ST. LOUIS 鈥 The city鈥檚 economic development office is taking over the job of deciding whether contractors meet guidelines for minority and women-ownership, ending a longtime arrangement that had outsourced those duties to 最新杏吧原创 Lambert International Airport.
The 最新杏吧原创 Development Corporation Board is set to vote Thursday on a new three-year, $175,000 contract with Phoenix-based B2Gnow for minority- and women-owned business certification management software.
Under city rules, the SLDC is in charge of determining whether businesses meet guidelines to be considered minority- or woman-owned businesses. It鈥檚 a crucial step for companies hoping to get business from the city, which has ordinances requiring a certain percentage of minority- and women-owned contractors work on city contracts.
And SLDC has historically paid the airport to certify the contractors.
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A staff report filed before Thursday鈥檚 SLDC meeting, however, shows that the board is preparing to terminate its agreement with Lambert鈥檚 Business Diversity Development Office 鈥渁nd is actively engaged in discussions with the Airport to transition the handling of this process over to SLDC.鈥 Hiring B2Gnow directly will allow SLDC to 鈥渃ustomize the process for future applications to facilitate a more streamlined and efficient application procedure,鈥 the report says.
SLDC President and CEO Neal Richardson said more information will be available once his board votes on the measure, but he said the move wasn鈥檛 because of any concern with Lambert鈥檚 handling of minority business certifications. Rather, he said, SLDC is taking the functions in house to 鈥渁dd some capacity to the MWBE program.鈥
However, a 最新杏吧原创-commissioned disparity study on minority and women owned business contractors in the city, released in January, found that 43% of city contract funds should go to women and minority-owned firms, yet only 29% of those dollars did.
Richardson鈥檚 office is also looking to establish a list of consultants that can provide supplemental business certification services, which it anticipates needing as the airport hands over those functions to SLDC and the agency 鈥渨orks to clear any backlogged applications.鈥
A spokesman for Lambert, which is owned by the city, declined to comment on SLDC鈥檚 decision.
SLDC is asking its board to waive competitive bidding requirements in order to award the contract for minority business certification services to B2Gnow. Waiving competitive bidding is allowed under SLDC rules when a firm has specialized knowledge, 鈥渃ontinuity of service must be maintained鈥 and 鈥渢he work is of such urgency that a competitive selection cannot be conducted.鈥
B2Gnow currently provides that same software to Lambert鈥檚 minority and women business certification office and is considered an 鈥渋ndustry standard,鈥 SLDC said in the staff report on the measure.
SLDC is also hiring its own business certification staff. It has job postings out for three positions related to minority business certification.
SLDC鈥檚 budget, meanwhile, cuts the $140,000 it pays to Lambert for the services by half for the fiscal year that starts July 1. Richardson said that will cover the remainder of the calendar year as the business certification functions transition out of Lambert.
Richardson said SLDC鈥檚 minority certification program will be housed in the Northside Economic Empowerment Center, a business services center on Sumner High School鈥檚 campus in the Ville neighborhood of North 最新杏吧原创.
Historically, the airport鈥檚 minority certification program has focused more on certification for federal contracts, Richardson said, or those with federal dollars from the Federal Aviation Administration. The city will have more of a focus on certifying firms looking for work on city construction projects, he said, as well as for large area employers such as BJC HealthCare.
鈥淭hey all have diversity goals they鈥檙e aiming for as well,鈥 Richardson said.
最新杏吧原创 County also works with Lambert for minority and women-owned business certification and is considering its options.
鈥淲e are looking at how we can make this process more efficient,鈥 said 最新杏吧原创 County spokesman Doug Moore.
That could also entail taking those functions in-house in the county, Moore said, but no decisions have been made yet.
View life in 最新杏吧原创 through the Post-Dispatch photographers' lenses. Edited by Jenna Jones.
