Component Assembly Systems March 2009 - 16

W OR A SPECIAL ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT TO NEW YORK CONSTRUCTION KIN GS CAP MART E R TO B U I L D ITY AC Component Assembly Systems (CAS) Senior Vice President of Business Development David Procida deﬁnes “Business Development” as more than sales and marketing. It includes whatever is necessary to improve ones’ business. Facilitating small business and minority participation through a mentor-protégé program, is one way in which CAS is making strides toward better business. The mentor-protégé program at CAS emerged in 2008 during a project at Fort Belvoir Community Hospital, in Fort Belvoir, VA. “The owner of the project, the United States Army Corps of Engineers, had set tremendously high goals for small business participation,” explains Procida. “This type of requirement, now common on just about every federally-funded job challenged CAS to implement a stronger diversity participation program.” The General Contractor, Turner/Gilbane could have met the goals by breaking up the project into smaller jobs and giving them to several small businesses. Procida insists, however, that this option would have beneﬁted no one. “Trying to buy and then manage that scenario on a large, design assist job would have been a nightmare,” he says, “and certainly not in the best interest of the owner.” Instead, CAS developed and implemented the mentor-protégé program, which Procida stresses is the path from “participation to empowerment.” Procida adds that the program brings distinct beneﬁts to three parties. The general contractor beneﬁts through acquiring small business participation acceptable to the USACE without taking on undo risk while building; CAS, a large business, becomes more valuable on a job that requires small business participation; and the beneﬁts to the small business are obvious. Small businesses are engaged in a three-phase process that teaches them to bid, win and execute projects, while attaining vital business relationships and on-site experience. “The ﬁrst phase is engaging small businesses and owning all the risk,” says Procida. “In the second phase, they start taking on more responsibilities, doing their own costing and proﬁt/loss. By the third phase, the small business protégé has built their business portfolio; it has associations with professional groups and insurance, legal and bonding companies. Then they can bid independently, better prepared with the fundamentals required for success in our industry.” When incorporating the mentor-protégé program into its business model, CAS focused on empowerment, as well as the required participation. For that, the program was designed to combine a classroom approach with practical job site experience. “We lead our protégé through a written curriculum speciﬁc to the project, complete with sign-offs to measure success,” Procida says. “At the same time, participants get the practical experience of working ‘in the line of ﬁre’ with a company that has established and maintained best practices for over 45 years.” Procida applauds the many programs offered by the general contractors and trade associations as both nec- David Procida Senior Vice President essary and valuable. “Our program, however, differs from the general business mentorship model as our curriculum is trade-speciﬁc. After all, who better to mentor an emerging drywall contractor than an established one?” After only a year, the program has already expanded through Component Assembly’s Philadelphia ofﬁce, where the ofﬁce engaged a minority business, L. F. Driscoll, to participate in the construction of the Hospital at the University of Pennsylvania’s West Tower. Procida is optimistic this type of program will be the way in the future. It is a simple thing to get “participation points” on a project, notes Procida. “When the procurement people understand they can buy a real empowerment program, not just participation, then we will see more trade-speciﬁc mentors emerge. When it becomes part of the everyday business model, that’s when you’ll see real small and minority business empowerment.” Procida is conﬁdent that the mentor-protégé program allows CAS to empower small and minorityowned business. “It is another step in the development of our own business,” he says, “and we believe it will bring valuable advantages to our industry.” MENTORING 16

Component Assembly Systems March 2009

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