More and more of our clients are bidding on government jobs. For many of them it’s brand new territory. Do you have all the information you need? Do you know your chance of being audited if you do take on Stimulus work is nearly 100 percent according to the wording of the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009?

Stimulus Jobs demand:

1. Accurate and timely action by contractors, subcontractors and public entities
2. Full compliance. Contractors are being monitored by government agents.
3. Tight reporting, complete accuracy as well as transparency.

The Arizona State University Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering is offering an online training and review program. You can learn how to master the art of bidding Stimulus Projects from industry experts. You can learn more about the Buy American Act, Civil Rights Compliance, Davis Bacon Act and ARRA/Stimulus Act Reporting, Accountability and Transparency by going here.

The current economic climate t is actually a very good thing for the Arizona Department of Transportation. Originally, ADOT received $350 million dollars as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The state allocated the stimulus money for a set amount of jobs, then put them out to bid.

Then an interesting thing happened. The economy brought in such highly competitive buds, there is actually a surplus of $114 million dollars.That means you can expect to see dozens more ADOT jobs to be put to bid in the next few months. At this time 59 stimulus jobs are underway across the state.

Want a complete breakdown of the work being done? Go to http://www.azdot.gov/recovery/.

The Arizona Department of Transportation finds itself with an extra $60 million dollars for more projects. That means ADOT will soon be bidding out more projects.

Originally ADOT budgeted for and signed off on 41 jobs but those projects came in WAY under the estimated bid. So much so, there is now more money for more projects.

ADOT is putting those projects together and have not yet but them out to bid. To check on its progress go here.

The next time your progress is impeded by  a roadside construction site instead of getting grumpy for the delay, remind yourself that its your stimulus dollars at work.  Arizona is the leader in the country when it comes to getting those projects awarded and started on.

The Arizona Department of Transportation received high praise from Vice President Joe Biden for the speed with which it’s moving.  Right now there are a total of 48 stimulus projects to be worked on.  Nine of those have already begun in various parts of the state.

Take comfort Arizona drivers – you are not the only ones being slowed down by construction projects.  There are 2,000 stimulus jobs across the country currently underway with a total of 5.600 already approved.  That’s a lot of orange traffic cones to drive around.

To read more about how the construction is affecting other states go here.

The Eller College of Management at the University of Arizona just released its summer issue compiled by Forecasting Project Director, Marshall J. Vest.

Vest begins by stating, “The worst of the financial crisis and the economic downturn appears to be behind us as data for the second quarter begins to arrive.  Consumers, investors, and businesses all appear to be tired of hunkering down and are beginning to re-engage.” 

It expects the nationwide recession to end by summer and predicts a “gradual recovery”. It goes on to project Arizona will “lag behind” that gradual recovery by as many as two quarters because of the depressed real estate.Arizona residential homebuilding has come to a screeching halt. Only 4,000 units were allowed in the first quarter and only about 900 of them were multi-family. Since the high point in the summer of 2005 the number of permits has plunged by 91%.

There is some good to report – infrastructure spending, spurred by the Federal stimulus package is expected to help prop the construction industry in the coming months. IN fact, Arizona was just singled out by Vice President Joe Biden for being way ahead of schedule in doling out millions of dollars in stimulus money to be used by the Arizona Department of Transportation.

This is a very thorough and lengthy report – to read more go here.

As this stubborn economy continues to painfully drag along it is also dragging along with it the financial well-being of contractors and subcontractors. Their pay cycles are at least twice as long as they were just last year which eats into their profitability. The returns on retainage are taking even longer. This cash flow issue has many thinking long and hard about their options. Do they go after those who owe and risk losing business or do they continue to wait longer and longer as their cash flow slowly chokes off.  It is not an easy choice.

We are hearing this from many of our customers and in fact we too are receiving our payments WAY passed the usual 30-day billing cycle. Engineering News-Record recently published a thorough article that dissects this very issue.

Are you having similar experiences? How and what are you doing to muddle through the murky economic future? To find out what others just like you are experiencing go here.

There’s good reason many contractors do not wish to bid on government jobs – the litany of requirements and red tape can be overwhelming. But many are leaning toward the stimulus temptation what with the current economic situation and project availability slow-down. It is a recognizable hurdle and one that is trying to be remedied through the making of a new standard contract available for those interested in delving into the world of government contracting.An industry-wide coalition ConsensusDOCSTM has crafted a new contract agreement written to help contractors navigate the murky and often-confusing process of federal contracting.

Identified as ConsensusDOCS 752 – Subcontract for Federal Government Construction Projects encompasses the terms and conditions subcontractors and contractors need to be in compliance with Federal Acquisition Regulations. It also includes the legal requirements needed to identify the legal status of employees.

For more information go here.
To read another article about ConsensusDOCS 752 go here.

State Route 87 between Payson and Pine will soon be getting a makeover. Money comes from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act stimulus package which carved out $350 million for funding highway projects like the Payson/Pine stretch. The project gets underway June 22.

The money will go to improve guardrails, widen shoulders, repave the roadway, widen road for turn lanes, extend culverts, improve drainage and add signage. The improvements will cover a total of 2.3 miles and should be done by early next year.

For more info about the project click here…

To see the remaining stimulus jobs left to bind on or see what projects have already been awarded go here…

We recently had a customer contact us wanting to customize their Timberline Accounting System in order to take advantage of the latest American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) stimulus money coming in to our community.

In order to satisfy state and federal requirements, which will be tracked as tightly as a lid on a newly canned jar of preserves, they will 1.) Need a way to track 120 homes to be refurbished 2.) They also need to track 500 applicants through the application process and 3.) Once the applicants are matched to a home, that third step must also be closely tracked. Here’s why.

Phoenix will receive $50 million stimulus dollars for the Neighborhood Stabilization Program effective last year. The stimulus money is here now and the city is leaning on the private sector to make things happen when it comes to tracking the myriad of information the U.S. government is requiring.

Through this program the city will match 120 homes with approved buyers. The idea is to rehabilitate foreclosed homes then make them available to people who have already gone through a very thorough screening process. People of limited means who are now in the unprecedented position of truly owning the home of their dreams.

Our client plans to use Timberline Job Cost and Project Management to track the subcontractors working on the rehabbed homes. This is critical because without the proper documentation being tracked by our customer, the city will not pay the subs. And that could be some bad, bad news all the way around. So definitely want to avoid that issue.

The creativity and imagination required of us here at DB Data Inc comes from the need to track the people in the program. General Contractors are used to tracking physical things like materials and buildings, time and labor but NOT people. That’s the fly in this stimulus ointment. The state program requires the people going through the process to be monitored very closely. They have a rigorous set of requirements that must be fulfilled achieve and every step of the process MUST be properly document in accordance with state and federal regulations. That’s a lot to handle, a lot of responsibility. Throw in the privacy laws and you begin to understand the magnitude of what we’re dealing with.

We came up with a solution and now are just hoping that our customer is awarded the contract this July so that we can implement our solution.

In these trying economic times, inventiveness, perseverance and creativity is what is needed to look past the immediate horizon and still be able to achieve our long-term goals. Whether it’s expanding the business, putting the kids through college or retiring early, we here at DB Data Inc understand and we are here to help you make it happen! As always feel free to contact us at anytime with any questions you might have about tight financial tracking through Sage Timberline, Project Management, or Service Management. We promise unparalleled customer service!

AZ Central has a major write-up about this program.  To read more about the Neighborhood Stabilization Program itself, who is involved and who it will benefit go here.

Speeding up Economic Recovery lead today’s discussion between Vice President Joseph Biden and President Barak Obama.The Vice President presented the President with the Roadmap to Recovery, the key the administration believes  is needed to ramp  up the distribution of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act during the second 100 days.

The Vice President reported the creation of 150,000 jobs in the first 100 days since the passage of the ARRA in February.  Biden also says contracts and funding could result in 600,000 new job for the summer.   He also says the government is fast-tracking several stimulus projects to include:

*Construction and energy conservation contracts at 107 national parks.
*Improvements at 90 veteran’s medical centers.
*Rehabilitation and improvements at 98 Airports
*Rehabilitation and improvements at 1,500 highway locations
*Initiation of 2,300 construction and rehabilitation projects at 359 Military Facilities across the country

To read more go here.