Gilbane Sets Bold Goal of Generating $4B in Awards to Minority and Women-Owned, Disadvantaged, and Veteran Businesses Over Five Years

Gilbane Building Company today announced a commitment to generate $4 billion in awards over five years to certified minority and women-owned businesses (M/WBE), disadvantaged and veteran-businesses enterprises, as part of a comprehensive economic inclusion strategy included in Gilbane’s upcoming, inaugural Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) report.

“Driving economic opportunity and inclusion in support of diverse businesses is a core commitment at Gilbane, and central to our long-term success,” said Thomas M. Laird, Jr., President and CEO of Gilbane Building Company. “We know that economic inclusion strengthens our work and our projects, strengthens communities, and helps create greater impact for our clients. This commitment reflects Gilbane’s deep commitment to advancing industry excellence through inclusion, builds on the work we’ve already done and is part of a comprehensive strategy to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion throughout our industry.”

Gilbane’s economic inclusion strategy includes a multi-pronged approach:

• Setting clear targets to drive momentum
• Enhanced tracking and measurement of performance
• Sharing best practices to leverage “one company” approach to economic inclusion
• Developing regionally-specific economic inclusion plans
• Outreach and recruitment to expand supplier pool
• Mentorship and training through Gilbane’s Rising Contractor program

In 2021, Gilbane set a 20% M/WBE and small business participation goal across all of its projects and finished the year with 18% participation, representing $812 million in awards. The company seeks to improve its participation goal year-over-year by setting targets, analyzing data and metrics, and deploying strategies to enhance participation.

This $4 billion economic inclusion commitment – specifically focused on minority, women-owned, disadvantaged, and veteran businesses is part of Gilbane’s Environmental, Social, & Governance (ESG) priorities and goals and builds off a longstanding company commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

“Gilbane understands that committing to economic inclusion today means a more equitable, robust construction landscape tomorrow,” said Yvette Stevens, Vice President and Director of Economic Inclusion and Community Affairs. “We’re always looking for opportunities to build on our continued commitment to economic inclusion through greater partnership with our clients and trade partners.”

Applications Open for Spring 2022 Rising Contractor Program

The Gilbane Rising Contractor Program, which first launched in November 2020, is a bi-annual program designed to establish strong partnerships with diverse contractors new to working with Gilbane, while enhancing participant competitiveness through a combination of knowledge-sharing and mentorship. To ensure the program serves as a connection to real-world opportunities, the classroom curriculum focuses on strategies for winning work and overall industry success. The program has had 138 graduates since its inception.

The program offers multiple benefits for participants including:
• Developing working relationships with Gilbane personnel in key departments, such as purchasing and estimating
• Gaining intimate knowledge of doing business with Gilbane – from bid solicitation to project closeout
• Receiving step-by-step guidance on Gilbane’s pre-qualification process
• Enjoying a one-year mentorship agreement with a Gilbane project executive who will serve as internal champion
• Receiving automatic feedback for bids

Contractors interested in learning more and applying, can visit https://info.gilbaneco.com/gilbane-rising-contractors, for more information.

“We want to build lasting relationships with our trade partners by sharing business insights and feedback,” said Yvette Stevens. “We look forward to championing these businesses through mentorship while strengthening our supplier pool.”

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