DEP Hosts Minority, Women-Owned Business Solicitation Workshops For PennVEST Projects

The Department of Environmental Protection has scheduled workshops around the state for engineers, municipal entities, contractors, and disadvantaged, women-owned and minority-owned businesses to learn about guidelines for bidding state- and federally-funded PennVEST projects.

The workshops are hosted by the Department of Environmental Protection and the Pennsylvania Utility Contractors Association.

State regulations require recipients of Pennsylvania Infrastructure and Investment Authority grants to solicit bids from disadvantaged, women-owned and minority-owned businesses.

PennVEST began allocating American Recovery & Reinvestment funding in April with the announcement of $119 million in grants to support green infrastructure, drinking water and wastewater projects.

The workshops will include a presentation on the ARRA and PennVEST programs, and an overview of DEP’s solicitation guidelines and process.

The remaining workshops will be held:

-- Montgomery County – June 29, Holiday Inn, Lansdale, 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.;

-- Luzerne County – June 30, Woodland Inn and Resort, Wilkes-Barre, 10 a.m. to noon; and

-- Dauphin County – July 1, East Hanover Township Municipal Building, 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.

For more information, call DEP's Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Office at 717-787-0122.