Shelby County Schools (SCS), the school district serving Memphis and some the city's surrounding areas, has released a plan for encouraging the participation of minority- and women-owned businesses (MWBEs) in the district procurement process.
The plan involves both the setting of specific participation goals for MWBEs, complete with good-faith requirements of bidders to attempt to meet those goals, and increasing the amount of outreach SCS performs towards those MWBEs.
A recent draft of the proposal provides an explicit anti-discrimination statement and states an intent to fully involve MWBEs in the procurement process. It also offers "Aspirational Goals" for MWBE participation in the contracting process, setting those goals at 13.68 percent for Architecture & Engineering, 24.17 percent for Construction, 35.24 percent for Professional Services, 32.57 percent for Nonprofessional Services, and 24.02 percent for Goods or Commodities.
There are also provisions for allowing project-specific subcontracting goals. The plan goes on to specify outreach, assistance, and business development methodologies for MWBEs, including various informational activities and the creation of directories. Detailed procedures are also laid out for assessing good-faith efforts made by bidders to meet the various MWBE participation goals.
The plan is in part a response to the disparity study that was released in late 2017, which found that between July 1, 2011, to June 30, 2016 there was a total utilization for MWBEs of 14.72 percent, representing about $99 million worth of contracts. Given that roughly two-thirds of the Memphis population - and 90 percent of the district student population - are African-American, efforts such as the new plan from SCS to increase MWBE participation are finding political support.
The plan has currently been reviewed by the board of SCS and is expected to change in some respects before passing.
To read SCS's draft MWBE plan, visit https://www.boarddocs.com/tn/scsk12/Board.nsf/files/AZVW3Z83899A/%24file/SCS%20MWBE%20Program%20Policy%20Outline_DRAFT_v4.pdf
To read SCS's MWBE disparity study, visit https://www.boarddocs.com/tn/scsk12/Board.nsf/files/ATHV7W7F6C0B/%24file/7970%20SCS%20Final%20Report%20112017%20(002).pdf
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