For the past five years, Scott M. Stringer, NYC Comptroller, Office of Diversity Initiatives, has led an agency-by-agency review of MWBE to spend in New York City. “MWBE Making the Grade Publication: New York City Agency Report Card on Minority- and Women-Owned Business Enterprises” highlights the progress made in 2019 and the history of supplier diversity in NYC. Stringer states that all agencies either matched or improved their status from previous years, but there is much room for improvement.
Here is the core challenge from the article:Initiatives that create these businesses’ opportunities in public procurement, apart from creating a fair economy and healthy competition, also save taxpayer dollars in the long term. New York City’s initiatives to buy more goods and services from minority- and women-owned businesses (M/WBEs) were established 30 years ago and continue today.
GETTING ORGANIZEDThe primary objective of this report is to help the City increase utilization of M/WBEs in procurement. With that in mind, the Comptroller’s Office held a series of focus groups to gather input from more than 40 M/WBEs and members of the Comptroller’s Advisory Council on Economic Growth through Diversity and Inclusion for the second consecutive year.
The focus groups recommended a survey on a larger population of M/WBEs to get feedback. They received responses from over 550 business owners, identifying systemic problems that obstruct the success of women and people of color in New York City procurement. The focus group participants and survey respondents highlighted the following challenges:
- The necessity to redo Contract language to meet the current market needs
- The Importance of Being Paid On Time
- The Importance of Agency Responsiveness
- The Requirement to aid navigating city systems
