MWBE Quarterly Report June 2021 | Page 4

City of Arlington Adopts Formal Minority Woman Business Enterprise Policy ( Continued )

The adoption of the policy and the creation of the Office of Business Diversity follow the City ’ s recent decision to increase the aspirational goal for local and minority participation in all City contracts from 25 % to 30 %. The increased aspirational goal is among several recommendations from the most recent Availability and Disparity Study , presented to City Council in September 2020 along with the creation of the Office and Business Diversity and the adoption of a formal MWBE policy were among recommendations in the Unity Council report to Council in February 2021 .

“ While the City met the 25 percent MWBE goal for FY 2020 , the study showed a small group of specific MWBE firms were earning a large portion of these contracts and did not include a diverse pool of MWBE companies ,” the City ’ s Procurement Manager Will Velasco said . “ The City ’ s Formal MWBE Program will allow for participation from other MWBE companies and help them grow to pursue City projects as primes .”

As part of these changes , the City of Arlington has established contract-specific goals designed to equitably and conscientiously include MWBEs in the City ’ s procurement process for goods , general services , professional and consulting services , construction , and architectural and engineering services where there are subcontracting opportunities . The program requires contractors to make good faith efforts to use MWBEs in certain contracting and procurement opportunities . Every locally funded contract will be evaluated by the Office of Business Diversity to determine the appropriate goals for MWBE participation , which will vary based on MWBE availability , the nature of the contract , the City ’ s past experiences with MWBE participation in similar contracts , price competitiveness , subcontracting opportunities , and other relevant factors .

Among its varied responsibilities , the Office of Business Diversity will also review bid proposals and evaluation criteria to remove any artificial barriers to potential M / WBE participation .

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