Title
Authorizing the Department of Human Rights and Equal Economic Opportunity to shift a portion of remaining funds for Minority Business Development and Retention (MBDR) from the MBDR Special Fund to the MBDR General Fund account.
Body
WHEREAS, the Minority Business Development and Retention (MBDR) Special Fund was created for the purpose of providing services and capacity building to small minority-owned and women-owned businesses; and
WHEREAS, there is $173,641.00 in unspent funds in the MBDR Special Fund; and
WHEREAS, in 2020 the City Council allocated $500 dollars for professional services to the Minority Business Development and Retention General Fund;
WHEREAS, the City of Saint Paul HREEO is charged with providing procurement, contract compliance, and vendor outreach services to the City of Saint Paul and its vendors, suppliers, contractors and subcontractors; and
WHEREAS, the 2017 Disparity Study provided numerous recommendations to level the playing field for small (SBE) minority-owned (MBE) and women-owned businesses (WBE); and
WHEREAS, HREEO desires to evaluate its procurement and contract compliance practices to identify solutions to improve outcomes for SBE, MBE, WBE, and other diverse businesses; and
WHEREAS, HREEO has solicited proposals to conduct an outside evaluation on procurement and compliance processes to assess effectiveness, identify gaps, recommend best practices, and assist with outreach, education and communications to SBEs, WBEs, MBEs, and other diverse businesses; and,
WHEREAS, the outside evaluation will cost approximately $66,300; and
WHEREAS, transferring the $66,300 of unspent dollars from the MBDR Special Fund to the 2021 MBDR General Fund will allow HREEO to increase spend with SBEs, MBEs, WBEs and other diverse businesses; and
WHEREAS, the Saint Paul City Council finds that conducting an evaluation of HREEO’s program to ultimately increase spending with SBEs, MBEs, WBEs and other diverse businesses has a legit...
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