Cincinnati Change Response to Changing the Gulf

The economic effects of Hurricane Katrina have yet to be fully evaluated, but already the call for federal aid to help the victims has escalated.

The unprecedented scale of the destruction wrought by Katrina has yet to be fully quantified, but estimates of the cost have been rising sharply.
The insurance industry now estimates the damage to buildings and property to be in the order of $150bn, of which only some $40bn will be covered by insurance.

In addition, there is extensive damage to government-owned infrastructure such as interstate highways, ports and levees.

There is also the cost of temporarily housing and supporting the hundreds of thousands of residents have been evacuated. Under current plans this aid lasts for a year and can total over $26,200 in direct grants.

Overall, the total cost of the hurricane could exceed $200B.

Cincinnati Change is joining demands for more public spending for a "domestic Marshall plan".

Cincinnati Change will create a partnership with an Inter Faith Based Leadership Caolition lead by Pastor Wanda Lloyd-Daniels, of Ammons United Methodist Church who is also a journeywoman of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, owner of Lloyds General & Electrical Contractors, a Ohio company that is 20 plus years old general contracting and technology company that is a FBE/MBE/SBE and she is the head of the Cincinnati Hamilton County Black Republican Forum.

My name is Frederick Hargrove Sr. PE, MBA and I am a native Cincinnatian, born, raised and educated here. I grew up in many of the neighborhoods which have now been designated as empowerment zones.

I went to school in Walnut Hills and graduated from Walnut Hills High School. I am a experienced 30 year Professional Engineer and have a Masters in Business Administration. I have lived in Japan and been around the world in my role as a consulting engineer.

I was born in the West End of Cincinnati, Ohio, shopped in Over the Rhine, and, when in college, I lived in Mt. Auburn and Clifton Heights. Most of my relatives were lived in Avondale and most of my school friends lived in Evanston.

Cincinnati has been my home and the home of my parents since the early 1950’s when they were forced to leave the south to avoid racial prejudice. As was consistent with the times, my parents came to Cincinnati to live with their relative and start a new life.

On September 25, 1954, I was born. I have lived in many different neighborhoods in Cincinnati and have spent most of my 48 years here. I have raised my family here and am proud of my heritage here.My education here started at Millvale Elementary, I was Valedictorian of my junior high school and graduated in the top 25% of my class at Walnut Hills High School. I was a National Merit Scholarship Finalist.

I went to the University of Cincinnati on full scholarship from General Electric for Metallurgical Engineering and a full scholarship from Procter and Gamble for Mechanical Engineering. After graduation I went to work for Procter and Gamble in their Engineering Division and was placed in their “fast track program for management candidates”.

During my tenure at Procter and Gamble I designed many patentable devices,( not the least of which was the device which produced the “Folger’s Coffee Crystal”) but because I was an employee all such creations were the property of Procter and Gamble and I was proud to simply be doing my part.

After five years of proven service I was sent to school to get my MBA to continue my rise in the organization. I graduated from Hood College with an MBA in operations. At the time, Hood College, in Frederick Maryland, was rated as the best small college in the United States.In 1980 Procter and Gamble, went thru reorganization and my mentors, as were many other people, were displaced. The company downsized and since I was in school, I was part of that down sizing.

However fortune smiled on me and I was able to gain employment with NCI, the National Cancer Institute, at Fort Detrick in Frederick Maryland, as an engineer in charge of the design, construction and maintenance of research facilities. My experience at Procter and Gamble allowed me out shine all of my competition and promotions and recognition quickly followed.

During my stay there I was invited to join the Board of Directors at NIH, the National Health Institute in Bethesda Maryland.I was a technical advisor, offering advice on the feasible and safety of allowing certain contagious research to be done in the research facilities controlled by NIH. This experience brought me face to face with the latest technology for the control and containment of infectious disease and biological agents such as AIDS, all types of Cancers, Anthrax and other contaminants still listed as classified.

During my stay at Fort Detrick, I was co-opted by the United State Army to provide engineering support for their “experiments” at Fort Detrick. (As a point of information, Fort Detrick was the old biological warfare facilities for the United States Military). Fort Detrick is about 45 miles from Washington D.C. It was also the home of Air Force One and the East Coast Relay Station which was responsible for the defense of the entire eastern seaboard.) During my stay on the east coast I worked for NCI, NIH, and the Department of the Army and as a security contractor the Department of Defense.

Based on my experience I am qualified to design a P-4 level facility anywhere in the world and currently design hospitals. I am currently on assignment with one of the worlds biggest design/builders of hospitals. I am now designing the hospital of the future with partners that can be built today. I also worked for a firm responsible for design clean rooms and chip manufacturing rooms and designed one of the first class 1 clean room facilities.

In 1986 I received a call from Procter and Gamble. It appeared they had a project which required certain expertise which was possessed by only a handful of people. I was one of them. It involved a cost saving project which resulted in a savings of approximately $200,000,000.00 per installation. Until this point they were unable to prove this technology.

My assignment was to prove this technology, install it, and perform a successful test. Six months later we had our first successful run of a technology which had the potential of saving billions of dollars in capital equipment requirements. Riding on this success, I decided it was time to venture out on my own.

I started what is now Hargrove Engineering L.L.C. in 1988. (It’s precursor, Hargrove Design and Drafting Services had started two years earlier, in 1986.) In the last eighteen years, I have personally led hundreds of design projects. I have actively participated in every design which has come into our office, whether it was a single family dwelling or a collaborative effort with NASA and Martin-Marietta to place a man on Mars. Our last two major government assignments was the management of the replacement of the roof at the US Army Tank Plant and a 2002 Homeland Security Contract for the city of Cincinnati Water Works.

Cincinnati has the opportunity to become the crown jewel of the Midwest once more. Acting in conjunction with a whole host of entities who believe there is still some majesty left in Cincinnati, we are attempting to be the catalyst for this revitalization. We profess a plan of overall inclusion with shared opportunities for everyone up and down the economic scale.

Our plan is to develop partnerships with experienced builders who can work with us to create a million smart homes by 2015. They will be for first responders, educators, public service employees, the military, fire fighters, police, health care workers and the students in creative class or third frontier organizations that bridge the gap to those who have not. We will use a already established mutual fund with over $600M in current investments.

No one can do this alone and we propose to do this because we are not alone. As long as there is good will among like-minded people dedicated to the improvement of life among the masses, we will never be alone.

I consider myself a product of the empowerment zones and along with partners like Hershel Daniels, Junior stand ready to develop housing under the authority of the President of the United States. I helped form on June 19th 2005 Cincinnati Change as my agent to do this.

We at Cincinnati Change believe that we can Change Cincinnati NOW. To make this happen, as Cincinnati Change’s Chairman I have accepted a position with Lloyd Daniels Development Group as President in their development in Port Arthur, Texas as the center point of redevelopment efforts in the south which will employ people in Texas and Ohio by the end of 2006 in building smartHOMES and buildings with our technology built into them.

We are looking for Partners for a DHS Contract
Emergency Preparedness and Response

a multi million dollar business opportunity

Office : Federal Emergency Management Agency

Location : Flood, Fire and Mitigation Branch (Formerly in FEMA : OFM)

Solicitation number : HSFEHQ-06-R-SB

Title : Z -- Maintenance and Deactivation of Manufactured Homes and Travel Trailers [7,000]

Synopsis - Posted on Nov 03, 2005

Solicitation 01 - Posted on Nov 03, 2005

Solicitation 02 - Posted on Nov 29, 2005

Modification 01 - Posted on Dec 01, 2005

Amendment 01 - Posted on Dec 01, 2005

Amendment 02 - Posted on Dec 12, 2005

Modification 02 - Posted on Dec 12, 2005

Amendment 03 - Posted on Dec 21, 2005

Modification 03 - Posted on Dec 21, 2005

Modification 04 - Posted on Jan 06, 2006

Amendment 04 - Posted on Jan 06, 2006

This procurement is a 100% set-aside for small businesses pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) ?19.502-2(b).

The NAICS code for this procurement is 561210, Facilities Support Services.

The small business size standard is $30 million.

In accordance with FAR 19.102(7)(i)(B) regarding joint ventures and the application of revenue-based size standards, offerors may assume that the estimated contract value exceeds one-half the applicable size standard. Therefore, the size standard for the requirement (NAICS code 561210 - $30 million) applies to individual persons or concerns, not to the combined assets, of the joint venture. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is authorized pursuant to the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act , as amended (42 U.S.C. ?5121 et seq.) to provide assistance to applicants of Presidentially- declared disasters and emergencies.

The Individual Assistance (IA) Program provides for temporary housing assistance to disaster applicants in accordance with the Act. In order to accomplish its mission, FEMA requires maintenance and deactivation of manufactured housing and travel trailers.

The period of performance will be five years from date of contract award. Work will be performed only in the states of Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi.

Pursuant to section 307 of the Stafford Act (42 U.S.C. ?5150), preference will be given to the maximum extent practicable to local firms based within the disaster area, Port Arthur, Texas.

FEMA intends to issue Performance Based, Fixed Unit Price, Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ), multiple award contracts, by state, based on preferences given to local, small businesses.

It is anticipated that approximately seven (7 )contracts will be awarded in the Gulf Region. Each multiple award contract will provide for maintenance and deactivation of approximately 6,700 temporary housing units. The maximum value of each contract will not exceed $100 million, we will bid approx. $90M.

Contract award will be based on technically acceptable, lowest price.

The estimated contract award date is February 1, 2006.

Prospective offerors are responsible for downloading the RFP and attachments, if applicable. It is the responsibility of the individual offeror to monitor the Fedbizopps (FBO) web page for the release of the solicitation and any amendments. The RFP should be available for downloading within fifteen (15) days following publication of this announcement.

Potential offerors that do not have the capability to download from FBO, may request, in writing, a copy of the solicitation, including any attachments, and amendments. Potential offerors making this request must include in their written request an adequate justification for not obtaining the solicitation via the Internet.

Requests should be made via e-mail addressed to nancy.costello@dhs.gov or faxed to Nancy Costello at 202-646-3846.

Offerors are cautioned to include Solicitation number HSFEHQ-06-R-SBLA (for Louisiana), HSFEHQ-06-R-SBMS (for Mississippi), HSFEHQ-06-R-SBAL (for Alabama), and/or HSFEHQ-06-R-SBTX (for Texas) on all documentation submitted in response to this requirement. We attended the pre-proposal conference will held as specified in the solicitation.

Call us at 513.257.2552 or email us at h.daniels@cincinnatichange.com our project manager is Fred Hargrove PE, MBA.

A celebration of the Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., often called Martin Luther King Day in on Monday January 16, 2006 at the Cincinnati Music Hll. for a free concert starting at 11:30 AM.

It is a United States federal and state of Ohio holiday honoring the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and is observed on the third Monday of January each year, around the time of King's birthday, this year that is January 16, a day after his birth.

The Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday celebrates the life and legacy of a man who brought hope and healing to America.

We will commemorate at Cincinnati Music Hall the timeless values he taught us through his example -- the values of courage, truth, justice, compassion, dignity, humility and service that so radiantly defined Dr. King’s character and empowered his leadership, which we need in the Nati NOW.

In 2001, the founders of Cincinnati Change submitted a request to the Cincinnati Empowerment Corporation (CEC) that they set out procedures to issue $100M of revenue bonds. The request was updated in 2002 and again in 2003. In 2004, the CEC set the procedures to issue the bonds through the Cincinnati Hamilton County Port Authority.

In 2005, Cincinnati Change assembled a team to meet its organizational objectives through creation of a mutual fund to fund its mission to Change Cincinnati NOW. On June 19th, 2005 Cincinnati Change received its charter from the State of Ohio and stands ready to change Cincinnati NOW.

On 16 January 2006 Cincinnati Change is creating a limited liability company called Queen City Development Group. It will be going after contracts to help those in the Gulf, like the $100M plus contract due on 17 Jan. 2006.

A ubiquitous feature of the post-Hurricane Katrina cityscape -- the tens of thousands of cars, boats, buses and trucks littering streets and neutral grounds, marked with brown lines bearing witness to the height of floodwaters -- might finally start to disappear soon.

Nearly four months after the storm flooded 80 percent of New Orleans and left more than 30,000 ruined vehicles in public rights of way, Mayor Ray Nagin is poised to award a large contract to a private company that will oversee the collection and disposal of the wreckage, city officials said.

It's one of four major tasks the administration plans to outsource to private firms through contracts that, taken together, will be worth tens of millions of dollars and could amount to the city's largest professional-services deal ever.

Officials hope the contracts will be mostly paid for by the federal government. The Nagin administration also is seeking firms to manage projects, to stabilize and repair public buildings, and to hire workers to supplement city staff.

The Republican chairman of a special House panel investigating the government's response to Hurricane Katrina decided Wednesday to reject, at least for now, a proposal to subpoena the White House for documents detailing internal communications before and after the storm hit on August 29.

The panel's chairman, Rep. Tom Davis, R-Virginia, left open the possibility of subpoenaing the White House later.

"We cannot do our job if we don't get these documents, and we won't get these documents if we don't subpoena them," said Rep. Charlie Melancon, D-Louisiana, who sought to get internal memos, e-mails, and other communications from the White House and the Pentagon.

The committee, which is wrapping up its investigation and plans to issue its findings February 15, requested hundreds of thousands of documents more than two months ago from the Bush administration, state and locals officials in Washington and the Gulf Coast. Though Davis said the White House has handed over some documents, it has refused others sent to and from White House chief of staff Andrew Card, citing executive privilege.

Republican and Democratic lawmakers also agreed to shelve subpoenas against Mississippi and Alabama officials for now after the states said they were trying to locate all the documents. Louisiana has handed over more than 100,000 documents to the committee.