Title
Authorizing the Committee on Commerce and Economic Development to conduct hearings to examine the inclusiveness, transparency and efficiency of the City of Philadelphia's processes for the procurement of professional services, capital programs and commodities.
Body
WHEREAS, The City of Philadelphia consumes more than $1 billion in goods and services every year; and
WHEREAS, In 2009, the Mayor's Advisory Commission on Construction Industry Diversity found that Philadelphia has forgone substantial economic gains due to the severe under-representation and under-utilization of minorities and women as contractors and subcontractors and thereby recommended that the City adopt a plan for diversity inclusion including building trades goals of 32% minority participation and 7% female participation; and
WHEREAS, In 2015, the City achieved a mere rate of 25% participation by Minority, Women, Disadvantaged and Sustainable Business Enterprises (M/W/D/SBEs) in Public Works and a rate of 30% M/W/DBSE participation across all City Departments, according to the Office of Economic Opportunity's 2015 Annual Report; and
WHEREAS, City Council has expressed continued commitment to procurement reforms including, but not limited to, unbundling large projects into multiple smaller projects, expediting subcontractor crediting, enforcing local preference policies with an emphasis on the growth of minority and women-owned businesses, actively recruiting minorities and women in building trades, forging new pathways to union membership, developing apprenticeship opportunities, and selectively reducing bonding and insurance requirements that bar diverse workforce participation; and
WHEREAS, Mayor Jim Kenney has expressed that he shares City Council's commitment to "develop a diverse workforce that looks like Philadelphia," by reforming significant flaws in current procurement processes that lack transparency, accessibility, efficiency and inclusiveness; and
WHEREAS, ...
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