West Palm could give women, minorities better shot at contracts
WEST PALM BEACH — Women- and minority-owned businesses competing for city contracts would get a boost under a program up for final approval in January.
The city administration crafted the Minority Women Business Enterprise Program after a disparity study by Mason Tillman Associates confirmed statistically that women and minorities lagged in competition for millions of dollars of city work annually in construction, professional services, and goods and services contracts.
T h e o rd i n a n c e won i n i t i a l approval of the Cit y Commission on Dec. 19. If adopted in January, it likely would take effect in March, Mayor Jeri Muoio said.
The study was required to meet legal standards set by the Supreme Court in rulings that eliminated many affirmative action programs nationwide. The city already has a Small Business Enterprise program, which benefits many of the same firms the new program would, but the new program would more directly address that women, blacks and other minorities have been winning proportionately less work than white, male-owned firms, the mayor said.
“We decided to do a disparit y study back in 2015, in part because the school district was doing one and the county was doing one, and we were able to piggyback on the county contract,” Muoio said.
The program, if passed, would apply to construction contracts of up to $500,000, professional service contracts up to $350,000 and goods and services contracts up to $225,000. The ordinance also requires the city procurement official to prepare quarterly reports on the program.
Construction bids by eligible firms would be discounted by 5 percent, up to $25,000, for purposes of ranking them. For purchases of goods needed by the city, the firms’ bids also would be discounted by 5 percent, up to $11,250. For professional services — such as architects and engineers — minority- and women-owned firms will be ranked according to a points system. Nicklen, a loggerhead sea turtle rehabilitated at the Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Juno Beach, is cheered by the crowd during its release on Tuesday. Nicklen had a buoyancy issue that was most likely caused by an intestinal infection.