Beauracracy ignoring or obstructing contractor diversity
When Pittsburgh Public Schools board Director Randall Taylor told the Courier last week he believed “institutional barriers” are impeding Black-owned firms from doing business with the district, he may have been more right than he knew.
According to a report by University of Pittsburgh professors Ralph Bangs and Audrey Murrell, PPS is rife with such barriers. Most erected not by the administration or by the board, but by members of the faceless “staff” who keep the bureaucratic behemoth humming along as it always has—ignoring or obstructing contractor diversity.
The report, “Increasing Prime Contracting Opportunities for MBEs with Pittsburgh Public Schools,” was compiled from interviews with the heads of 20 Black-owned firms that either had or sought prime contracts with PPS and documents:
•Six barriers to firms finding out about contract opportunities, and
•Four barriers to bidding on contracts they did learn of.
According to the report, and supported by separate findings made in an MGT of America Inc. study of the district, staff either “declared some contracts to be noncompetitive” or “engaged in a closed, partially-competitive process.”
In these instances, staff either handed contracts to a particular company or bid them among a handful of preferred firms-none of which were MBEs.
Bangs said such machinations occasionally fail as in 2005 when several MBEs learned of a contract and asked to be placed on the bidder’s list. They were told they would be and would receive a pre-bid announcement. They later discovered the first bid had taken place with no such letter being sent.
Staff then told them the letter didn’t matter because the announcement had been placed on the PPS website—it had not. Because staff did not follow PPS policy, the contract package was rebid with MBEs winning major portions
However, at least four of the firms surveyed reported despite asking staff to place them on the bidder’s list, they were not and never received any bid notifications.
Even when informed, Bangs said Black firms reported staff resistance to PPS diversity policy.
“PPS staff are committed to majority firm participation, and some staff have malice toward MBEs and actively hurt opportunities for MBEs,” the report said.
Other barriers Bangs reported include Black-owned firms receiving inaccurate bid specifications, district refusal to break bid packages into smaller parts and the excessive use of change orders.
As reported in the Courier in November and again last week, change orders inflate-sometimes drastically—the value of prime contracts issued to white male-owned firms.
These overages are not competitively bid but added on to existing contracts. In July 2005, the report notes, the school board approved $2.26 million in change orders but awarded only $1.49 million in new contracts.
Bangs makes eight recommendations to ensure Black firms are notified about prime contracting opportunities in a timely manner, most importantly by insisting staff follow policy and bid all contracts in excess of $10,000 competitively.
Bangs also recommends breaking some contracts into smaller portions to allow more firms to bid. And he further recommends reducing the number of change orders by improving project management to come up with more honest bid prices, and having PPS MWDBE Coordinator Paula Castleberry review change orders for participation.
Most importantly perhaps, Bangs recommends Superintendent Mark Roosevelt make contract equity a priority because the current system diminishes access—thereby reducing competition and increasing costs—and creates a situation for possible legal action against PPS.
Roosevelt said the district is grateful to have the report.
“We obviously have some way to go in terms of getting policy right,” he said. “But I know Mr. [Mark] Brentley will be convening a board committee meeting to look at this and I will be addressing this with staff internally.”
(Send comments to cmorrow@newpittsburghcourier.com.)
Comments
Comment #1
(Posted by an unknown user) Rating
good article Chris
Comment #2
(Posted by reg) Rating
Please follow up with Mr. Roosevelt to see what he has done to address this problem"internally" in a few weeks. This should not just be shoved off on board members or committees. The District needs a solution in response to these findings -- not discussions -- solutions.
