The Housing Authority of the City of Annapolis Receives NAHRO 2010 Award of Merit for their use of The Gordian Group's EZIQC system

MAULDIN, S.C., Aug. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- The Housing Authority of the City of Annapolis, Md., (HACA) turned to The Gordian Group for a solution to renovate public housing in a more efficient and transparent way. Their use of The Gordian Group's EZIQC system resulted in a 2010 National Award of Merit from National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials.

The Gordian Group's EZIQC® construction procurement tool, a version of Gordian's popular job order contracting system, was instrumental in HACA's efforts. Specifically, the system helped the agency quickly repair and renovate housing units while also improving financial oversight and regulatory compliance.

An influx of funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) solved part of HACA's problem but created others. "Our specific problem was the large number of vacant housing units that needed repair," said Carol Morgan, Director of HACA Capital Improvement Services. "We finally had the funds to make necessary repairs and renovations but the volume overwhelmed our in-house staff."

Use of construction contractors was looked at as a way to accomplish the vast amount of work but the typical bidding process would have taken significant time and resources. Keeping projects on budget, and adhering to ARRA-mandated reporting requirements was another concern.

HACA overcame its challenges by using EZIQC from The Gordian Group. The competitively bid, indefinite-quantity construction contract was already available for use by agencies throughout Maryland.

"If it wasn't for the existence of EZIQC, HACA would not have access to this type of program and the benefits that it provides," said Morgan. "The Gordian Group's system allowed us to begin procuring work with zero up-front development time. Once we received approval from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, we began using EZIQC to accomplish the work."

EZIQC provides customers access to a national network of government procured, competitively bid, local contractors that can be used to perform repairs, alterations, and new construction with complete transparency, price controls, and quality controls.

"We were excited to hear that the Housing Authority of the City of Annapolis won this award using EZIQC for such an important purpose. More housing is available to more people because of the dedicated staff at HACA," said Robert Coffey, Gordian Group's CEO and Co-founder.

EZIQC is provided by The Gordian Group, world leaders in indefinite quantity construction pricing, products, and consulting. Each year, more than $1.5 billion in construction spending is sourced using the company's job order contracting products and services. The savings to taxpayers adds up to millions of dollars and countless man-hours in procurement and project management time.

About the Gordian Group

The Gordian Group, Inc. is a product and services firm that specializes in development and implementation of Job Order Contracting programs for facility and infrastructure owners. For more information, go to www.gordian-group.com and www.eziqc.com.

SOURCE The Gordian Group, Inc.