Despite Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration having some success in diversifying who it contracts with, the city comptroller said the administration is still failing to promote minority- and women-owned business enterprises (M/WBE).
Comptroller Scott Stringer released his fourth annual report card on the city’s M/WBE contracts Thursday and gave City Hall an overall rating of D+ for the third straight year.
The city spent more than $1 billion with M/WBE firms in the last fiscal year or 4.9 percent of its total spending on contracts, according to Stringer. That is up from the 4.8 percent of city contract spending that went to M/WBEs during the prior year, but nonetheless, Stringer said the improvement was not sufficient and not seen among all city agencies.
“This issue is about growing our neighborhoods by delivering real, community-level wealth creation,” Stringer said in a statement. “It’s critical to tackling our affordability crisis, and let there be no doubt that the city has a long way to go.”
The report gave the Commission on Human Rights, the Department for the Aging and the Department of Small Businesses Services A grades because they increased the amount of money spent on firms run by minorities or women.
Agencies like the Department of Buildings and Department of Citywide Administrative Services received F scores because of declines in M/WBE contract spending.
Last year, de Blasio created the Office of M/WBEs and set a goal of having 30 percent of the city’s contract spending go to M/WBEs by 2021. Deputy Mayor Richard Buery, who also serves as the citywide M/WBE director, noted that the city passed the $1 billion mark on its spending with minority or women-run firms last year.
“That’s real money making its way to women and communities of color,” Buery said in a statement. “We appreciate the Comptroller’s advocacy and look forward his partnership to advance opportunities for M/WBEs.”
Stringer recommended several steps to diversify who lands city contracts, including of creating a chief diversity officer post in every city agency.
