Congress passed and the President signed the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA)  that allowed the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to provide a one-time $3.92 billion source of CDBG funds for emergency assistance to state and local governments to acquire and redevelop foreclosed properties that might otherwise become sources of abandonment and blight within their communities. The City of Saint Paul was allocated $4.3M directly from HUD and another $6.3M from the Minnesota Housing and Finance Agency. 

In 2009, Congress appropriated additional Neighborhood Stabilization funds. On May 4, 2009, HUD released the Notice of Fund Availability (NOFA) for the Neighborhood Stabilization Program 2 (NSP2) under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, 2009. Under the program round in this notice, applicants competed for up to $1.93 billion of NSP2 funds to carry out neighborhood stabilization programs. The City was awarded $18 million of NSP2 funding by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development in January of 2010.

There is a mandatory training for contractors interested in bidding on rehabilitation of NSP properties. Requirements such as Section 3 and the use of the City/HRA's new computerized tracking system, B2Gnow/LCPtracker, will be presented.

Pre-bid Compliance Trainings will be held on the third Thursday of the month through the end of 2010. All trainings will be held at the Rondo Community Library located at 461 N. Dale Street, Saint Paul, in the room indicated below. You will need to R.S.V.P. in order to attend a training; sessions with no registered attendees will be canceled. Please contact Kelly Bauer at or 651-266-6604.

September 16, 2010        10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. Multipurpose Room
October 21, 2010             10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. Multipurpose Room
November 18, 2010         10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. Meeting Room A or B
December 16, 2010         10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. Multipurpose Room

Contractors who have attended the Pre-Bid/Compliance Training
Contractors who have bid on projects to date

Contractors  who can get certified with the City Vendor Outreach Program and Section 3 Program will greatly increase their ability to be awarded bids since the City has requirements for using certified contractors on the NSP projects. Once certified, they will be listed on the City web site and other projects will also refer to the VOP and Section 3 lists to find certified contractors and subs.  Contractors who are not yet certified with Section 3 and the Vendor Outreach Program (small-, minority-, and women-owned business enterprises) and already have an affirmative action plan in place can contact:

1.  Vendor Outreach Program (VOP): Stephanie Selb, 651-266-8904
    VOP is a member of the CERT Program, a central certification program for the City of Saint Paul, Ramsey County, City of Minneapolis, and Hennepin County. Certification is available for small businesses- (SBE) , minority- owned businesses- (MBE)  and / or women-owned business enterprises (WBE). Directories and application forms are available on the CERT Program website: www.govcontracts.org  

2. Section 3 Certification: Luis Morales 651-266-8918

• Section 3 Forms
• City of Saint Paul and HRA Section 3 Plan Form
• Certification Form for Business Seeking Section 3 Status           
• Certification Form for Individuals Seeking Section 3 Resident Status

Please contact Jack Ray at 651-266-6968 to check the status of an application.

3.  Affirmative Action: Jess Reimer, 651-266-8927
    An active Affirmative Action Plan is required.  It is good for 2 years, then renewal is needed.

• NSP & NSP 2 Request for Proposals