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In April, TriMet’s board of directors awarded a $6.7 million project to a Portland midsize heavy-civil contractor, passing over bids from three larger firms 鈥� including one 40 times its size.

The recipient was Raimore Construction, a black-owned business with a hand in the regional transit authority’s rapid and substantial growth over the past 15 years.

The yearlong project won’t be easy 鈥� with some complicated night work on active MAX light-rail stations. But just landing the project award represented a culmination of a 15-year transformation led by Raimore business partners Jeff Moreland and Andre Raiford, as well as TriMet.

It’s the biggest TriMet contract to go to a minority-owned firm, and a good example of what supporters of equitable contracting call 鈥渃apacity building.鈥�

鈥楶it crew’ mentality

Though the ribbon’s been cut on TriMet’s $1.5 billion Portland-Milwaukie light-rail project, the orange line isn’t quite done (all told, light-rail projects generally require between 10 and 15 years, according to TriMet spokeswoman Mary Fetsch). Several small projects, plus a study, remain.

The largest of these mop-up jobs involves the station platforms at each of the line’s 10 stops, which were originally envisioned to feature two standing shelters each 鈥� one to serve each end of 200-foot-long trains. The 鈥渟econd shelter鈥� aspect was cut from the project’s scope when TriMet learned it would receive less federal money than thought.

But under an agreement with the Federal Transit Administration, TriMet was able to reinstate elements if the overall project came in under budget. The team accomplished that, to the tune of $48 million, according to TriMet 鈥� in large part, it says, due to historically low interest rates.

The agency planned 鈥渁ggressively鈥� to save this money, according to Steve Witter, TriMet’s executive director of capital projects and construction. For instance, platforms were designed with conduits and anchors, so the shelters 鈥� designed by Landscape Forms of Kalamazoo, Mich. 鈥� could be easily affixed later.

The second shelter project is now several weeks along, with canopies being craned in one-by-one, south to north, starting at the Park Avenue station in Milwaukie. Other improvements, like security cameras and rider information screens, are being added as well. The project should conclude by about this time next year.

It’s been challenging for several reasons, according to project manager Michael Kiser. To avoid interference with most MAX riders, the most invasive work is occurring at night 鈥� and all other work during the day. The hours that TriMet considers 鈥渘on-revenue service鈥� is only a two-and-a-half-hour window when the shelters can be lowered into place.

With overhead power lines to navigate and a narrow window in which to operate, plus riders to account for at platforms, the work requires a 鈥減it crew鈥� mentality, Kiser said.

鈥淓verybody on-site really understands what they need to do, and is empowered to affect the final outcome,鈥� he said.

The face of TriMet

Raimore’s history is deeply tied to TriMet. Its roots are in the Trucking Consortium 鈥� a novel attempt at pooling the efforts of minority haulers to procure larger bid packages. Led by James Posey, the consortium handled trucking and flagging duties for the Interstate MAX project beginning around 2000.

Posey sold his equipment to Raiford and Moreland, and the entity became Raimore 鈥� trucking and flagging came first, but expansion was in mind. After the Interstate yellow line project wrapped in 2004, Raimore performed masonry and brickwork on the green line and streetcar project. And it’s been all over the orange line, working on every platform, including a recent effort where it was co-construction manager-general contractor performing prep work for the upcoming installation of TriMet’s Hop Fastpass electronic fare system.

鈥淭hey’ve really progressed through the projects that they’ve been involved in, taking on more complex work and really growing their organization around it,鈥� Witter said.

TriMet’s effort in the arena of minority contracting have been recognized nationally. In several notable ways, the authority treats Raimore like a division of its services, rather than an owner and contractor. For this approach to work, its ethos has had to be adopted by TriMet’s regular general contractors, Witter said 鈥� notably Stacy & Witbeck.

TriMet has been thoroughly involved with Raimore’s operations. Kiser took an eye for the agency’s systems, helping it devise quality control measures such as rigorous safety training for all involved. Raimore was brought into preconstruction to start intensive coordination of operations 鈥� it’s been a process because one of TriMet’s goals has been to really look at how Kiser has worked internally to ensure that everyone is on the same page. That helps efficiency and improves relations and works out better for the customer.

鈥淥bviously, we want them well-organized and when they are out there, they are the face of TriMet,鈥� Kiser said. 鈥淐ustomers don’t always expect the contractor to play a positive role in that, and Raimore has really taken to stepping up in that area. They understand the critical role that they play just in terms of how they interface with the customers.鈥�

The company worked on the early prep work on the E-Fare system, as co-CM-GC with Stacy & Witbeck, so this was kind of the next logical step. Raimore workers have erected shelters on the east side and the west side already, so they are already familiar with the process, and they’ve done lots of selective demolition and restoration. The firm was 鈥渟trongly encouraged鈥� to bid.

鈥淚t is a very logical next step for TriMet because they spent all this time growing us as a company and working with us really diligently,鈥� Moreland said.

Moreland doesn’t often pose for photos, and he declined to do so for this story. He said he prefers to move forward, rather than dwell on success. The firm didn’t even celebrate when it won the bid for the second shelter project, he said.

鈥淥ur celebration is in our ability to be successful,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e aren’t going to celebrate until this project is complete 鈥� that’s our mentality. Then we’re really going to celebrate.鈥�