Doniphan firm receives statewide recognition

Doniphan firm receives statewide recognition

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo., -- C&M Contractors, Inc., Doniphan, is the winner of a statewide award for business excellence.

The general contracting business received a 2013 Excellence in Business Award from the Missouri Small Business & Technology Development Centers (MO SBTDC) and Missouri Procurement Technical Assistance Centers (MO PTAC) at a gala banquet in Jefferson City, Mo., on Jan. 30. The firm also received legislative resolutions at the Missouri Capitol from Senator Mike Cunningham, District 33, and Rep. Steve Cookson, District 153.

C&M contractors, Inc., is one of 22 outstanding small businesses in Missouri who received the award.

The annual awards recognize outstanding achievement in business management, government contracting, job creation and revenue generation by client firms of the two programs.

C&M Contractors, Inc., helped Joplin student-athletes get back on the field after the devastating May 2011 tornado. The tornado not only devastated the city, it also destroyed the city's high school and its athletic fields. School officials were determined to get students back to normal as quickly as possible and found temporary classrooms while the athletic department announced that football, basketball, baseball and other sports programs would continue in the fall.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers New York District, which specializes in rebuilding schools, and the Federal Emergency Management Administration needed a contractor to build the new fields quickly.

Several MO SBTDC business counselors, notably Willis Mushrush, business and MO PTAC procurement specialist with University of Missouri Extension at West Plains, have helped C&M navigate government contracting since 2010, and the firm was ready for such an emergency contract.

"We were a little concerned about having to work so quickly," admits Melinda Vaughn, president, who co-founded the company in 1995 with Charlie Bass and his wife. "To pull engineers in and do a design-build in such a short time frame was definitely a challenge." But Vaughn and Bass were up to the challenge.

They arrived in Joplin the day following receipt of the contract to survey the sites and assemble a team of subcontractors and engineers. And only nine days later, the C&M team completed the design and negotiations for the new baseball, soccer, softball and football fields. The fields were sodded by Sept. 1, an amazing 45 days ahead of schedule. The grading was completed, the grass growing, the bleachers in place and the lights shining when the student-athletes took the field in the fall.

Says Bass, "The damage to Joplin was indescribable, and losing so many people in a town that size was a tragedy. Being picked to help rebuild the fields was a real honor, and we did everything we could to finish this job on time and within the budget."

In just two years, with the assistance of Mushrush and the PTAC program, C&M has secured government projects in three different states worth more than $10 million. And, because C&M made such a good impression on the Corps' New York District, the firm may be asked to bid on portions of the East Coast struck by Hurricane Sandy, says Vaughn.

The MO SBTDC and MO PTAC are a statewide network of business technical assistance providers and educators who serve Missouri businesses with consultation and training in the areas of management, marketing, international trade, financial management, government contracting, technology commercialization and market research.

For more information, go to www.missouribusiness.net. Or call Mary Paulsell, director of communications, at 573/882-1353 or paulsellm@missouri.edu.

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