The Domino Effect
Construction contractor explains how her company used federal contracting and infrastructure dollars to build local economies and create jobs
CMS Corporation is an award-winning general construction contractor who secures billions of dollars from federal and commercial clients building and renovating structures around the world. The secret? According to CMS Corporation President and CFO Mercedes Enrique, the secret is that all construction is local.
It’s a domino effect. As a prime contractor, CMS Corporation bids on large-scale construction projects. They don’t self-perform all the work themselves, so they subcontract portions to smaller companies. They also buy on-site services. This is where they spend money and support small businesses in the local communities where projects take place.
Here’s an example of how the dominoes fall and how infrastructure dollars spent by CMS Corporation created jobs and supported local businesses in rural America:
In April 2022, CMS Corporation was awarded a $450 M IDIQ contract by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Huntsville Engineering and Support Center (HESC) under their Facilities Repair & Renewal (FRR) umbrella. By September 2022, more infrastructure funding became available, so the HESC put out a task order for dam work on Lake Shelbyville in rural Southern Illinois. CMS Corporation won the bid and immediately awarded subcontracts to 10 local companies. These companies employ local people who do construction on the dam, keeping water out of their own backyards.
“Construction is local,” Enrique says. “Without infrastructure funding, the Lake Shelbyville Dam Feeder Line & Roof Repairs Project wouldn’t have been funded. Everyone but the designer was local for this project. That makes me proud.”
About CMS Corporation
CMS was established in Franklin, Indiana in 1996. During an ownership change and re-incorporation, Mercedes Enrique and other partners purchased the assets in 2004. She knew she wanted to restructure and stimulate growth for the firm. To do this, her team looked to enter the federal construction market. But what was the best way to gain entry to that market?
Solution
Enrique and her business partner applied for the SBA 8(a) Business Development Program, a nine-year federal contracting development program designed specifically for socially and economically disadvantaged small business owners. The program includes one-on-one assistance from the SBA, mentorship, training workshops, matchmaking, and networking opportunities. Enrique also participated in the SBA 7(j) Management and Technical Assistance Program, which allowed CMS to benefit from increased networking opportunities while learning how to improve CMS Corporation’s strategic and operational planning, opportunity development and capture, federal compliance, and financial analysis capabilities.
Long-term Impact
Over the past 20 years, CMS Corporation has grown from a regional subcontractor to a prime general contractor, employing 150 full-time employees in 18 offices around the world. In 2014, CMS upgraded internal systems, increased staffing, and developed more targeted standard operating procedures (SOPs) that enhanced their contract management efficiency, increased productivity, and allowed the company to expand their capabilities at multiple locations concurrently and on a global scale.
During their growth and expansion journey, CMS Corporation has applied what they’ve learned, securing billions of dollars of federal contracts and performing construction projects around the world. They have also taken what they’ve learned and given back – becoming a mentor for several small minority and socially disadvantaged-owned construction companies. The pandemic was a struggle – creating delays and work stoppages for everyone as bases limited access and supplies became hard to get, particularly in some of their more remote locations like Guam. But Enrique said that with the help of a PPP loan in 2021 they were able to minimize the impact – completing all projects successfully despite delays. In January of 2023, CMS Corporation officially crossed the proverbial bridge into the other-than-small contracting category – a step they could never have taken without the support and training they received from the SBA.
In 2018 Enrique and her CMS Corporation team was named the SBA Great Lakes Region 8(a) Graduate of the Year for the States of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. As a Hispanic woman, Enrique is a member of an extensive group of under-represented small business owners and is an active small business advocate in the Mid-States Minority Supplier Diversity Council and the Society for American Military Engineers. In addition, she is now active with the Zenith Group of the Women Presidents Organization. CMS Corporation is currently ranked as the #7 Military Contractor on the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) Top Performers list and their largest federal project to date is a $53.9 million contract from the Department of Defense to upgrade, re-surface, and pave airfields on Naval Air Station Whidbey Island in Washington State.