Small and local construction firms in the District will get their first organized shot at landing work on the new Washington Commanders stadium when the project's builders host a free outreach expo next month at Capital Turnaround, 700 M St SE. Clark | Mortenson | SmootDC, the joint venture selected to build the $2.7 billion stadium, is running the event alongside D.C. workforce agencies and Mayor Muriel Bowser's office to walk vendors, suppliers, prime contractors, and certified business enterprises through how to get in on the bidding.
The event, called First & Goal, runs from 7:30 a.m. to noon on September 9 at the Navy Yard-area event space. According to the joint venture's own announcement, shared by Mayor Bowser on Facebook, attendees will learn about the CMS team's procurement process, trade partner criteria, and upcoming bid timelines. Participation costs nothing, but attendees must register either by scanning a QR code or visiting clrk.cc/cmsjv-outreach, and the CMS team is fielding questions at [email protected].
Workshops Target Certification and Labor Rules
The expo includes dedicated workshops on becoming a Certified Business Enterprise, on apprenticeship requirements and resources, and on the project labor agreement governing the stadium's construction workforce. Those sessions map directly onto District law: under regulations administered by the Department of Small and Local Business Development, developers on government-assisted private projects like this one must subcontract at least 35% of the adjusted project budget to D.C.-certified CBEs, according to the DSLBD.
Separately, the Department of Employment Services' First Source Employment Agreement law requires contractors on city-backed construction to prioritize D.C. residents for at least 51% of new positions, with 35% of apprenticeship hours worked by District-registered apprentices, per DOES. That law was first enacted in 1984 and updated in 2011 to maximize local employment from city-backed investments. Also in the mix is the District's Project Labor Agreement threshold, which the D.C. Council lowered from $75 million to $50 million in legislation passed in August 2024 that took effect October 1, 2025, according to the D.C. Department of General Services. PLAs set standardized wage rates, working conditions, and labor dispute resolution rules across every trade on the job.
A Joint Venture With Local Stadium Experience
The prime contractor team, Clark | Mortenson | SmootDC, was selected by the Commanders on August 11 to build the roughly 1.8-million-square-foot stadium, with groundbreaking planned for spring 2027 and completion targeted for spring 2030, according to Bisnow. Preliminary site work at the former RFK Stadium grounds began back in June, the outlet reports. Two of the three joint venture partners, Clark Construction and Smoot Construction, previously teamed up to build Nationals Park in Navy Yard between 2006 and 2008, and Clark is currently overseeing major renovations at Capital One Arena downtown, set to wrap in 2027. The third partner, Mortenson, has built NFL venues including Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas and U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, per the same report.
The stadium itself sits within a much larger $3.7 billion RFK campus redevelopment that the D.C. Council approved in September 2025 on an 11-2 vote, committing $2.7 billion in Commanders private capital and more than $1 billion in public funds for site infrastructure, parking, utilities, and a youth sports complex, as reported by The Washington Informer. The deal returns an NFL franchise to the city after the team played in Landover, Maryland, since 1997.
Design and Transit Pieces Still Falling Into Place
The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts granted concept approval in July for the planned 65,000-seat enclosed stadium designed by HKS, while directing the project team to refine the east and west portals and parking garage layouts given the site's proximity to the U.S. Capitol corridor, Hoodline reported at the time. The stadium occupies 180 federal acres leased to the District along the Anacostia River. Demolition of the original RFK Memorial Stadium, vacant since D.C. United left in 2017, began in late January 2025 and was slated for full site clearance by mid-2026.
Transit planners are also adjusting for the crowds a new stadium will bring. In May, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority detailed a draft $400 million transit upgrade proposal for the RFK site, targeting expanded station entrances at Stadium-Armory and enhanced bus corridors for game-day traffic, prioritizing improvements to existing rail stations over building a new Metrorail stop. D.C.'s broader master plan for the 180-acre campus, shaped by architecture firm Gensler, calls for 5,000 to 6,500 housing units alongside retail space, riverfront parks, and public sports facilities, with city projections estimating up to $24 billion in total economic output over 33 years.
Open Questions on Enforcement
City leaders have framed the megaproject as a major jobs and small-business opportunity for the District. But past audits have flagged historical challenges enforcing the First Source local hiring mandate on D.C. projects, raising open questions about how closely District agencies will monitor and enforce compliance once construction ramps up on a project of this scale. For now, the September 9 expo represents the first formal step for small D.C. firms hoping to land trade packages before the spring 2027 groundbreaking.
