HomeMy WebLinkAboutIPC Board Meeting Minutes 10.15.2024Inclusive Procurement and Contracting Board
Meeting Minutes
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Date: October 15, 2024 | Time: 5:30 pm | Location: Microsoft Teams (Virtual) & TRC
1165 Franklin Street, Suite 100, South Bend, IN 46601
Link: https://tinyurl.com/ipcboardmeeting
Call to Order- The IPC Board is now called to order on October 15th, 2024 at
5:30 p.m.
• BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: Jeff Rea, Rachel Tomas-Morgan, Murray Miller,
Kimberly Hurt, Wilbur Boggs, Cynthia Simmons-Taylor, Keana Baylis, Breana Allen,
Rosa Tomas
• BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT VIRTUALLY: Kara Boyles,
• DIVERSITY & INCLUSION: Bianca Jones, Michael Szymanski
• PURCHASING: Mickey Lovy
• LEGAL: Michael Schmidt
• BOARD MEMBERS ABSENT: Michael Morris,
Approval of Minutes:
September 2024 meeting minute – Boggs motions for approval – Miller
seconded.
All Ayes no Nays
Notes:
I. New Business: Responsible Bidders Ordinance (RBO)
Tomas-Morgan – Stated there were changes to the RBO back in September of 2023 that
she and others filed an amendment to the existing ordinance that was passed in April of
2018. The amendment that was proposed would reflect current circumstances but
continue to ensure the highest quality of standards be utilized which was originally
articulated in the bill. She continued to say it was a year in the making with several
partners working collaboratively. There was an update to the apprenticeship
requirements. The apprenticeship must be registered with an US Department of Labor
recognized program and must graduate at least 5 apprentices in each of the past 5 years.
The second update to the RBO is changing the minimum threshold requirement from
$150,000.00 to $250,000.00 which considers inflation and what other communities
around us with similar RBOs are doing. She further stated that this threshold change
would not negatively impact our minority and women owned businesses. She asked Kara
to share if there are any impacts that she has seen with the revised RBO on the Public
Works side.
Simmons-Taylor asks if there are individuals in the pipeline to make sure they are in
compliance or are there certain contracts that were eligible for this that we may need to
update and make sure people are in compliance. She was unsure if ODI was supposed to
be tracking this.
Miller responded that this really doesn’t affect them. It’s part of the requirement on the
front-end documents. Essentially, they would supply their DOL Certificates and
paperwork showing each trade and how many apprentices graduated in that 5-year
period. This information is part of the check list prior to bidding.
Schmidt stated the bread-and-butter primes submit this information yearly.
Boyles stated that the city has been implementing this ordinance since its origination. In
general, most of the contractors do submit their RBO documentation outside of the bid
package. We don’t really see an impact on M/WBEs with the changes. Boyles followed
up and stated that any contractor bidding anything greater than $250,000 must be
prequalified to be awarded.
Simmons-Taylor asked if it’s fair to say there’s nobody in the pipeline right now.
Boyles asked for clarification on what pipeline she is referring to.
Simmons-Taylor referenced the apprentices in the programs.
Tomas-Morgan stated they have to be part of a program that graduates apprentices. She
continued that we really wanted to ensure that we are building out a workforce.
Schmidt followed and stated that the revision to the RBO language has provided
flexibility to supplement things and be a little more contractor friendly whether you’re
big or small.
Rea added that moving the threshold allows those younger newer contractors to engage
and build the pipeline. As our folks get more sophisticated, have more capability and
more equipment to do more jobs we can then really start to take effect. Right now, we are
a year in and we are trying to not make it complicated.
Tomas-Morgan asked has there been any situation that we had to refer people to
apprenticeship programs. Boyles responded and stated there hasn’t been any referrals that
she can recall. She stated that they have done it in the past but there wasn’t one that
stands out.
Schmidt added there may have been one but because the work was specialized enough to
meet the program needs so no program was needed.
Board Members Secretary Breana Allen and Rosa Tomas entered the meeting
II. Procurement:
Board member Kara Boyles has left the meeting –
Lovy explained that we are presenting the old format of the procurement report because
there was a glitch in the most recent reporting style.
Rea asked if the map on the back of the report shows minority owned and women owned
businesses, and does it show certified and non-certified.
Lovy confirmed that is correct and further explained that the numbers are specifically for
those counties.
Rae added to his question on how at a high level it appears as though of 4 million only
20% is happening inside the region and the other 129 million are neither woman or
minority owned. He said that is hard to see progress if all the work put in to build a
program for engaging our local businesses is being used by businesses outside the region.
Those businesses do not employ people here, pay taxes here… don’t benefit the little
league team here etc.…
Simmons-Taylor stated that some of the issues are our capacity in the area. She went on
to say in 2022 our local certifications were a total of 54, in 2023 that went up to 88. We
are engaging with more local businesses that are certified and making progress.
Rea stated that our goal isn’t to certify, our goal is to have more businesses do business
with the city. So, I think it’s wonderful, but I really care about the city spend in this
region where it can benefit the folks here.
Boggs added that while he understands Rea’s point, we can’t build it here if we don’t get
businesses certified. Rea stated maybe he misspoke but at the end of the day when the
program started it was because no minority contractors got any work here and at the end
of day that’s how we are going to be judged. If tomorrow’s headline says we’re doing
this program but 80% of the money is heading outside of this 10-county region, it may be
time to reevaluate and do something different.
Simmons-Taylor stated that she thinks part of the solution is increasing the number of
NAICs codes. We only have 27 and that has not changed since 2021. She believes that
MWBEs are missing opportunities because we cannot add goals to scopes of work
outside of 27 NAICs codes.
Rea asked what are examples of the categories that the city is buying in. He added that
initially this was an exhaustive process of identifying what the city was spending on.
Simmons-Taylor stated that she believes we have more people in our capacity now. The
data in the disparity study was from 2016/2019 and right now we are locked into those
27. Tomas-Morgan asked if she was compiling a list of what those other codes are.
Simmons-Taylor Responded yes. Tomas-Morgan said we are due for a new disparity
study but the list at the time it was comprehensive.
Baylis asked after review of the procurement report what was Macedonia Missionary
Baptist Church used for that totaled $23,000.00. Schmidt stated it was the SB Alive grant.
Baylis asked for a list of services businesses provided who identified as MWBE from
August to date.
Tomas-Morgan asked could we give a ballpark range on the dollar amount that adding
the additional NAICs codes could produce. Simmons-Taylor said she will get her that
number.
Allen stated that she liked how the report highlighted businesses whose certifications are
about to expire. She questioned how do we handle a business expiring. Jones stated that
we call the businesses to see if they need assistance with recertification or if they are no
longer eligible for certification.
Lovy asked how would the board like to see the percentages reflected in the report. Rea
stated that he would like to see a percentage of how much is being spent in the region vs
outside of the region. That way if we go from 75% of the spend being outside of the
region to 71%, we can tell a story about that.
Discussion continued on the regional map and how that data is reported.
Lovy clarified that if a business becomes certified, DFO will read every transaction the
business had prior to certification as certified spend. Boggs made a clarifying statement
that if a business becomes certified in October 2019 that it will show as being certified
for 2015. Then further stated that a business should not count as being certified for that
period.
Simmons-Taylor in effort to show growth in stated that in 2022 PW spend was .63% in
2023 PW spend was 1.7% and to date in 2024 we are already at 1.58%. She stated that
she will share this information with the board at the next meeting.
The conversation that followed was reiteration of spending primarily outside of our
regional area as well as the importance of labeling between certified and non-certified.
Lovy stated he will work with the analytics team to ensure the reporting reflects the
board’s request.
Simmons-Taylor spoke on ODI efforts to engage with youth who may potentially be
interested in skilled trades by hosting a youth in trades event as part of the efforts to fill in
the gap. She continued that we are working to merge the DFO and B2Gnow reports to get
a better picture. Rea stated that he is optimistic, but it seems like we can’t get out of this
circle. He said that the department asked 3 years ago what the board would like to see and
were still at that same stage and he understood that the current team was not present.
Board members – Secretary Breana Allen and Kimberly Hurt left.
III. Office of Diversity and Inclusion:
Announcement of our new Contract Compliance Administrator, Michael Szymanski
Simmons-Taylor informed the board that Jones spoke at the Library How Small
Businesses Get Big Contracts event. Simmons-Taylor spoke at the Reparatory Justice
Commission meeting
ODI will be hosting the first Small Business Development Partnership Luncheon on
November 6th at the TRC.
IV. DPW Report
Jones presented the information on the report.
2 Quotes and 1 Bid opened in September –
2 Projects closed out – Miller stated that Wayfinding Signage was tabled
Total Paid - $33,161,254
Total Paid to Subs - $2,418,651
MBE/WBE Utilization – 7.29% which is down from the previous months 7.89%
Boggs inquired if this tells us how much we spend in our region. Jones responded by
explaining that B2Gnow only reflects spend on projects with goals, but it tells us where
we are spending. Boggs added that to Jeff’s point this report shows where money is being
spent outside of our region. Rea added that while it does show that, it’s not the entire city
spend. Schmidt followed that stating this report shows who has been awarded projects
and gives you an idea of who is bidding on these projects. It Gives Cynthia’s team the
opportunity to work with those contractors.
Simmons-Taylor said she received 2 calls from primes asking for a list of businesses Rea
asked where do primes go to find that list, Simmons-Taylor responded that ODI provides
that. Rea then stated that’s were the problem lies because man cannot rely on city work
alone. So, if we wanted minority contractors to actually make progress in the community,
they’ve got to be able to work in places besides the city, but if no one else can find the
list then no one else can hire them. Tomas-Morgan asked if there is any reason why we
cannot publish that list. Schmidt stated that it’s sensitive and we thoughtful of
representing that the city does not vouch for these businesses.
Jones explained the process ODI takes to curate a list of regional business.
V. Old Business
o Werntz Update – Schmidt sent another letter to reiterate the message. Werntz had not made the payment he offered to pay.
o 100 Black Men Gala confirmation of attendees. VI. Announcements
o
VII. Floor Open to the Public -
VIII. Adjournment-
Rea – Motion to adjourn /Miller – Second
Notes & Action Items