Disparities Loom Large In County Contracting

Miami FL

13 April, 2022

1:59 PM

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By Johania Charles, Miami Times Staff Writer Apr 12, 2022 Amid a crowd of business leaders, county residents and entrepreneurs, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava announced Monday that a desired procurement disparity study was finally underway. Pushed for by the South Florida Black Prosperity Alliance and the local NAACP chapter, the study could potentially provide data to justify racial, ethnic or even gender-based procurement rules. Without the study, county government cannot impose rules that make it easier for minority business owners to obtain county contracts without legal barriers. "What are we going to do to address the bias that exists in the procurement department," said Ruel Miles, owner of a construction-management firm, directing the question to the mayor and county commissioners at a town hall on Monday. "You hear 'small business,' 'diversity,' and immediately there's a wall that's built that says they're less than deserving of remuneration [and] tax dollars that they pay." The study, according to county leaders, is an essential step in leveling the playing field for local business owners but it is not the only tool in the county's arsenal to reform contracting. Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava announced Monday at a town hall that the county will be implementing a values-based procurement policy. (Johania Charles for The Miami Times) "Miami-Dade County was among the first jurisdictions to adopt race and gender-conscious procurement programs, however, these programs were challenged and invalidated in two separate federal lawsuits," said Levine Cava during the town hall. "So despite the implementation of a small business program, many women, Black and Hispanic local businesses are still facing difficulty obtaining county contracts, and to fully understand how we can improve we must carefully study our current processes." The 1996 and 2004 federal court decisions forced the county to establish gender and race-neutral small-business programs. Though the study is expected to be completed next year, the mayor announced that the county is now officially open for business and looking to procure goods and services from local businesses, especially from minority-owned vendors. A vendors' table at a county town hall on procurement offered various resources to local business owners. (Johania Charles for The Miami Times) One of the ways the mayor's administration plans to do this is through the newly adopted Values-Based Procurement program. When considering contracts or subcontracts, the program would evaluate other factors such as benefits, long-term value and the environmental impact of services being offered, as opposed to awarding contracts to the lowest bidder in terms of cost. Some county commissioners argue that this would cut red tape and increase transparency and equity. It also would foster social responsibility by looking beyond the company on its face to its treatment of its employees. "When I think of county procurement, we use the word county a lot, but county is meaningless in this case because it's actually the residents' procurement because our county is you," said District 5 County Commissioner Eileen Higgins. "How do we take what people need and translate that into actual projects that we build? We need to make sure that the procurement process involves the people that live here." El Portal Mayor Omarr Nickerson addressed a panel of county officials and business leaders at a procurement town hall at the Miami-Dade Library main branch Monday. (Johania Charles for The Miami Times) "It is important that we understand [that] fundamentally, our economy, who we are, is built on small businesses," said District 1 Commissioner and Vice Chair Oliver Gilbert III, who sponsored legislation to increase small-business bidding opportunities. Approximately $3 billion is awarded by the county for goods and services, with $1 billion going to small and local businesses. Only 10% of goods and services contracts were awarded to Black-owned firms according to the county's most updated disparity study, conducted more than six years ago. "They all claim '[minority business owners] are better now,' but a lot of people are not better," said Rachel, an anxious business owner with a disability who did not disclose her last name. "They're getting worse and we need tax dollars to go toward those people that everybody forgets about." Her concern about the perceived lack of resources for Black and disabled business owners was one of many subjects brought up during the public discussion on ways to make county government more inclusive and equitable. Michelle Shirley, Be Strong International CEO, questions Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava on plans to support nonprofit organizations when it comes to contracting. (Johania Charles for The Miami Times) Even nonprofit organizations are questioning what the county's plan to reform contracting would mean for them. "The nonprofit sector, since 2010, has impacted Miami-Dade County [through] about $23 million in revenue," said Michelle Shirley, CEO of Be Strong International. "We are an essential sector and as nonprofits have had to pivot since the pandemic; I'm really concerned about us being left out in the bidding process." Levine Cava reassured Shirley that the county intends to continue renewing an estimated $13 million in annual grant funding to support organizations like hers, telling the community to stay tuned for a reboot of the county's nonprofit funding avenues. The Office of Equity and Inclusion, the mayor pointed out, was strategically created as a pathway to address such concerns. "From day one of my administration, I've integrated a focus on equity into every aspect of my decision making," said Levine Cava, acknowledging that extra investment into communities that have been historically left out should be a priority. "The pandemic actually laid bare the strengths and weaknesses of our businesses in the county," added Higgins. "If you weren't tech savvy, you couldn't apply for PPP." To address that barrier, she vouched for launching a tech academy series for entry-level and medium-level businesses, educating residents on upskilling programs and training programs through Florida International University, Miami Dade College and Prospera Financial Services. Higgins also dug into the American Rescue Plan funding allocated to her district to help boost small businesses. Members of the Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners joined business leaders on a panel at the Miami-Dade main library Monday to address equity in county contracts. (Johania Charles for The Miami Times) "My idea behind that was to take all the gaps that I identified during the pandemic [so] small businesses could catch up with the medium businesses [through] the pilot program in District 5," she explained, disclosing that the county planned to review the outcome and consider upscaling the approach for implementation countywide. "We're committing to fostering innovation and growth in our small-business sector to keep Miami-Dade County moving forward with investments in our homegrown entrepreneurs," said Levine Cava. Aside from educating business owners on the procurement process and available resources, Levine Cava is banking on investments in local construction firms, new contract management software, increased entrepreneurship opportunities and vendor-friendly initiatives such as a multilanguage training program at FIU to create a more equitable economy while the county awaits study results. She has instructed Miami-Dade's chief operations officer, Jimmy Morales, to meet with all county departments weekly to review funding opportunities from the $65 billion Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal. "This way," she said, "we can funnel as much federal money into our community as possible and truly build back better than ever." Businesses are encouraged to visit MiamiDade.gov/strive305 for resources. The Miami Times is the largest Black-owned newspaper in the south serving Miami's Black community since 1923. The award-winning weekly is frequently recognized as the best Black newspaper in the country by the National Newspaper Publishers Association.