Boston council hears testimony that city minority contracting falls far short of 25 percent goal

BOSTON -- March 27, 2023, Boston City Council hears stark testimony that minority business contracting lags far behind the mayor's 25 percent goal. The Committee on Government Accountability, Transparency, and Accessibility, chaired by City Councilor-at-Large Julia M. Mejia, held a remote hearing Monday on Docket 0253, an order to audit city procurement, with small business owners describing a portal available only in English, filled with legal terminology, and tied to payment timelines of 60 days or more for subcontractors. Administration officials, including Chief of Economic Opportunity and Inclusion Segun Idowu and Supplier and Workforce Diversity Director Andre Lima, acknowledged the gaps and cited a city discretionary-spend rate of roughly 6.4 percent with certified diverse businesses, well short of the 25 percent executive-order target, while announcing a $250,000 RFP for multilingual advertising templates and a pilot with a local CDFI to provide upfront contract financing to newly awarded vendors. Rafael Danielito Guzman, owner of Ray Services and Company, told the panel that on public jobs in Massachusetts "the GC will not pay me, I haven't been paid, and a lot of GCs, that's an excuse, even though they've been paid, not to pay the subs."