PHILADELPHIA and NEW YORK, July 22, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hill International (NYSE: HIL ), the global leader in managing construction risk, announced today that it has received two contracts with the New York State Governor’s Office of Storm Recovery (GOSR), Housing Trust Fund Corporation (HTFC), to provide construction management support services in connection with Superstorm Sandy disaster recovery efforts. The contracts have a total estimated value to Hill of approximately $9.4 million.
In October 2012, Superstorm Sandy, the largest storm in New York’s recorded history, swept ashore. Sandy’s effect was devastating, causing widespread damage to lives, homes, businesses, infrastructure, government property, and an economy just recovering from the Great Recession. Fourteen New York counties were declared Federal disaster areas. Sixty New Yorkers died and two million customers lost power with some blackouts lasting up to three weeks. The storm damaged or destroyed as many as 300,000 housing units, affected or closed over 2,000 miles of roads, produced catastrophic flooding in subways and tunnels, and damaged major power transmission and communication systems. Sandy followed closely on the heels of Tropical Storm Lee and Hurricane Irene, which caused unprecedented and catastrophic damage to Upstate New York.
In January 2013, President Obama signed into law the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act pursuant to which the U.S. Congress appropriated $16.0 billion to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for Community Development Block Grant—Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funds, so that HUD could provide funds to address community recovery needs resulting from disasters that occurred in the United States in 2012 and 2013. Of these funds, more than $3.8 billion was allocated to New York State for its recovery efforts from Superstorm Sandy, Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee.
In June 2013, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo established GOSR as a division within HTFC to maximize the coordination of recovery and rebuilding efforts in storm-affected municipalities throughout New York State and directed it to administer CDBG-DR funds. GOSR administers the program through a variety of organizations and municipalities through sub-recipient agreements. Depending on the specific program or project, GOSR may also choose to directly administer activities through contractors or other vendors. The State’s initial Action Plan focused primarily on: (1) addressing the immediate housing and business assistance needs in the communities affected by recent storms and (2) assisting governments in covering emergency expenses, providing matching funds necessary to repair and mitigate storm damaged infrastructure, and providing funds for critical infrastructure assets that were storm-impacted.
Hill is supporting the implementation and administration of a broad range of programs for which CDBG-DR funds are being used, including but not limited to housing grant and loan programs, business grant and loan programs, and a variety of infrastructure development projects performed by municipalities, agencies and other organizations that help administer funds.
“We are honored to be part of the Superstorm Sandy projects for GOSR,” said John Milano, P.E., Senior Vice President and Northeast Regional Manager for Hill’s Project Management Group.
Hill International, with 4,600 professionals in 100 offices worldwide, provides program management, project management, construction management, construction claims and other consulting services primarily to the buildings, transportation, environmental, energy and industrial markets. Engineering News-Record magazine recently ranked Hill as the eighth largest construction management firm in the United States. For more information on Hill, please visit our website at www.hillintl.com .
Certain statements contained herein may be considered “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, and it is our intent that any such statements be protected by the safe harbor created thereby. Except for historical information, the matters set forth herein including, but not limited to, any projections of revenues, earnings or other financial items; any statements concerning our plans, strategies and objectives for future operations; and any statements regarding future economic conditions or performance, are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on our current expectations, estimates and assumptions and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties. Although we believe that the expectations, estimates and assumptions reflected in our forward-looking statements are reasonable, actual results could differ materially from those projected or assumed in any of our forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from estimates or projections contained in our forward-looking statements are set forth in the Risk Factors section and elsewhere in the reports we have filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including that unfavorable global economic conditions may adversely impact our business, our backlog may not be fully realized as revenue and our expenses may be higher than anticipated. We do not intend, and undertake no obligation, to update any forward-looking statement.
Hill International, Inc. John P. Paolin Senior Vice President of Marketing and Corporate Communications (215) 309-7710 johnpaolin@hillintl.com
The Equity Group Inc. Devin Sullivan Senior Vice President (212) 836-9608 dsullivan@equityny.com
(HIL-G)
