By JANE SCHMITT

Minority and women-owned construction companies looking for a piece of the pie are finding it at the University at Buffalo.

UB official Kevin Thompson says some major projects on campus are in the hands of such firms - and that's by design.

"We made a commitment some time ago to encourage participation by minority business enterprises. We think it's good business for the local community and the region," Thompson says. "We think it's good to have a diverse group of contractors working on our university projects. It's a win-win all the way around."

As director of the UB Office of Facilities Planning and Design, he says there's always something going on at the three campuses, from renovations to new construction. And the numbers are adding up for MWBEs.

According to UB, in the past few years alone, it has $85.2 million in contracts with such firms - $54.5 million with minority-owned contractors and $30.7 million with women-owned.

"At the forefront of everybody's mind right now is the move of our School of Medicine downtown," Thompson says, referring to UB's $375 million plan to shift the medical school from South campus to the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.

"(For) that project we will also focus on minority and women business participation, and we're going to start with the consultants. We will be selecting the design consulting group probably in the next three or four months. We want to focus on the new percentages and goals for that particular group," he says.

In a recent release, UB stated that when it embarked on its first major construction project downtown - the New York State Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences - it set goals for work done by MWBE contractors or subcontractors.

"Those goals of 15 percent participation by MBEs and 5 percent participation by WBEs were much higher than the SUNY standards at the time of 3 percent MBE and 3 percent WBE," the release said.

The school set similar goals for other construction projects at the North and South campuses.

Says Thompson: "Up until now, (MWBEs) have been primarily subcontractors (on campus). We do have some roofing contractors who are the prime contractors when we do roof replacements, but Sundra Ryce's company is really the first (minority- and/or women-owned firm) that took a major project as general contractor."

Ryce is president and CEO of SLR Contracting & Service Co. Inc. The Buffalo-based firm is handling the $19.9 million renovation of Hayes Hall, home of the UB School of Architecture and Planning.

"It's a signature building on the South campus with the beautiful clock tower," Ryce says.

SLR has a history with UB and currently is working with general contractor Turner Construction on a project at Barbara and Jack Davis Hall. The Hayes project, however, marks the first time SLR has taken a lead role on campus.

"This is our first major construction project with UB directly," says Ryce, whose 16-year company employs 30. "It's exciting for us (because) it's the School of Architecture, it's a historic building and it's also a significant project for the university."

Her crews started the project in November and expect it to be complete in August 2013. She doesn't hitch her wagon to the designation of MWBE, however.

Says Ryce: "What we've tried to do at SLR over the years is build our company on the fact that we are good at what we do. We're a woman- and minority-owned firm but at the end of the day, for our customers we're (simply) a great general contractor."