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City of Frederick issues 2021 MWBE disparity report
Published on 09/16/2021

UPDATE 9/09/21 - The mayor and aldermen of Frederick were briefed on remedies to the findings of the disparity study. As mentioned in part below, the recommendations include adding a full-time employee overseeing compliance, holding pre-bid conferences, setting yearly and project-specific participation goals, and enhancing data collection.

The City of Frederick has issued its 2021 diversity report, and stakeholders and City aldermen are currently discussing the proposed remedies it contains. The remedies are designed to address the report's findings that a firm being owned by a woman or minority "continues to have an adverse impact on a firm's ability to secure contracting opportunities with the City of Frederick."

The study covered the period of fiscal years 2014 through 2018. Its chief finding of disparity was that while 25 percent of the $91 million in contract dollars for projects worth more than $50,000 that was awarded during that period went to minority- and woman-owned businesses (MWBEs), 96 percent of that amount awarded to MWBEs was in fact awarded a single MBE. Additionally, two-thirds of businesses potentially certifiable as disadvantaged said in a survey that they were unaware they could register to do business with the city.

The study's recommendations and proposals mulled by the aldermen include a set-aside program for small businesses, another full-time City employee to work on procurement issues and promote inclusion, and a mentor-protege program by which large primes can assist smaller businesses.

"[The study's proposed remedies] just makes darn good economic and business sense for the city of Frederick to do," said Alderman Derek Shackelford.

Read the study at https://www.cityoffrederickmd.gov/1435/Disparity-Study

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