Baltimore County Releases Disparity Study Analyzing Minority Participation in County Contracts

March 11, 2021

TOWSON, MD — Baltimore County today released the results of a disparity study analyzing the County’s contracting practices during a five-year period prior to the current Administration.

The study found that minority- and women-owned businesses (MWBEs) were underutilized in the awarding of prime contracts and subcontracts from July 1, 2012 to June 30, 2017 while also acknowledging considerable progress in recent years to help address disparities and create more opportunities for MWBEs.

“From day one, our administration has been committed to promoting equity across our government—and we remain focused on doing just that,” County Executive Johnny Olszewski said. “These new findings confirm much of what we knew of prior practices, affirm the steps we’ve already taken, and inspire us to recommit to doing more to ensure greater opportunity for our minority and women entrepreneurs in the years ahead.”

Conducted by national public policy firm Mason Tillman Associates, Ltd., the study analyzed contracts in four industries: construction, architecture and engineering, professional services, and goods and services. The study found that, from 2012-2017, the County awarded nine percent of contracts to MBWE firms in these four industries. The study concluded that, if based on the number of available minority owned businesses in the market, MWBE firms would have received 38 percent of these awards.

Baltimore County’s Minority and Small Business Marketing Manager has already implemented a number of reforms to build the capacity of MWBEs and maximize their participation on the County’s contracts, including:
 

  • Setting MWBE goals on a contract-by-contract basis;
  • Implementing MWBE noncompliance penalties;
  • Instituting MWBE data management systems;
  • Introducing an Economic Benefit Factor to determine the economic impact County; contracts have in the local community;
  • Improving advertising practices;
  • Expanding direct outreach to MWBEs; and
  • Developing a Disadvantage Business Enterprise (DBE) Program

“The decision to enhance the MWBE program while the Disparity Study was being performed was progressive and an unusual example of a government's commitment to be inclusive,” said Dr. Eleanor Mason Ramsey, President and CEO of Mason Tillman Associates. “Given the best management practices instituted since the Study’s reporting period, and the implementation of the proposed recommendations set forth in the study, the disparity in the utilization of available minority and woman-owned businesses should be eliminated.”

Since the Olszewski administration took office in December of 2018, MBWE spending has increased by 59 percent.

Olszewski has also made efforts to consider equity in decision making across County government operations a top priority, hiring the County’s first Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer, signing an executive order to create a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Community Advisory Council, and a Diversity Equity and Inclusion Employee Advisory Council, and leading the charge for the bipartisan passage of prevailing wage and local hiring legislation that will support Baltimore County’s workforce and ensure workers hired for County-funded capital improvement projects receive competitive and fair wages.

Additionally, in November 2020, Olszewski created a Blue Ribbon Panel for Procurement Reform to examine existing procurement, purchasing and contracting practices and make recommendations to support small, minority-owned and women-owned business enterprises.

The Blue Ribbon Panel will review and consider the study’s recommendations to enhance equitable contracting practices as part of its ongoing work.

The study is available here.

Facebook Twitter