LAS VEGAS—Among the 200 minority-owned firms that helped build CityCenter were a Detroit-based general contractor who expanded his business to Las Vegas after auto industry contracts dried up, a local electrical supply firm that nearly doubled in size, and a drug screening company that was specifically born out of the project. From building architecture and design, LEED consulting, engineering, to information technology and waste removal, minority-owned firms were involved in virtually every major discipline employed in the development. In all, MGM MIRAGE and Perini Building Co. spent more than $700 million in construction and design contracts with minority-owned firms throughout the five-year CityCenter project.
“As part of our company’s Diversity Initiative, we undertook an aggressive approach to ensure that minority-owned firms had maximum opportunity to participate in the project,” said Bobby Baldwin, president and CEO of CityCenter. “In many cases, these contractors increased the size of their firms as well as their bonding capacity, and gained a wealth of valuable experience in the process.”
The Construction Diversity team, consisting of MGM MIRAGE and Perini representatives, was focused exclusively on promoting significant Minority, Women, and Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (MWDBE) participation in the CityCenter project, finding avenues for greater participation by MWDBE firms, and contributing to the development of greater capacity, in both expertise and experience, of MWDBEs.
Contract ‘Unbundling’ Practiced
Due to the enormous scope of the project and its extensive bidding opportunities, CityCenter assigned eight people to the team. The team encouraged joint ventures and mentoring partnerships between minority-owned and larger firms and initiated contract “unbundling”—where contracts were divided into smaller portions to accommodate the more limited resources of companies that were less experienced on larger projects.
The team also created a two-day training program entitled “Construction and Business Management Training Program” for firms that were brought on board at CityCenter. The program focused on technical, business and management essentials in the construction industry, enabling the participants to strengthen their business and leadership skills, increase their project management proficiency and maximize their potential for project success.
“For many of these companies, CityCenter represented the business growth opportunity of a lifetime,” said Perini Building Co. vice chairman Dick Rizzo. “We sought out the most qualified local firms, then used our company’s national contacts to cast our net far and wide across the United States to identify the most qualified minority and women-owned firms. As a result, CityCenter had the highest proportion of minority representation in Perini’s history.”
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