No one said getting a fair share would be easy. And there’s no simple resolution in sight for a policy aimed at helping small, economically disadvantaged businesses compete for city-parish contracts.
For Metro Council members Ronnie Edwards, Tara Wicker, C. Denise Marcelle and Donna Collins-Lewis, the process of implementing a fair-share policy continues to move forward despite the rejection of a taskforce report that contained recommendations to do just that last month. There is one question that seems to stand in the way: What is the best method of implementing an effective race- and gender-neutral program?
No clear answer seems to be forthcoming from the Metro Council or Mayor Kip Holden. Council members say the next step is to hire a consultant to come up with a process that would make it possible to enforce the policy, which has been on the books since August. Any hiring or funding for such an effort would have to come from the administration and from the council should the cost exceed $50,000. Assistant Chief Administrative Officer Jim Llorens says the administration has been committed to the policy and active in the proceedings through his presence on the Fairshare Taskforce.
Holden has never been vocal in support of the endeavor and has cited concerns over the legal language about minority- and women-owned businesses. He declined comment.
The administration initially offered to hire a consultant and was in the process of putting together a summit of economically disadvantaged businesses to discuss barriers to landing contracts with the city-parish before the policy was passed. Neither materialized in part because the 19-member, council-appointed taskforce provided a forum for disadvantaged business enterprises, city-parish officials and public discussion. Now that the committee has been disbanded and their recommendations officially discarded by the Metro Council, there is virtually no opportunity for public discussion on what have been very volatile issues.
This is not the first time a fair-share initiative has been placed on the back burner in East Baton Rouge Parish. Holden released an administrative regulation in August 2006 to all city-parish departments specifying a 20% inclusion goal for economically disadvantaged businesses. Its intent was to identify and eliminate obstacles to those businesses so they could compete for city-parish contracts. The goal amount and specific references to economically disadvantaged businesses in Holden’s memo are the only major differences with the council’s fair-share policy. It was never implemented, and the administration is silent on why it was not.
Llorens says out-of-date software makes it impossible for the purchasing department to distinguish DBEs from other businesses that have contracts with the city-parish. Without being able to identify those companies, enforcing the policy is impossible.
“It [software] doesn’t let us do the things we need to do. We need to address that,” Llorens told the council. “I believe there has been a strong effort made by the administration and the purchasing department to comply.”
The taskforce was also hampered by a lack of information. Many of their recommendations were contingent on hiring a DBE director to administer the program with data to be provided by the city-parish. Even if that hire is made, the same issues still will exist, and any efforts made to resolve them will take place without public input.
But fair share is not new ground. A federal DBE program has existed through the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development since 1979, and Alexandria, New Orleans and Shreveport have implemented programs within the past 10 years. Their successes seem to lie in a clearly defined certification process and goals, strict standards on good-faith efforts and addressing hurdles that prevent DBEs from landing city contracts.
The 2009 policy’s 25% inclusion goal has sparked the most passionate arguments in the business community. Other cities have found DBE goals are easier to meet if they are tailored to specific projects because specialized work or a slowdown in city contracts might make it more difficult to comply with a fixed percentage.
For example, Shreveport’s Fair Share Program also has a 25% goal on all contracts, but has achieved an 18% DBE inclusion rate since January. Fair Share Coordinator Karen Moss Barnes says that is a realistic number considering the slower pace of projects in the third quarter, adding that documentation of good-faith efforts also are an important part of the process.
“If I get 12% to 15% DBE participation on some projects, I know the contractors involved did not do a good enough job,” she says. “I expect 25% on maintenance, sewer, bridge and street projects because the companies exist and contractors can be more flexible. We make sure they do their homework.”
The Baton Rouge policy does not include a process to certify businesses for the local program, and does not specify what other federal, state or other city program certifications—if any—are acceptable. Other cities accept those certifications and even require contractors and departments to look beyond their own parish should DBEs not exist to meet their goals.
Alexandria’s Diversity in Action program is a case in point, encouraging contractors to make good use of the DOTD database, which lists more than 700 DBEs statewide. Reporting that there are no companies in Rapides Parish capable of doing the job does not necessarily count as a good-faith effort.
“We make sure they do their due diligence and consider minority and female-owned firms for projects,” Diversity Officer Joseph Page says. “That’s one of our toughest tasks.”
So if other cities can solve problems surrounding fair-share programs, why can’t Baton Rouge?
Council member Wicker is baffled by opposition to the taskforce’s report, nothing there should be no reason as to why the city-parish can’t carry out its policy. She hopes to have implementation procedures by the end of the year.
“[That timeline] is aggressive, but the policy is in place,” she says. “It’s not rocket science. Policies like this are done all over the country. We just need to pick it up and do it.”
