Revised City of South Bend Disparity Study Report

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City of South Bend Disoarity study 2020 E. Availability of M/WBEs in the City of South Bend's Markets 1. Methodological Framework Estimates of the availability of disadvantaged, minority- and female -owned firms (collectively, M/WBEs) in the City's market area are a critical component of the analysis of possible barriers to equal opportunities to participate in the City's contracting activities. These availability estimates are compared to the utilization percentage of dollars received by M/WBEs to examine whether minority- and woman -owned firms receive parity. 122 Availability estimates are also crucial for the City to set narrowly tailored annual and contract goals on its contracts. We applied the "custom census" approach with refinements to estimating availability. As recognized by the courts and the National Model Disparity StudyGuidelines123, this methodology in general is superior to the other meth- ods for at least four reasons. First, it provides an internally consistent and rigorous "apples to apples" com- parison between firms in the availability numerator and those in the denomi- nator. Other approaches often have different definitions for the firms in the numerator (e.g., certified M/WBEs) and the denominator (e.g., registered ven- dors or the Census Bureaus' County Business Patterns data). Next, by examining a comprehensive group of firms, it "casts a broader net" beyond those known to the City. As recognized by the courts, this comports with the remedial nature of contracting affirmative action programs byseeking to bring in businesses that have historically been excluded. A custom census is less likely to be tainted by the effects of past and present discrimination than other methods, such as bidders lists, because it seeks out firms in the City's market areas that have not been able to access its opportunities. Third, this approach is less impacted by variables affected by discrimination. Factors such as firm age, size, qualifications, and experience are all elements of business success where discrimination would be manifested. Most courts have held that the results of discrimination — which impact factors affecting capacity 122. For our analysis, the term"MIME" includes firms that are certified by government agencies and minority-andwomen- owned firms that are not certified. As discussed in Chapter II, the Inclusion of all minority -and female -owned businesses in the pool casts the broad net approved by the courts that supports the remedial nature of the programs. See Northern Contracting, Inc. v Illinois Department of Transportation, 473 F.3d 715, 723 (7th Cir. 2007), cert. denied 15-1827, June 26, 2017 ("Northern Contracting III') (The "remedial nature of the federal scheme militates in favor of a method of DBE availability calculation that casts a broader net."); https://www.transportation.gov/sites/dot.gov/files/ docs/Tips_for- Goa I-Setti ng_i n_DBE_Progra m_20141106. pdf. 123. National Disparity Study Guidelines, pp.57-58. 60 ® 2020 Colette Holt & Associates, All Rights Reserved.