SUBCONTRACTOR SHOWCASE DRAWS HUNDREDS LOOKING FOR A MATCH WITH PRIME CONTRACTORS BIDDING ON MAJOR PROJECTS AT LOS ANGELES INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
(Los Angeles, California – October 10, 2017) With an eye toward matching local small businesses with the teams that will build the next generation of facilities at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) held its first Subcontractor Showcase at The Proud Bird today.
More than 650 attendees heard details about upcoming projects at the airport as small and local business owners met with representatives of the prime contractors seeking to construct projects included in a $14 billion capital improvement program underway at LAX.
“Events such as these are essential to LAX’s development program as they provide another opportunity to our local businesses to get involved with the significant ongoing and future projects at the airport,” said LAWA Chief Development Officer Bob Gilbert. “Additionally these events help LAWA fulfill our commitment to involve local businesses in as many segments of our multibillion-dollar program as possible, and is another chance for the local businesses to show these prime contractors what they can bring to the teams that are helping build a Gold-Standard airport at LAX.”
Past events have served to introduce the teams to the small and local businesses that will perform much of the work on these projects. In a twist, today’s Subcontractor’s Showcase provided nearly 500 short, individual meetings, enhancing the appeal to the prime contractors.
“The dual format of business matchmaking and exhibiting was very effective, allowing us to meet a large amount of potential partners,” said Chris D'Sa, Plenary Infrastructure Airports’ Civil Lead, Inclusivity, Reflectivity, and Subcontractor Outreach. “The one-on-one appointments helped us focus on detailed connections.”
Jennifer Cheap-Overall and Shawna Noyes of Grace Steel & Fabrication, LLC said they were impressed by the forum and excited about their potential to be part of the future at LAX.
"This was a super-organized event which provided us with great information on all the phases of the project,” said Cheap-Overall. “We've already done business with LAWA, but feel that this will help launch us into even more opportunities. It was a very fruitful event to help expand our business.”
“The event was very informative and positive,” said Alim Washington, Marketing Consultant and Project Manager for S.A.W. Enterprises, Inc, LLC. “The informal setting provided for a relaxed (atmosphere) and having one place to meet multiple primes was great.”About Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)
LAX is the fourth busiest airport in the world, second in the United States, and was named one of Skytrax’ 2017 Top 10 Most Improved Airports. LAX served more than 80.9 million passengers in 2016. LAX offers 737 daily nonstop flights to 100 cities in the U.S. and 1,386 weekly nonstop flights to 88 cities in 44 countries on 73 commercial air carriers. LAX ranks 14th in the world and fifth in the U.S. in air cargo tonnage processed, with more than 2.2 million tons of air cargo valued at over $101.4 billion. LAX handled 697,138 operations (landings and takeoffs) in 2016.
An economic study based on 2014 operations reported LAX generated 620,600 jobs in Southern California with labor income of $37.3 billion and economic output (business revenues) of more than $126.6 billion. This activity added $6.2 billion to local and state revenues and $8.7 billion in federal tax revenues. The study also reported that LAX’s ongoing capital-improvement program creates an additional 121,640 annual jobs with labor income of $7.6 billion and economic output of $20.3 billion, $966 million in state and local taxes, and $1.6 billion in federal tax revenues.
LAX is also the second most popular airport in the world to appear on Instagram according to wego.com. LAX is part of a system of two Southern California airports – along with Van Nuys general aviation – that are owned and operated by Los Angeles World Airports, a proprietary department of the City of Los Angeles that receives no funding from the City’s general fund.
As a covered entity under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the City of Los Angeles does not discriminate on the basis of disability and, upon request, will provide reasonable accommodation to ensure equal access to its programs, services, and activities. Alternative formats in large print, braille, audio, and other forms (if possible) will be provided upon request.
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