While the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) is soliciting input on road projects for east-central Georgia, the City of Augusta and Accelerate Augusta have teamed up to help small businesses reap financial benefits from the projects. A key meeting is set for next Thursday.
The State Supported Funding Program (SSFP) Workshop will connect local businesses, contractors, consultants, and service providers with GDOT contracting opportunities. It was organized by Dr. Yolanda Jackson, the city’s Compliance Director.
“The exciting thing about it is it doesn’t require the local businesses to have any type of certification. They’re not required to have a DBE (Disadvantaged Business Enterprise) or MBE (Minority Business Enterprise) certification,” Jackson explained for ABD. “The only requirement is that the company has to be registered with the Department of Administrative Services (DOAS), which is the Georgia Procurement Registry, and there is an application that you submit directly to GDOT.”
The workshop comes on the heels of the recent announcement that GDOT has $17.9 million immediately available for projects and contracting opportunities in District 2, which includes Augusta and the surrounding region.
“This is the most money that GDOT has had to spend in District Two in the seven years that I’ve been here,” Jackson said. “Usually, it’s been around $9 million. One year it was $11.9 million, but $17 million to spend in the Augusta area is huge.”
In Richmond County, a more than $14 million project calls for resurfacing 5.2 miles of Interstate 520/Bobby Jones Expressway, beginning at the Interstate 20 interchange and extending to Exit 5/Deans Bridge Road. A completion date of May 31, 2027, has been given.
Reeves Construction Company has been awarded the overall contract; however, there can be opportunities for subcontracting.
“Vegetation removal, fencing, bridge work, drainage, striping, tree cutting, sound wall repair, and landscaping,” Jackson listed. “We have a lot of landscaping companies, tree cutting companies, and things of that nature in this area that could potentially get a piece of this.”
The workshop will be led by representatives from MH Miles Company, the Decatur-based firm that is the consultant for GDOT’s state-funded programs.
Jackson said anyone attending the workshop should be prepared to take notes on the process because applications are processed only on the first of the month. She added this workshop was also scheduled to coincide with the start of the state’s fiscal 2027 budget year.
“Typically, in the past, when I had been scheduling the workshops, it would be usually around the third quarter of the fiscal year, which is historically too late because usually the bulk of the money is spent in the first and second quarter,” she said. “So, that’s why I tried to schedule it this year to be in that first quarter, so we can get that information out to them, and then they can determine whether or not they want to be a part of it.”
Attendees will be shown how to register with DOAS during the workshops. Advance registration is also available online at www.doas.ga.gov.
The workshop will be held August 20, from 2-4 p.m. in the Linda Beasley Room on the first floor of the Augusta Municipal Building at 535 Telfair Street.
The workshop is free of charge; however, pre-registration is requested at https://form.jotform.com/252306327730148 or by scanning the QR code.
Attendees can attend in person or virtually and will receive the link to the livestream when they register.
