COMPREHENSIVE DISPARITY STUDY COMPLETED:
MAYOR KINCANNON PLEDGES QUICK ACTION
On Monday, Nov. 6, 2023, the City and its consultant will present the findings of a comprehensive Disparity Study, which aims to identify ways to make it easier for small businesses and those owned by minorities, women, service-disabled veterans and persons with disabilities to compete for and be awarded City contracts.
The public meeting will be held at 5 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 6, at the Public Works Service Center, 3131 Morris Ave.
• 2022-23 Disparity Study [PDF]: Click here to read the analysis and recommendations by Miller3 Consulting. PDF file also includes Appendix. (16MB)
The Disparity Study, requested by Mayor Indya Kincannon and approved by City Council, was the first such top-to-bottom analysis in 25 years.
Over 21 months, almost 50 Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) owners were interviewed one-on-one by Miller3 or participated in group discussions. Another 3,284 DBE business owners were contacted and asked to participated in surveys.
“I’m very pleased that we took this initiative,” Kincannon said. “Bolstered with current data, national expertise and extensive business community input, I am prepared to take steps to make it easier for DBEs to attain a bigger share of City contracts.”
• View Full News Release
Please find continuous updates below as the City team implements the recommendations from the study shared with the public during the November 2023 meeting.
| Partnerships |
Developing Small Business Program |
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• Contracting with consultant to assist with development of MFTA partnership |
• Phase 1 announced – requires all procurements between $12,500 and $50,000 include a quote from small business (or Good Faith Effort)
• Adding requirement to Oracle system to indicate compliance |
| Supplier Support |
Data Improvements |
• Met with 6 banks/CDFIs to consolidate information on applying for capital, develop resource list for posting and sharing with DBEs
• Drafting FAQs for public supplier support and planning training options for website and consistent in-person events
• Developing marketing plan to assist with outreach to DBEs to encourage vendor registration, certification and awareness of the DBE office assistance
• Completed one phase of revising all solicitation documents to simplify and include important details upfront |
• Requested (and received approval) for enhancements to BidNet requiring business classification details to improve reporting
•
In final evaluation of DBE reporting platform to improve reporting / provide reporting dashboards
• Made Oracle improvements to better track DBE spend data for reporting dashboards |
| Contract Compliance |
Solicitation Process Improvements |
| • Hiring of Contract Compliance Officer complete in Dec 2024 |
• Revising bond thresholds in procurement code to match State code and allow more competition |
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Background: What Preceded the 2022-23 Disparity Study?
The City of Knoxville’s Purchasing Division is responsible for all purchases for the City and Knoxville Area Transit (KAT). This public spending – on average, roughly $110 million per year – can help local businesses grow and prosper.
Knoxville Mayor Indya Kincannon, City Council and City department heads agree: All businesses deserve to have a fair shot in competing for City contracts. The more reflective of the City’s demographic makeup, the better.
Part of that commitment to a level playing field for business owners is outreach to Disadvantaged Business Enterprises, or DBEs.
The City is committed to ensuring that businesses owned by minorities, women, service-disabled veterans, persons with disabilities, and small businesses have opportunities to compete for and participate in the City’s procurement of goods and services, professional services contracts, and construction contracts.
What barriers or hardships do DBEs face in trying to do business with the City?
Mayor Kincannon and City Council wanted to find out – and then take action to make it easier for DBEs to compete for City contracts.
In February 2022, the Mayor and Council hired Miller3 Consulting to do a top-to-bottom Disparity Study – the first such analysis in 25 years.
Miller3 met with almost 50 DBE owners, and another 3,284 DBE owners were asked to participate in surveys.
• 2022-23 Disparity Study: Click HERE to read the complete Miller3 Consulting Report
• View additional Background Information
If you have any questions or comments regarding the 2022 City of Knoxville Disparity Study, please contact:
Penny Owens
Purchasing Agent
City of Knoxville
865-215-2070
[email protected]
Alternatively, you can contact the project team directly:
Sherry Williams
Project Manager, Miller3 Consulting, Inc.
[email protected]
Larry Scott
Assistant Project Manager, Miller3 Consulting, Inc.
[email protected]
The City will provide regular updates about M3 Consulting’s progress on the disparity study throughout its course. Please check back periodically for those updates.
April 2023 - M3 continues to analyze the data collected and anecdotal information collected during individual interviews and focus groups M3 conducted in the Fall of 2022. Details on a public hearing conducted by M3 to share your thoughts on doing business with the City will be coming soon.
The City and M3 Consulting kicked off the 2022 City of Knoxville Disparity Study in February 2022 with a series of virtual meetings with various City departments and representatives. M3 Consulting met with the City to introduce the study, answer questions, and begin the data collection process starting with assessing and understanding contracting and vendor data that the City maintains.
M3 Consulting began working with the City in February 2022 to collect data on contracts and procurements that the City awarded during the study period as well as information about the vendors that participated in that work.
M3 Consulting will engage in the following tasks:
Community Engagement
• One on One interviews - The project team conducted a series of one-on-one interviews with both non-minority and minority business owners on their experiences doing business or attempting to do business with the City. - COMPLETED
• Focus Groups - The project team conducted a series of focus groups with both non-minority and minority business owners on specific topics related to their experiences doing business or attempting to do business with the City. - COMPLETED
• Public Hearing - The project team will conduct a public hearing in various locations throughout the City. During the public hearings, the project team will present information about the disparity study, answer any questions, and solicit participants for any verbal or written testimony that they would like to share about their experiences working in the marketplace. Further details including specific dates, times, and locations of the meetings will be available soon.
Data Collection
M3 Consulting will continue to work with the City to collect data on contracts that it awarded during the study period and the vendors that participated in those contracts.
Data Analysis
M3 Consulting has began analyzing data that it collected from the City. M3 Consulting will assess the subindustries that account for the majority of City contracting, the geographical area that is most relevant to the City's contracting, and the percentage of total contract dollars M/W/SDV/PWDBEs received on City's prime contracts and subcontracts during the study period.
Capacity Surveys
In the Late Summer/Early Fall of 2022, the project team conducted capacity email and telephone surveys with businesses in the relevant geographic market area that performed work that is relevant to City contracting.
(If we contact your business, please participate in the community engagement and survey process to help ensure an accurate and comprehensive survey process!)