The City of Wilmington released a disparity study to help improve the city’s procurement process. The study addresses fairness, accessibility, and inclusiveness.
Mayor Mike Purzycki and Wilmington City Council have expressed concerns in recent years that a wider range of businesses, especially minority and women-owned businesses, haven’t had as much opportunity to bid for City-issued proposals for goods and services.
This study found statistically significant disparities for African American-owned firms, Hispanic American-owned firms, and Women Business Enterprises across professional and non-professional services, goods and supplies, and construction services. There were no disparities for architecture and engineering.
The study was presented to council’s Finance and Economic Development Committee Monday night by Miller3 consulting.
City Council’s Finance and Economic Development Committee Vice Chair Michelle Harlee says the study will lead to changes.
“We knew exactly that there would be some opportunities for improvement that came out of this study," Harlee says. "So we want to just say that we are not totally surprised, we knew we were going to find some findings, that’s what we paid for, and we’re glad that we are uncovering some of these issues so we can address them.”
Findings include repeated use of the same vendors at an informal level and a decentralized procurement process. And Tanya Pope from Pope Consulting presented recommendations.
“The focus is really on changing the procurement environment so its focus is inclusive procurement, not just goal attainment. That’s a very important recommendation because it means looking through a different lens.”
The report showed a lack of knowledge among city staff about Disadvantaged Business Enterprise training and development.
Pope says the city should address the decentralized nature of the city’s procurement process, identify community economic development and inclusive procurement objectives, and provide procurement training.
Some of the study’s recommendations also suggest a need for improved engagement with the Hispanic and “non-English as a first language” communities, and highlighted the importance and availability of capital funding.
