The Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC) has several questions for Black and women-owned businesses in the region, including assessing their success rate, barriers, and inclusion in the procurement process.
In April 2015, WSSC launched a disparity study to examine whether minority and women-owned businesses are truly receiving their fair share of opportunity to government contracts or if discriminatory practices exist in the company’s policies and procedures. The results can assist the commission in providing equal opportunities for companies in its Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) program.
“If you’re a certified MBE in the program, you receive access to sub contracting and prime contracting opportunities based on your certification,” Towanda Livingston, director of WSSC’s Small, Local and Minority Business Enterprise Office told the AFRO, Oct. 16.
Contracting opportunities are open to various types of businesses such as cleaning services and supply distribution companies to those that provide engineering and electronic solutions.
Feedback from minority and women-owned businesses after a 2010 disparity study sparked many changes in the way the commission conducts business. It began to offer mentor protégé programs and enhanced outreach programs through workshops and clinics regarding certification, says Livingston, “We also offer finance workshops to help them get access to capital either for bonding on insurance purposes. We also offer workshops on how to navigate our solicitation documents—specifically how to take advantage of the preferences that are offered to MBEs.”
While the programs’ reengineering has certainly leveled the playing field for contractors, says Livingston, “We’re hoping with this next disparity study will only help to better the program and we’re able to develop some sustainable strategic partners that are minority and women owned businesses.”
Established in 1918, WSSC is among the largest water and wastewater utilities in the nation, with a network of nearly 5,600 miles of freshwater pipeline and more than 5,400 miles of sewer pipeline. Serving 1.8 million residents in Prince George’s and Montgomery counties, WSSC has a reputation of producing drinking water that consistently meets or exceeds federal standards.
Currently, the commission has registered over 700 certified minority, women-owned and small local business for contracting services. In the past fiscal year, $134.4 million in payments have been dispersed to MBE firms.
Directed by consulting firm MGT of America, community meetings to gather information have taken place in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties, with the final meeting in Laurel, Maryland on Oct. 22 at 10 a.m. at the Richard G. Hocevar Building.
Attendance at the meeting will not only create awareness about the importance of participating in the study, says Livingston, “but also at these meetings, we share our contracting opportunities that currently exist and we provide folks with a forecast of those contracts for the next 13 months. They can also meet with the decision makers of those contracts while learning and engaging in the disparity study process.”
Once information is collected through the commission’s data, community meetings, in-depth interviews, surveys and focus groups, MGT will assess if marketplace discrimination exists and provide recommendations for improvement at WSSC.
