project
received surety  bond  or  insurance  contract  assistance  pursuant  to
subparagraph  (vi)  of paragraph (b) of subdivision two of this section,
the total dollar value of monies paid to minority-owned and  women-owned
business  enterprises and disadvantaged business enterprises pursuant to
this section itemized by year and including the total dollar values  for
the  five  years  preceding the respective annual report's release date.
Such  report  shall   additionally   identify   the   authority-provided
construction  manager  mentors  and describe their competitive selection
process, describe the technical assistance and advice  provided  by  the
authority  and  the  mentors  to  program participants, and describe the

business training provided by such mentor. For annual reports,  any  new
procurements  and  changes during the period covered by the report shall
be identified separately.
* NB Repealed December 31, 2029