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Columbus prepares to undertake disparity study
Published on 02/06/2017

The City of Columbus is set to conduct a disparity study on the city’s municipal contracting process in order to determine whether and to what extent minority- and women-owned businesses (M/WBEs) are receiving a fair share in that contracting process.

The law requires the city to conduct such a study in order to support any new contract targets - and the last disparity study was conducted in the late 1990s. The new disparity study has been embarked upon as a consequence of the city updating its legal definition of a minority-owned business last year to include Latinos, Asian-Americans, and Native Americans. Previously, the definition had included only businesses owned by African-Americans.

Steve Francis, the chief diversity officer for Columbus, noted that many M/WBEs have expressed dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs in city contracting. Francis held back on definitively stating that this dissatisfaction was due to discrimination, but affirmed that the perception of a lack of fair treatment from the city was common among M/WBEs.

Francis also expressed confidence that the new practices derived from the disparity study would not create a “zero-sum game,” but would instead result in increased opportunity and utilization across the board.

Kim Knights, president of the Central Ohio Minority Business Association, has proposed that one way this might be accomplished is encouraging the city to break up large contracts into smaller elements that are more feasible for small businesses to bid on.

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