Miramar seldom hires companies owned by minorities, study shows

More than three quarters of Miramar’s residents are black or Hispanic, yet the city seldom throws its business to companies owned by minorities, a new study shows.

It’s not for a lack of minority-owned businesses in the region, according to the study conducted at the city’s request by the MGT Consulting Group.

“Many cities have policies that end up being unintentional barriers,” said Mayor Wayne Messam, including making contracts too large for small businesses to handle, rather than dividing up work.

Miramar awarded $147 million in contracts from Oct 2012 through Sept. 2016. Black-owned businesses received $3.3 million of that and Hispanic-owned businesses received $3.2 million, or about 2.2 percent each, according to the study. The consultants suggested the city: Set annual goals to increase the number of contracts awarded to minority businesses.

Conduct outreach to minority businesses that could potentially serve the city.

Establish a “Minority/Women Business Enterprise” program to monitor progress in hiring.

Encourage minority-owned businesses to take advantage of small local business programs that assist with training, development and financing.

Contracts are awarded by the city manager but the city commission has to approve ones that exceed $50,000. Most of the contract money went to construction companies, but the city also hired firms for services ranging from maintenance to engineering.

City commissioners and the consulting

“Many cities have policies that end up being unintentional barriers.” Wayne Messam, Miramar mayor

firm on Feb. 21 will meet on the issue, with a focus on making contracts more suitable to small business, a characteristic of most minority firms.

Brian C. Johnson, West Park’s vice mayor and the president of the Minority Builder’s Coalition Inc., which includes 300 black, Hispanic and womenowned businesses in South Florida, said many of those businesses have difficulty growing because they consistently lose in the bidding process.

“They don’t have the capacity to expand and compete for bigger contracts because they aren’t being used,” Johnson said.

He said cities tend to go with businesses they are familiar with.

“Historically, minority and women-owned businesses haven’t been included in those circles,” he said.

He suggested that cities such as Miramar talk to minority-owned businesses that apply for contracts but don’t win the jobs.

“For those companies that lose over and over and don’t know why, it would be a way to find out what they can do to become more competitive,” Johnson said.

Miramar’s study is similar to two disparity reports conducted in Palm Beach County. The county-funded analysis by California-based Mason Tillman Associates found that black-owned construction firms made up 13 percent of the marketplace but received about 3 percent of the value of county contracts over $50,000 to $1.3 million awarded from 2009-13.

The second report focused on the county’s Solid Waste Authority and found that black-owned businesses received less than 1 percent of its commodities and service contracts.

The Palm Beach County commission is meeting on the issue and will consider creating a program to track the progress of minority businesses.