The General Governance Committee for the City Council of Winston-Salem has been discussing expanding the types of city contracts that must have participation goals for minority- and woman-owned businesses (MWBEs) attached to them, as well instituting several other rules that are aimed at increasing MWBE participation in general.
The foremost change being proposed is lowering the dollar-amount floor at which a given city contract must come with MWBE participation goals from $300,000 to $100,000. This, proponents say, would allow for a larger pool of city contracts for which MWBEs can be counted towards contracting diversity goals.
Other changes being considered include putting a 10 percent MWBE participation goal on professional services contracts (such as consulting, janitorial, or marketing work, among other trades), ensuring diversity on the panels that evaluate contract proposals, and instituting a system under which contractors that repeatedly fail to subcontract with MWBEs or fail to make a good-faith effort to do so lose "points" on future contracts with the city.
The City Council is expected to discuss these changes soon, and no council-members spoke against the proposals at a recent meeting.
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