Office of Supplier Diversity
Office of Supplier Diversity
The City of St. Petersburg has established an Office of Supplier Diversity to ensure diversity and inclusion is ingrained in the City's culture, procurement and supplier processes moving forward.
About the Minority and Women-Owned Business Disparity Study
The M/WBE Disparity Study was an evaluation of the contracting practices of the City of St. Petersburg, particularly the award of contracts to Minority and Woman Business Enterprises between October 2014 and September 2018.
The City conducted the Study to review the contracting practices used during the study period and obtain recommendations to enhance current practices and strategies to remedy and disparities found.
Three benefits to the City:
- Identify best practices to improve the City’s contracting process
- Increase the number of bidders on the City’s contracts
- Lower the City’s procurement costs
DETERMINING DISPARITY
The Study determined if a statistical disparity exists in the award of the City’s contracts to ready, willing, and able market area Minority and Women Business Enterprises.
The City has contracted with Mason Tillman Associates, Ltd. to design and conduct an independent study to review the City’s efforts. The study examines whether there are differences between:
- The percentage of dollars that minority- and women-owned businesses received in contracts during a specific time period, and
- The percentage of dollars that those businesses would be expected to receive based on their availability to perform those contracts
The study also considers things like:
- Conditions in the local marketplace for minorities, women, and M/WBEs
- Contracting practices and business assistance programs currently in place
- Potential changes to existing M/WBE programs or the legal considerations around putting a W/MBE program in place
STUDY MILESTONES
- September 2018 - Award of bid to consultant, Mason Tillman Associates, for to conduct Disparity Study
- January 2019 - April 2021 - M/WBE Availability and Utilization Study Period
- October 2021 - City Council formally accepts the Disparity Study findings
- January 2022 - Mayor Ken Welch is sworn into office
- March 2022 - New Director of Procurement and Supply Chain Management is named
- May 2022 - Administration provides an update to City Council Committee of the Whole regarding next steps for implementation of the disparity study results
STUDY FINDINGS
Yes, there is a Disparity. So, what's next?
The City enlisted the services of one of the nation's top consultants on business diversity to implement the disparity study recommendation to establish an MWBE Program and Ordinance.
- December 15, 2022: City team and consultant presented an update and next steps to St. Pete City Council at the Committee of the Whole.
- The City has officially established the Office of Supplier Diversity and hired its first team member, Latasha Binder, who will serve as the Manager of the office. Recruitment efforts for additional key roles are currently underway.
- The Office of Supplier Diversity is now fully staffed.
- The City has established an Equity in Contracting advisory group that consists of community leaders with a strong interest in business diversity and includes representation from Pinellas County, Tampa Bay Black Business Investment Corp, Deuces Live Mainstreet, Foundation for a Healthy St. Pete and the NGC Team.
- The City's legal team will now draft an ordinance for City Council to consider in early 2023. The ordinance will create new opportunities for small, minority- and women-owned businesses to participate in City contracting.
NEXT STEPS
The City expects the ordinance to be completed and approved early 2023.