FINDINGS

The Town Hall Meeting was designed to provide conference participants the opportunity to ask questions not addressed during the panel discussions and to engage in a deeper dialogue regarding issues of importance to minority and women businesses. The Town Hall meeting was also designed to be a forum to define possible public and private actions that can be taken to improve outcomes for minority and women businesses.

  • One minority / woman-owned contractor expressed frustration regarding the timeliness of payments received for work performed on a public construction contract. Timely payment for services rendered is important to all businesses; it is critically important to M/W/DBE firms who tend to be smaller firms that operate on thinner cash flow margins. Delayed payment to such firms can mean the difference between business life and death.

  • One minority businessman expressed concern that the setting of participation goals for MBE and WBE inclusion, pursuant to Executive Order 390, does not extend to the public higher education system. Given the fact that the state dollars are a critical source of funds to the higher education system (and other non-executive branch agencies), there is a strong desire to see such institutions do a better job of seeking and attaining MBE/WBE participation through their procurement systems.

  • One minority businessman expressed a concern that in his attempts to do business with state agencies, the fact that he had not previously done business with the state agencies seemed to be the determinative factor in the agencies not selecting his firm.

  • One representative of small, minority and women contractors inquired about the possibility of the state establishing a program by which MBE and WBE contractor firms, which by virtue of utilization goals are able to attain participation on public construction contracts, have access to working capital to facilitate the contractor firms' participation on such contracts.


PLANS OF ACTION

  • OAO has been working with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation and its constituency divisions. Through these efforts, a Subcontractor Payment Working Group has been formed to look specifically at issues of prompt payment and retainage. The Working Group expects to submit recommendations to the Secretary of Transportation in August 2010.

  • Additionally, if a contractor has a question about timely payment, the OAO can provide assistance in working with the relevant state or quasi-public agency to try to ensure prompt payment is made, assuming there are no extenuating factors.

  • OAO will work with the Operational Services Division, the Supplier Diversity Office and state procurement personnel to ensure that agencies are looking at the skills and business experience when evaluating firms and not placing undue weight on past experience, or the lack thereof, with the procuring agency to determine who is selected to perform on a contract.

  • OAO will develop legislation to expand the goals of access and opportunity and the inclusion of minority business enterprises and women business enterprises to state, public institutions that receive funding from the state.

  • OAO has been working to develop a Pilot Short-Term Loan Program. The purpose of the Pilot Short-Term Loan Program will be to provide MBEs, WBEs and DBEs, who have subcontracts on public construction contracts, access to working capital via a line of credit. The line of credit will be collateralized by the value of the subcontract. The pilot will only involve Massachusetts Department of Transportation. However, if the pilot is successful, we will expand the program to additional state agencies.