CLAYTON 鈥 The sponsor of a measure to scrap uniform minority-inclusion requirements in 最新杏吧原创 County contracts has agreed to a change that would retain those goals, but give the county the ability to waive them in certain cases.
The revised measure, sponsored by Councilman Ernie Trakas, R-6th District, drops his earlier proposal to require the county to set targets for hiring minority- and women-owned businesses on a contract-by-contract basis.
The goal was to address the growing number of county projects that weren鈥檛 getting any bids because contractors couldn鈥檛 meet the county鈥檚 current targets, which were adopted in 2018.
At a council hearing last week, Councilwoman Shalonda Webb, D-4th District, said she was concerned that providing too much flexibility would lead to less inclusion overall. Webb, who represents a majority-Black district and had signed on as a bill co-sponsor, said she wanted to hold the county to a minimum requirement that it couldn鈥檛 circumvent.
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On Tuesday, Trakas and Webb said they agreed to revise the bill to reinstate standard percentage goals but allow the county the discretion to adjust them if there aren鈥檛 enough minority- and women-owned businesses available for a particular project.
The updated bill specifies that the current percentage goals stay in place 鈥渦nless鈥 the director of the county鈥檚 minority inclusion program determines 鈥渢hat based on M/WBE availability, there is cause to adjust the goals.鈥
At a council hearing last week, Nate Adams, director of the county鈥檚 inclusion program, Greg Tatar, director of procurement, and Veta Jeffery, chief diversity officer, said that the standards needed to be adjusted in some cases. At least a dozen projects were delayed because contractors either failed to meet the inclusion goals or didn鈥檛 bid on certain projects because of them, they said. In some fields, Adams said, there simply weren鈥檛 enough businesses available for subcontracts to meet the current requirements.
And the current ordinance discouraged minority- and women-owned businesses from bidding to be prime contractors, Adams said, because they would then have to subcontract work to other firms in order to get credit toward the minority inclusion goals.
The plan by Trakas aims to eliminate the roadblock by deleting language defining minority- and women-owned businesses as subcontractors, allowing them to bid as prime contractors without having to subcontract work.
Trakas added language to the amended bill clarifying that prime contractors would only receive credit for the work that they actually perform. That would prevent a loophole in which a minority- or women-owned business could subcontract work to businesses that aren鈥檛 minority- or women-owned, Trakas said.
Webb said the bill left in place 鈥渁 strong foundation鈥 for the inclusion program but made it more 鈥渇lexible.鈥
鈥淭his was not one-sided, this was a thorough look at this legislation,鈥 Webb said.
The council advanced the bill without dissent, and Trakas said he would ask for a final vote of approval next week.
鈥淭here鈥檚 no legitimate reason not to support this legislation,鈥 he said. 鈥淟et鈥檚 proceed with this bill and get projects actually completed.鈥
The current ordinance, in effect since 2018, requires 24% minority-owned businesses and 9.5% women-owned businesses for construction, and 16% minority-owned businesses and 15% women-owned businesses for professional service contracts, which the county defines as architecture and engineering projects. The percentages were based on findings from a 2017 disparity study.
The ordinance also requires the county to verify that bidders made a 鈥済ood faith effort鈥 to subcontract work to minority- and women-owned businesses.
Under the pending changes to the ordinance, any change from the standard inclusion goals would have to be based on the scope of the work, the number and types of qualified minority- and women-owned businesses available in certain trades, whether the project allows for a prime contractor to subcontract work out, and the level of minority inclusion in similar projects elsewhere in the 最新杏吧原创 region.
The county would be required to specify the inclusion goals for each contract in the formal request for bids, and would be required to advertise the projects 30 days in advance of the opening date, including to the county鈥檚 directory of minority- and women-owned businesses. The directory would have to be updated monthly and published publicly on the county website.
Originally posted at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 2.
