A PSC rule aims to better connect local contractors with utilities
JACKSON—Hire Mississippi is a new initiative developed by the state’s Public Service Commission to encourage local contracting opportunities with Mississippi’s utilities.
According to the rule, which took effect in March, “Hire Mississippi was developed to foster, encourage, enable and facilitate economic development. To accomplish this, the rule constructs an environment that encourages more existing and startup Mississippi businesses to enter the market for utility goods and services.
“Prior to this rule, it has been the experience of the Commission and at least some utilities that a major impediment to more resident contractor involvement has been a lack of awareness of specific opportunities or processes to bid.”
In fact, in the words of one utility quoted in the rule, “Many Mississippi suppliers and contractors that express interest in contracting with [us] are unaware of the requirements to be qualified to work for the utility and/or do not properly complete the response to RFPs.”
Recognizing that the existing tools available to help increase awareness and improve the situation were insufficient, the commission developed Hire Mississippi.
Utilities now must maintain lists of interested Mississippi contracting companies—solicited through quarterly newspaper ads and online—and notify them of contracting opportunities worth more than $200,000. Interested contractors can register on the Hire Mississippi website or directly with individual utilities. Although utilities are not required to hire Mississippi contractors, a company that chooses an out-of-state contractor will have to explain that choice to the commission.
“I think this is the most unique program of its kind instituted by any public commission in the country,” said Commissioner Brandon Presley, who spearheaded the rule.
Not surprisingly, Mississippi utilities are on board. “We want resident contractors to bid on CenterPoint Energy jobs,” the company prominently announced on its website. “As a strong supporter of economic development in Mississippi, we encourage resident contractors … to explore the possibility of becoming a CenterPoint Energy contractor.”
Presley stressed that Hire Mississippi will be good for small local businesses and the state in general.
“This rule is a very important tool in workforce development,” he told American Gas. “I want these opportunities burned into the consciousness of every business in Mississippi. Because it’s up to us in Mississippi to boost the economic development in our state. Nobody else is going to do it.”