S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________
8323
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
I N S E N A T E
June 2, 2025
___________
Introduced by Sen. SANDERS -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules
AN ACT to amend the public authorities law, in relation to expanding the
small business mentoring program
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. Section 1265-b of the public authorities law, as added by
chapter 206 of the laws of 2010, paragraphs (c), (d) and (e) of subdivi-
sion 1 as amended and subdivision 7 as added by chapter 574 of the laws
of 2023, is amended to read as follows:
§ 1265-b. Metropolitan transportation authority small business mentor-
ing program. 1. Definitions. As used in this section, unless the context
requires otherwise: (a) "authority" means the metropolitan transporta-
tion authority and its subsidiaries consisting of the Long Island rail
road company, Metro-North commuter railroad company, metropolitan subur-
ban bus authority, Staten Island rapid transit operating authority, MTA
bus, MTA capital construction company, and first mutual transportation
assurance company, and its affiliates consisting of the New York City
transit authority, triborough bridge and tunnel authority, and Manhattan
and Bronx surface transit operating authority;
(b) ["chairman"] "CHAIR" means the [chairman] CHAIR of the authority
and its subsidiaries and affiliates;
(c) "small business" means a business [in the construction trades]
THAT PERFORMS CONTRACTS FOR CONSTRUCTION OR RELATED SERVICES which (i)
is independently owned and operated; (ii) has annual revenues not
exceeding a fiscal limitation of ten million dollars or such lesser
amount as established by the authority pursuant to these provisions; and
(iii) meets additional criteria as otherwise established by the [chair-
man] CHAIR in consultation with the members of the MTA small business
mentoring program advisory committee. The chair of the committee shall
be the chief diversity officer of the MTA. [The] WITH RESPECT TO FIRMS
EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD13300-01-5
S. 8323 2
IN THE CONSTRUCTION TRADES, THE authority shall establish a detailed
definition in general and specific to different segments of the
construction industry to the extent necessary to reflect differing char-
acteristics of such segments based on the criteria used by the United
States small business administration for loans to small businesses as
set forth in Sections 121.301 through 121.305, or for awarding govern-
ment procurements as set forth in Sections 121.401 through 121.413, of
Subpart A of Part 121 of Chapter I of Title 13 of the Code of Federal
Regulations as amended, and such other criteria as determined by the
authority;
(d) "small business mentoring program" is a program established by the
authority pursuant to these provisions to provide small businesses
accepted into the program with the opportunity:
(i) for up to five years, to compete for and, where awarded, to
perform certain authority [public work] contracts FOR PUBLIC WORK OR
RELATED SERVICES to be designated by the authority for inclusion in this
program under this subparagraph, with the assistance of an authority-
provided mentor, which shall be a firm competitively selected by the
authority that has extensive construction management and mentoring expe-
rience, with the mentor to provide the small business with advice and
assistance in competing for and managing authority [public work]
contracts FOR PUBLIC WORK OR RELATED SERVICES; and
(ii) for a small business mentoring program participant which the
authority has determined has successfully completed the program under
subparagraph (i) of this paragraph, for up to five additional years, (A)
additional opportunities to compete with other designated small busi-
nesses in the program for certain [public work] contracts FOR PUBLIC
WORK OR RELATED SERVICES to be designated for inclusion under this
subparagraph and, where awarded, to perform such authority [public work]
contracts FOR PUBLIC WORK OR RELATED SERVICES, with the further assist-
ance of an authority-provided mentor, which shall be a firm competitive-
ly selected by the authority that has extensive construction management
and mentoring experience, with the mentor to provide the small business
with advice and technical assistance in competing for and managing
authority [public work] contracts FOR PUBLIC WORK OR RELATED SERVICES,
and (B) authority-provided assistance, as determined by the authority,
for such a small business to obtain bonding for public work contracts
that are competitively awarded pursuant to provisions of law other than
this section.
(e) "small business mentoring program contract" means a non-federally
funded, unless authorized by the applicable federal funding agency,
authority [public work] contract FOR PUBLIC WORK OR RELATED SERVICES
designated by the authority, in an estimated amount of not more than one
million five hundred thousand dollars for contracts under subparagraph
(i) of paragraph (d) of this subdivision and five million dollars for
contracts under subparagraph (ii) of paragraph (d) of this subdivision,
for which bids or proposals are to be invited and accepted only from
businesses that are enrolled in the small business mentoring program and
have been selected by the authority to compete for the contract.
2. Small business mentoring program. (a) Pursuant to these provisions,
the authority may establish a small business mentoring program. In
connection therewith, the authority may determine the criteria pursuant
to which a small business shall be eligible for and selected to partic-
ipate in the program under subparagraphs (i) and (ii) of paragraph (d)
of subdivision one of this section, the number of participants to
participate in each such components of the program, the criteria for the
S. 8323 3
competitive selection of the firms that will provide small businesses
with mentoring services, the assignment of a mentor to a specific small
business in the small business mentoring program, and the funding for
the program.
(b) Under the small business mentoring program, the [chairman] CHAIR
or the [chairman's] CHAIR'S designee is authorized, notwithstanding any
other provision of law:
(i) to designate which eligible [public work] contracts FOR PUBLIC
WORK OR RELATED SERVICES shall be small business mentoring program
contracts under subparagraphs (i) and (ii) of paragraph (d) of subdivi-
sion one of this section, respectively;
(ii) to establish standards for qualifying small business mentoring
program participants to compete for a small business mentoring program
contract, provided that no less than three qualified small businesses in
the program must submit responsive offers to perform the contract;
(iii) to determine when bids or proposals for a small business mentor-
ing program contract should be restricted to small business mentoring
program participants which, prior to the receipt of bids or proposals,
have been qualified by the authority for such competition;
(iv) to competitively select, designate and contract with one or more
experienced construction management firms that, under the general super-
vision of the authority, will provide mentoring services to the small
businesses participating in the small business mentoring program, and to
assign such mentors one or more designated small businesses participat-
ing in the program;
(v) for small business mentoring program contracts, except as set
forth herein, to waive requirements for the solicitation and award of a
[public work] contract FOR PUBLIC WORK OR RELATED SERVICES pursuant to
sections twelve hundred nine, twelve hundred sixty-five-a and twenty-
eight hundred seventy-nine of this chapter and any other provision of
law;
(vi) to assist only small business mentoring program participants that
have been awarded small business mentoring program contracts to obtain
any surety bond or contract of insurance required of them in connection
with such contract only notwithstanding any provision of section two
thousand five hundred four of the insurance law to the contrary; and
(vii) for small businesses that have been accepted into the small
business mentoring program under subparagraph (ii) of paragraph (d) of
subdivision one of this section, in addition to the benefits of such
program and notwithstanding any other provision of law, to provide tech-
nical assistance in obtaining bid, payment and performance bonding for
authority public work contracts that are not small business mentoring
program contracts, for which the small business is otherwise qualified.
3. Withdrawal of designation of small business mentoring program
contracts. (a) If the total number of qualified small business mentoring
program participants that respond to a competition and are considered
capable of meeting the specifications and terms of the invitation to
compete is less than three, or if the [chairman] CHAIR or the [chair-
man's] CHAIR'S designee determines that acceptance of the best offer
will result in the payment of an unreasonable price, the authority may
reject all offers and withdraw the designation of the contract as a
small business mentoring program contract.
(b) If the authority withdraws the designation of contract as a small
business mentoring program contract, the firms, if any, that made offers
shall be notified. Invitations to compete containing the same or rewrit-
S. 8323 4
ten specifications and terms shall then be re-issued as a small business
mentoring program contract for one or more additional contract period.
4. [Construction manager mentors] MENTORS. A mentor shall provide
services and assistance to a small business as designated by the author-
ity, which may include the following: (a) provide business training in
the skills necessary to operate a successful BUSINESS THAT PERFORMS
CONTRACTS FOR construction [business] OR RELATED SERVICES and to compete
for and perform a [public work] contract FOR PUBLIC WORK OR RELATED
SERVICES;
(b) provide technical assistance to the small business to assess the
outcome if the small business competes for but is not awarded a
contract;
(c) if the small business mentoring program contract is awarded to the
small business, provide guidance, advice and technical assistance to the
small business in the performance of the contract;
(d) provide other technical assistance to the small business to facil-
itate learning, training and other issues which may arise.
5. The authority may delegate to the [chairman] CHAIR or the [chair-
man's] CHAIR'S designee, the authority's responsibilities set forth
herein.
6. The small business mentoring program contracts authorized by this
legislation shall, for the initial year of the program, be in an aggre-
gate amount of not less than ten million dollars, and shall not exceed
one hundred million dollars, with the maximum amount in future years to
be set by the [chairman] CHAIR.
7. The authority shall submit a report, no later than September thir-
tieth, two thousand twenty-five, and annually thereafter, to the gover-
nor, the temporary president of the senate, and the speaker of the
assembly regarding procurements made pursuant to this section. Such
report shall include a description of each procurement made pursuant to
this subdivision and the rationale for why the [public work] contract
FOR PUBLIC WORK OR RELATED SERVICES was selected as a small business
mentoring program contract, information regarding the procurement proc-
ess for each such mentoring program contract and the name or names of
the small businesses that fulfilled the contract, the project identifi-
cation number and a description for each such project performed pursuant
to the contract, the contractual completion date for each contract, the
status of each such project, the contract price, including executed
modifications, whether a project received surety bond or insurance
contract assistance pursuant to subparagraph (vi) of paragraph (b) of
subdivision two of this section, the total dollar value of monies paid
to minority-owned and women-owned business enterprises and disadvantaged
business enterprises pursuant to this section itemized by year and
including the total dollar values for the five years preceding the
respective annual report's release date. Such report shall additionally
identify the authority-provided [construction manager] mentors and
describe their competitive selection process, describe the technical
assistance and advice provided by the authority and the mentors to
program participants, and describe the business training provided by
such mentor. For annual reports, any new procurements and changes during
the period covered by the report shall be identified separately.
§ 2. This act shall take effect immediately; provided, however, that
the amendments to section 1265-b of the public authorities law made by
section one of this act shall not affect the repeal of such section and
shall be deemed repealed therewith.
