FROM WGBH:
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker proposed sweeping changes to the state’s program for contracting with minority-owned businesses, including provisions to directly address criticisms raised in a year-long investigative series by the GBH News Center for Investigative Reporting.
GBH News reported this year that the value of state contracts won by minority-owned businesses has declined by more that 24% over the past two decades, and that the state was padding its results by taking credit for payments that non-minority state contractors made to minority-owned businesses and nonprofits that had no direct connection to a state project.
Baker’s legislative proposal, unveiled Monday evening in advance of the election, essentially confirms that the state’s Supplier Diversity Office has not had enough independent authority to ensure that other state agencies are making minority contracting a priority.
Baker’s office announced that his bill would elevate the state Supplier Diversity Office into a stand-alone agency “with tools and resources to ensure accountability and compliance with diversity goals, oversee agency diversity spending, and audit and review spending data.” The new agency would have a “Supplier Diversity Compliance Unit … which will systematically audit and review direct and indirect spending data to ensure compliance and accuracy.” GBH News reported in September that state agency documentation of minority businesses contracts was riddled with errors and inconsistencies.
Baker also announced that in the future, the state’s annual supplier diversity report will separate state contracts with minority businesses from payments made to minority businesses by non-minority contractors. The reports will also itemize minority businesses spending by race and ethnicity. GBH News had requested this data from the state but was told it was not being tracked.
The state will also boost the advantage given to bidders on state contracts to those that include strong minority business participation in their proposals.
“In launching these new initiatives, we have worked closely with leaders in the minority business community, Black and Latino Caucus, and Black Advisory Commission and Latino Advisory Commission,” Baker said in a statement Monday. “We look forward to continuing our work with these partners to strengthen the state contracting process with greater diversity, transparency and accountability.”
Deborah Enos, chair of the Black Advisory Commission, said in the same statement, “Expanding opportunities for minority-owned businesses working with state government is a crucial way that we can expand economic opportunity for people of color, and I am glad to see the Baker-Polito Administration take further steps to advance that goal.”
Segun Idowu, executive director of the Black Economic Council of Massachusetts, said Baker’s announcement was “all the things that we called for. The governor has literally done everything that we presented and requested that his office make happen in order to make some kind of headway on this issue.”
In September, Idowu had demanded a meeting with Baker in response to the GBH News series and outlined many of the reforms included in Baker’s announcement.
But Idowu pointed out that Baker’s new plan “is roughly the beginning of making important updates.” The legislature will still need to approve creation of the new agency, and other provisions will take time to implement.
“We're happy that that the governor moved forward with all of this,” Idowu said. “But, you know … what matters are results. And so that's the next step, is making sure that this actually amounts to something positive for our communities.”