11/28/16 Council Agenda Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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October 6, 2016 Colleagues, Our organization is grounded in the principles of equity and human rights. Because of the Cits commitment to these principles, it is important that we promote and advance these values in our organization, our community, and beyond. The new Equity in Contracting Program is an opportunity to make additional strides in this direction, and keep us on a path to being an organization of the future. National and regional studies show that significant systemic barriers to participation in the marketplace has led to historic underutilization of minority and women-owned businesses in public contracting. This underutilization has a dual impact: it limits the marketplace of vendors, thereby reducing market competition and innovation; and it limits business opportunities to minority and women-owned businesses, which perpetuates the barriers. The City first prohibited discrimination in contracting based on race or gender through City Code in 1975. Despite taking this action, barriers still exist for minority and women-owned businesses to participate fully in serving the community through contracting with the City. City purchasing activities equal about $124 million per year, and can be a powerful tool to help create a level playing field for all vendors. Improving minority and women owned vendors access to business opportunities with the City develops and strengthens these organizations and in turn improves the economic prosperity and vitality of our community. Rather than reflecting past practices, these changes move us to represent an organization of 2025. The City has been working on various fronts to understand utilization of minority and women owned business and improve access to contracting opportunities for those firms. Purchasing staff have been networking with other public agencies gaining guidance on best practices, while for federally funded capital projects, Public Works adheres to requirements for collecting utilization data. These are all good steps toward our goals and we know we can do more. In order to create equitable opportunities for all vendors, the City implemented an Equity in Contracting Program. The program has three focus areas: data collection and analysis, organizational engagement, and external outreach. 1.Conducting critical, systematic, and comprehensive reviews of the data will: o Help identify and understand barriers faced by minority and women- owned businesses competing for contract opportunities; o Remove barriers that have impaired access by minority and women-owned businesses to contracting opportunities and, o Help develop a better understanding of minority and women-owned businesses in the vendor marketplace. The Equity in Contracting Program provides the tools and data management to ensure collection and comprehensive review of available data. 2.The success of the Equity in Contracting Program requires active participation amongst project managers and associated City staff involved in the contracting process and related decisions. Engaging these key stakeholders in the Equity in Contracting Program increases awareness of the purpose and importance of the program, and connects City staff with the tools they need to conveniently access potential new vendors.