Governor Hochul Announces JFK Airport Construction Sets Record MWBE Participation With $2.3 Billion in Contracts Awarded

 

Represents Largest Participation by MWBE Firms in Any Public-Private Project in New York State History

680 Separate MWBE Firms Have Been Awarded Contracts to Date

MWBE Participation Expected to Continue to Break Records With JFK Construction Through 2028

Contracts Awarded to Local, Queens-Based Businesses Reaches Nearly $1 Billion

Governor Kathy Hochul announced a historic milestone in the ongoing transformation of JFK International Airport, where a record $2.3 billion in contracts have been awarded to Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprises (MWBE). This is the largest participation of MWBE firms on any public-private partnership project in New York State history. With construction of new airport facilities fully underway, MWBE participation at JFK will continue to break records until the redevelopment is substantially complete expected in 2028. JFK redevelopment also demonstrates a significant focus on working with local contractors, awarding more than $950 million in contracts to Queens-based businesses to date.

"New York remains committed to providing travelers with a premier experience that includes world-class amenities and record involvement by local minority- and women-owned businesses will ensure just that," Governor Hochul said. “This transformative project uplifts these businesses and deepens investments in the community while bolstering the state workforce.”

With today’s announcement JFK surpasses the LaGuardia Airport redevelopment, which set the previous New York State record for MWBE participation in a public-private project with $2.2 billion in contracts awarded. As the $19 billion JFK project moves forward, additional contracts with MWBE firms will be awarded to meet with the Port Authority’s goal of 30 percent MWBE participation for the agency’s capital projects, consistent with Governor Hochul’s nation-leading goals for MWBE utilization in state projects. The Port Authority is working closely with its private terminal developer partners – the New Terminal One, Delta Air Lines and JFKIAT, JFK Millennium Partners, and American Airlines – to engage minority and women-owned businesses along with local businesses in every aspect of the redevelopment program. To date, 680 MWBEs have been awarded contracts at JFK along with more than 200 businesses based in Queens.

The latest MWBE and local business participation milestones were celebrated at JFK’s Building 111, a 76-year-old office building on the airport’s north side that underwent extensive renovations in order to create a collaborative workspace for the JFK Redevelopment construction and program management teams to work alongside each other, including the private terminal developers who are financing and overseeing the terminal projects. The $20 million renovation of Building 111 was designed and constructed mainly by MWBE and local contractors. Sabor Restaurant & Bakery, a local, Queens-based MWBE food vendor, will operate out of a brand-new cafeteria.

To increase MWBE participation at the JFK Redevelopment Program, and across the agency, the Port Authority and its private terminal partners at JFK hosted a variety of capacity-building and technical training programs that prepared firms to be successful in navigating what can at times be complex airport-related procurements. These programs include an academy for principals at architecture and engineering firms, contractor coaching programs that train firms to apply for contracts and construction mentoring programs that recruit, train and mentor MWBE firms to bid on large public construction projects, and project readiness bootcamps. The redevelopment team has also sponsored hundreds of seminars, webinars and forums to help firms become MWBE certified, meet and network with prime contractors, and build the skill sets needed to be successful in the field.

Redeveloping JFK Airport in Lockstep with the Local Community

In 2018, the JFK Redevelopment Community Advisory Council was formed. It is co-chaired by U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks and Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, and is composed of elected officials, community boards, business and nonprofit organizations, civic organizations, and clergy leaders from the targeted local communities of southeast Queens, southwest Queens, the Rockaways, and western portions of Nassau County.

Since its inception, the council has been working with the Port Authority and its private partners to expand community outreach efforts and develop community-focused programs, ensuring that this ambitious project solicits ongoing feedback from local stakeholders and provides meaningful opportunities for local businesses, MWBEs, students and jobseekers. This includes programming to advance the Port Authority's commitment to a 30 percent MWBE contracting goal in all categories of work, and a special focus on opportunities for local businesses across all aspects of the redevelopment of JFK, including terminal projects, which will be built by union labor under project-labor agreements.

Other community development initiatives prioritized by the council focus on job opportunities and workforce development programs for residents in Southeast Queens, small business outreach and development, and educational programming for local students. Specifically, the Council for Airport Opportunity Rockaway Career Center is a job recruiting and referral program to match qualified job seekers with jobs in construction and airport operations focused on the Far Rockaway community. The Office of Second Chance Employment helps connect formerly incarcerated individuals and others with past involvement in the criminal justice system to jobs associated with both airport construction and airport operations. The Institute of Concessions is a specialized training program offering extensive training and mentoring to small, local, and diverse businesses intended to increase the number of local and diverse airport concessionaires. The Aviation and Aeronautics Academy provides an aviation-focused weekend and summer education and enrichment program in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) for up to 700 students from grades 1 through 12 annually. In partnership with CUNY York College, it will introduce students from communities surrounding JFK to career opportunities in aviation, airport management and aerospace technology.

Transforming JFK Into a World-Class Global Gateway

In January 2017, the JFK Vision Plan was announced to transform JFK into the world-class airport that New Yorkers deserve. The vision plan provides a strategic framework for the Port Authority and its partners to completely redevelop, modify and expand existing facilities and infrastructure. The $9.5 billion development of a state-of-the-art New Terminal One that will anchor the airport's south side broke ground in September 2022. A new $4.2 billion Terminal 6, which will connect seamlessly with Terminal 5 to create an anchor terminal on the airport’s north side, broke ground in February 2023. The $1.5 billion expansion of Terminal 4, led by Delta Air Lines and JFK International Air Terminal (JFKIAT), is substantially complete. Additionally, the $400 million expansion of Terminal 8, led by American Airlines, which operates the terminal, was completed in November 2022.

All of the privately financed terminal projects combined with the Port Authority's roadway, parking and infrastructure projects represent a $19 billion transformation of JFK and an extraordinary series of public-private partnerships. The Port Authority’s capital investment of $3.9 billion is leveraging private investment at a rate of nearly four to one when taking into account the full private investment of more than $15 billion that has been committed to the four projects comprising the full redevelopment of JFK.