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City wants more participation from female, minority businesses

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By Jim DeBrosse, Staff Writer Updated 5:11 PM Wednesday, December 23, 2009

DAYTON — A sweeping new ordinance for encouraging more participation in city contracts among minority, female and small local businesses was approved unanimously by the Dayton City Commission at its meeting this morning, Dec. 23.

Channon Lemon of the Minority Economic Development Council hailed the new regulations as the most important collaboration among city officials and local businesses since the economic recovery plan following the Great Flood of 1913.

“This will actually set a new standard for the region,” she said.

The ordinance was two years in the making and was developed in conjunction with a study released in August of last year by MGT of America Inc. that found a pattern of unintentional discrimination in awarding city contracts. MGT’s data showed that less than 5 percent of construction projects and less than one half of 1 percent of professional service contracts were awarded to minority and female businesses between 2001 and 2006.

The ordinance does not set contracting quotas, which have been struck down by federal courts over the last 20 years. But it does establish percentage goals for contracting with minority and female businesses, strengthen accountability and oversight among city departments for meeting those goals and requires frequent reports to city commissioners on their progress.

The ordinance was last revised 15 years ago.

Key features of the revised Procurement Enhancement Program include:

Sets annual goals for awarding construction projects — 17 percent for minority businesses, 5 percent for female businesses and 20 percent for small businesses — and all other city contracts out for bid.
Establishes a local preference for hiring businesses in the city first and county second.
Helps local minority, female and small businesses get certified for inclusion in the program, provides them with technical assistance and conducts outreach to improve their chances in the city’s bidding process.
Requires a good faith effort from major contractors to partner with local minority and female businesses before bidding on contracts.
Tracks the effectiveness of the program by reviewing the monthly data on spending with minority, female and small businesses.

Al Washington, a Dayton resident, questioned whether the program requires the city to do enough to encourage major companies and trade unions to hire minority apprentices and set them on a career path to owning their own businesses.

And David Brown, project manager of Staffco Construction, said he hoped the new regulations would better define a bidder’s “good faith effort” in meeting the program’s requirements, a process he said has been “too subjective” in the past.

Commissioners said the ordinance is still a work in progress and will evolve after it takes effect July 1, 2010.

By mandating quarterly and annual reports to the city commission, “we’re going to get a lot more information (than we did in the past) on the program” and its progress, Commissioner Matt Joseph said.

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