Revised City of South Bend Disparity Study Report

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City of South Bend Disparity Study 2020 poses. Increased participation by M/WBEs through race -neutral measures will also reduce the need to set M/WBE contract goals. Implement an Electronic Contracting Data Collection, Monitoring and Notifica- tion System: The City should immediately procure and implement an electronic data collection system for the M/WBE program with at least the following functionality: • Full contact information for all firms • Contract/project-specific goal setting using the Study data • Utilization plan capture for prime contractor's submission of subcontractor utilization plans • Contract compliance for certified and non -certified prime contract and subcontract payments for all formally procured contracts for all tiers of all subcontractors • Spend analysis of informal expenditures; Program report generation that provides data on utilization by industries, race, gender, dollar amount, procurement method, etc. • An integrated email notification and reminder engine to inform users of required actions, including reporting mandates and dates • Outreach tools for eBlasts and related communications, and event management for tracking registration and attendance • Import/export integration with existing systems to exchange contract, payment, and vendor data • Access by authorized City staff, prime contractors and subcontractors Commit additional resources to the Office of Diversity & Inclusion: In addition to a good electronic system, the City should increase staff and resources dedi- cated to the Office of Diversity & Inclusion. Office staff should be responsible forthe contract award process (outreach, goal setting, bid and proposal review for compliance, etc.) and the contract performance process (goal attainment, substitution reviews, prompt payment tracking, etc.), as they relate to M/WBE concerns. Functional areas must be separated by the type of program: labor compliance is very different from contract compliance, and personnel that specialize in each function are necessary for successful programs. Focus on Reducing Barriers to M/WBE Prime ContractAwords: The size of many City contracts provides numerous opportunities for smaller firms to participate and the following steps should be implemented. 12 0 2020 Colette Holt & Associates, All Rights Reserved.