MWH Global hires 35 New Orleans firms, nearly 300 laborers

New Orleans CityBusiness, Oct 25, 2005 by CityBusiness Staff Report

To help ensure New Orleans-area utilities infrastructure are rebuilt in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and MWH Global Inc. are putting local contractors and laborers back to work.USACE and MWH are working together to manage and monitor quality control for storm drain debris removal efforts in the New Orleans metro area.

To complete the USACE contractual work, MWH subcontracted with several New Orleans-area contractors and hired nearly 70 local workers.When Katrina struck, MWH was midway through a 10-year, $650 million contract with the Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans. Under that contract, MWH served as program manager for the Sewer System Evaluation and Rehabilitation Program, which assessed and repaired the city's aging sewer system, work distributed to about 35 local consulting firms. That contract was suspended to focus on post-hurricane recovery efforts, so MWH used the same local contractors to perform work under its USACE and other contracts to bring New Orleans metro area utilities infrastructure systems back online.Under separate contracts, MWH is employing local contractors and a pool of approximately 200 more local workers. The company anticipates being able to put additional local firms and workers back to work pending the results of further contract negotiations.MWH, with offices in New Orleans and Baton Rouge, is a Broomfield, Colo.-based global environmental engineering firm that has provided consulting services for the New Orleans metro area since 1979.