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We made the commitment to you to share updates on the process of implementing the recommendations of the Disparity Study. As we approach the end of the year, I wanted to take a moment to do just that.
The Office of Diversity and Inclusion, in collaboration with its consultants Mason Tillman & Associates (MTA) and JD2 Strategists, has spent the last six months vetting and reviewing the disparity study recommendations. Despite a pandemic that left many small businesses struggling, protests calling for racial justice and an increase in violence across our country, our work never wavered and never stopped.
To ensure cross collaboration and community stakeholder input, ODI engaged working groups of department leaders and staff, MWBE owners, advocates and community leaders. For several weeks, the working groups reviewed the study recommendations, including proposed MWBE program elements, to determine the most effective strategies needed to remedy the documented disparities found in the report. In addition, ODI engaged a roundtable discussion with several members of the prime contracting community to share the progress of our work and engender partnership and collaboration for moving forward.
MTA proposed a number of recommendations to address the documented disparities. Each of the recommendations were reviewed by the working groups and considered for adoption into a new MWBE program to be developed. I approved them, and they were subsequently presented and approved by Columbus City Council.
Key program remedies proposed by the consultant team for implementation include:
- Small Local Business Enterprise Program – develop a small, local business enterprise program to spur the growth of local businesses able to participate on City contracts.
- Goal Setting – establish MWBE participation goals as a percentage of a contract's projected expenditure. ODI would determine whether a City contract will have no goals, utilize standard annual goals or utilize project-specific goals. The goals would then reflect what the City would expect certified MBE and WBE firms to receive as determined by their underutilization in and relative availability in the disparity report.
- Bond Waivers – review the efficacy of waiving bonds associated with smaller projects. This would support the broader engagement of small, local, MWBE companies gaining access to participate on projects as prime.
- Diversity Management Software system – the City is currently in contract negotiations with the developers of the B2GNow software system to better manage our supplier diversity functions, including and online application process for certification, an online MWBE directory, contract compliance, outreach management and utilization reporting.
I expect to see a new MWBE plan that can be presented to City Council in the first quarter of 2021, a slight delay from the original timeline because we expanded the scope of the work to maximize MWBE inclusion across all of our City processes.
The MWBE program adoption will follow other Council-approved initiatives, requiring opportunities for community review and input. While the dates have yet to be determined, we encourage and look forward to hearing from our stakeholders.
I recognize that there are some who will attack the study; there are some who would seek to attack the data and the methodology. As a City, we have taken every step to ensure a comprehensive, inclusive and accurate review of the data. I continue to remain both confident and committed to the work of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion and the work of MTA.
I am excited about the progress we are making and look forward to updating you again in the near future.
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