¾Ã²ÝÈȾòÝÊÓƵ

Contact: Jennifer Hollingshead

Office: (573) 882-0601

E-mail: hollingsheadj@umsystem.edu

The ¾Ã²ÝÈȾòÝÊÓƵ of Missouri has presented its 2007 Showcase Awards recognizing exceptional achievement by companies participating in the ¾Ã²ÝÈȾòÝÊÓƵ's minority business initiatives. The companies were saluted during a luncheon on Thursday, August 2, at the Reynolds Alumni Center on the campus of the ¾Ã²ÝÈȾòÝÊÓƵ of Missouri-Columbia.

"We are recognizing exemplary achievement in support of the ¾Ã²ÝÈȾòÝÊÓƵ of Missouri's supplier diversity initiatives," said Dr. Gordon H. Lamb, Interim President of the ¾Ã²ÝÈȾòÝÊÓƵ of Missouri. "These awards not only recognize outstanding companies and organizational efforts, they provide an important reminder about one of our ¾Ã²ÝÈȾòÝÊÓƵ's strategic goals: vibrant engagement in our communities."

The ¾Ã²ÝÈȾòÝÊÓƵ first began formally recognizing these outstanding businesses in 2004. Those companies and organizations recognized with 2007 Showcase Awards were:

• Supplier Award: Facilitec Inc. of St. Louis
• Engineer Award: SK Design Group, Inc. of Kansas City
• Architect Award: International Architects Atelier of Kansas City
• ¾Ã²ÝÈȾòÝÊÓƵ Departmental Award: Information Technology Services, ¾Ã²ÝÈȾòÝÊÓƵ of Missouri-St. Louis
• Prime Consultant-Architect Award: Mackey Mitchell Architects of St. Louis
• Prime Contractor Awards: K&S Associates, Inc., and Williams Concrete Contractors, Inc., both of St. Louis

Criteria for the honors included the quality of services, products or work; the company's commitment to being customer oriented and responsive to customer feedback; its history of successful repeat work contracts with the ¾Ã²ÝÈȾòÝÊÓƵ; and its track record in consistently meeting the ¾Ã²ÝÈȾòÝÊÓƵ's participation goals for minority- and women-owned businesses.

The ¾Ã²ÝÈȾòÝÊÓƵ of Missouri's Minority Business Development Program encompasses the UM system, its campuses at Columbia, Kansas City, Rolla and St. Louis, and ¾Ã²ÝÈȾòÝÊÓƵ of Missouri Health Care.

The program's director at the system level, Dr. Jacqueline Hall Kelly, works closely with procurement, design and construction officials at each campus to ensure that minority- and women-owned business enterprises are included in the pool of suppliers, contractors and consultants eligible to do business with the ¾Ã²ÝÈȾòÝÊÓƵ, and whose products and services are used by the ¾Ã²ÝÈȾòÝÊÓƵ.

(Editors: Additional information about the 2007 honorees is below, for your information and reference. For more information about the UM Minority Business Development Program, visit https://umsystem.edu/ums/fa/management/minbusdev/ )

Supplier Award: Facilitec Inc., is a full-service office furniture distributor in St. Louis. It has been awarded bids for the Columbia, Rolla and St. Louis campuses. One of its customers commented that the firm scheduled installations at a ¾Ã²ÝÈȾòÝÊÓƵ diabetes clinic in Columbia before opening hours so that clinic operations were not interrupted. Facilitec's crews also traveled to Columbia during the early morning hours and were able to keep labor costs well under the "time and a half" normal charge. Other customers commented that the firm's delivery staff was always timely, with courteous service.

Engineer Award: SK Design Group, Inc., is an engineering firm based in Kansas City. They have had repeat contracts with the Columbia and Kansas City campuses as both a prime consultant and a sub-consultant. Customers remarked that SK consistently shows a high level of responsiveness with thorough quality checks yielding excellent work. SK has also consistently met or exceeded schedules for projects, including those with quick timetables. An example was SK's initiative in working out issues with grading for a ¾Ã²ÝÈȾòÝÊÓƵ parking structure and adjacent roadways.

Architect Award: International Architects Atelier is a Kansas City firm that has worked on a variety of projects for the Columbia and Kansas City campuses. It has worked as a prime consultant as well as a sub-consultant. The company was praised for its versatility in providing unique concepts and sound technical details. International Architects Atelier has consistently provided designs that customers said enhanced the favorable appearances and structures of ¾Ã²ÝÈȾòÝÊÓƵ buildings.

Prime Consultant (Architect) Award: Mackey Mitchell Architects is a St. Louis firm that has had repeat contracts with the ¾Ã²ÝÈȾòÝÊÓƵ. The company was saluted for consistently meeting and often exceeding participation goals for women- and minority-owned businesses. It has also put together many successful collaborative teams to work on ¾Ã²ÝÈȾòÝÊÓƵ projects. Mackey Mitchell has also worked to introduce to the ¾Ã²ÝÈȾòÝÊÓƵ new women- and minority-owned businesses.

Prime Contractor Award (two recipients with different scopes of work): K&S Associates and Williams Concrete Contractors, Inc. Both are St. Louis firms. K&S Associates has been very effective in providing opportunities for minority- and women-own firms, particularly in central Missouri. For example, three projects on the Columbia campus for which K&S Associates served as prime contractor resulted in near $3 million on participation for minority-owned companies and almost $2.8 million in participation for women-owned businesses. Williams Concrete Contractors, Inc., was praised as a hands-on, "model" contractor utilizing minority-owned business support. One a recent project, the firm's advance coordination with ¾Ã²ÝÈȾòÝÊÓƵ officials allowed phases of work that allowed continuous access to facilities while the job was completed on scheduled, within budget and with no change orders.

¾Ã²ÝÈȾòÝÊÓƵ Departmental Award: Information Technology Services, ¾Ã²ÝÈȾòÝÊÓƵ of Missouri-St. Louis. This was the first year that a ¾Ã²ÝÈȾòÝÊÓƵ department was recognized for outstanding performance in including minority- and women-owned businesses as it buys goods and services. Information Technology Services at UMSL had the highest total amount of direct spending among departments with minority- and women-owned firms.