FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 

February 27, 2014 

Contact: Mindy Linetzky, 415.554.4829

CITY LEADERSHIP AND CONTRACTORS BUILD NEW PARTNERSHIP 

Collaboration aims to improve delivery of capital projects and promote efficiency

San Francisco, CA -- More than 300 contractors, City department leaders and construction industry executives joined Mayor Edwin M. Lee today to officially kick off San Francisco’s new partnering program.

The initiative brings contractors and City departments to the table before the first shovel of dirt on a project is turned to foster better communication and build trust. Successful partnering has shown to deliver projects on time and on budget, and with the highest quality to avoid schedule delays and costly claims.

With more than $25 billion of City projects coming up over the next 10 years to upgrade our public infrastructure and buildings, the need for partnering is paramount.

“San Francisco is the first city in the nation to enact a citywide partnering program to create common working relationships between our City departments and contractors so that we can deliver important infrastructure projects on time and on budget,” Mayor Lee said. “With our new culture of partnership, we are developing high-performing teams in advance to reduce the likelihood of problems later, creating solid working relationships and preparing for the challenge of working through complicated project issues in a highly productive and collaborative way.”

The mayor announced today that he will convene a steering committee made of City department directors and contractors to help implement the City’s partnering program.

Today’s summit, held at Yoshi’s San Francisco, showcased projects that already have benefited from partnering, offered participants new tools to succeed and cemented the commitment of City officials and their construction industry partners to make partnering work.

“Whatever a person’s role is on these projects – from laborer to CEO and everything in between – partnering will help us work better as a team,” said San Francisco Public Works Director Mohammed Nuru. “We hope to establish and maintain a relationship of shared trust, equity and commitment. We’re all in this together.”

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