Smart Card for Small Businesses

As METRO starts pre-construction on its $1.2 billion project to build five guided rapid transit corridors and an Intermodal Terminal, the agency is doing all it can to encourage and equip small businesses to participate in the project.

Every small business involved in METRO-approved training will be issued a smart card - a plastic card with an embedded computer chip that will track the courses, the approval and the completion of any courses entrepreneurs take.

"No one has used this in training before," said Margarita Dunlap, compliance & program advisor manager. "We'll issue free smart cards to businesses involved in training and make it easier for them."

This way, companies won't have to turn in paperwork to prove they've taken a course. If they show up at Houston Community College, for example, to take a METRO-approved course for additional training, they can simply swipe the card. The card will indicate that that person is registered and approved to take that course, explained Dunlap.

Training will range from a four-hour seminar to a series of courses. Businesses that are in the METRO Solutions Snapshots database will be assessed by the Washington Group Transit Management Corp.'s  program advisor, Qualified Women in Construction (QWIC), to see if they need more training.

Some of the training will be project-specific, customized courses taught at METRO, and others will be from existing courses in community colleges, universities and local institutions. "If small businesses want to have their employees trained so they can move forward in the future, we'll be doing that," said Dunlap.

Courses will range from business courses to technical ones, including such topics as how to read plans; how to do a cost estimate; how to do right-of-way; and labor issues.

A "small business" is defined as any business that does not have assets of more than $750,000, excluding one's home and business.

"We're calling for more businesses to come forth," said Dunlap. "The major project is yet to come - the construction phase. We definitely need more companies, and we want to make sure we have them on our database."

To get on the Snapshots database, where you'll get an e-mail alert if a bid is coming up, simply go here and register.

We'll need vendors who can provide everything from windshield wipers to Web design.

"It's all about accessibility," said Dunlap.

For more information or to get your small business involved, contact Tracy Agha, program director at QWIC. Phone: 713/652-7981. E-mail: tracyagha@msn.com.