Stringer demands subcontracting data for future MWBE analyses

New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer praised Mayor Bill de Blasio for making progress in awarding more city contracts to minority- and women-owned businesses, but said his annual analysis could not incorporate much of the city’s subcontracting work and therefore did not shed light on a sphere of significance to many MWBE firms.

Stringer said Wednesday that two-thirds of city agencies are not complying with a regulation requiring them to submit subcontractor data into the database the comptroller’s office and the de Blasio administration jointly use to track spending. The data is essential to monitor how businesses that ink deals with the city use the money to subcontract out work, according to Stringer. He said prime vendors have a record of missing their targets for subcontracting with MWBE firms, and that these contracts can be the only shot these typically smaller businesses have at doing business with the city.

The comptroller's annual “Making the Grade” report suggested city agencies could compel prime vendors to comply with the reporting requirements by using fines. The report also noted that uploading detailed information into the database can be cumbersome and that technology upgrades may be useful. But when asked, the comptroller himself did not offer details about how he thought the city should proceed.

“We want to make it clear that we’re now going to demand that data,” Stringer said. “My question to them is: Is it incompetence? Are you afraid that we’re going to know too much? Is it just something that you have routinely ignored?”

The report shows that the dozen agencies that submitted subcontracting data saw their prime vendors hand off as much work as believed to be possible to MWBEs. The de Blasio administration said it is required to file subcontractor information in the Payee Informational Portal database for contracts awarded since March of 2013 and has been working hard to do so through monthly trainings.

“We remain committed to working with agencies and vendors to increase compliance,” an administration spokesperson said in an email. “Since the end of Fiscal [Year] 2014, the number of payments reported on PIP by vendors has increased 171% and the value of payments reported have increased 295%.” 

The Black Institute President Bertha Lewis agreed that more transparency is needed, noting her organization had contested how the administration had compiled and described its MWBE work. She noted African-American and women led businesses did not fare as well this year, according to Stringer’s analysis. 

“The fact that African Americans and women lost some ground in 2015 should be an indication of the lack of seriousness with which city agencies are approaching minorities and women-owned businesses,” Lewis said in a statement. “We should be more serious about spending public monies on MWBE businesses who are hiring from our neighborhoods.”

The de Blasio administration said it tracks contracts awarded to MWBEs, rather than money paid to MWBEs, because this method more clearly depicts the city's procurement practices without reflecting contracts signed under his predecessor. “This administration is making an unprecedented effort to prioritize increasing awards to minority and women-owned business enterprises – resulting in $1.6 billion in awards to M/WBE's last year,” de Blasio spokeswoman Ishanee Parikh said in a statement. "These aren’t aspirational numbers, they are actual contracts the city has signed, sealed and delivered.”

Overall, Stringer gave the de Blasio administration a “D+” grade, a slight improvement on last year’s “D.” He noted that the portion of city contract spending with MWBE firms increased from 4 percent last year to 5.3 percent this year. He praised the city for starting a mentorship program to assist MWBEs in professional services, such as law, accounting and engineering, and having additional city entities, including the New York City Housing Authority and Department of Education, report their MWBE contracting. Stringer also said the $1.6 billion in MWBE contracts awarded last year shows promise.

“$1.6 billion is a serious amount of money, and I’m hopeful that these new contracts will go a long way to boost the city’s overall grades in the future,” he said. “As our report makes clear, we still have a long way to go before we bring equal economic opportunity to businesses across our city.”

The city Department of Housing Preservation and Development was the only agency to receive an “A.” The report noted HPD spent more than 30 percent of total eligible spending with MWBEs and surpassed all related goals. But most agencies, including the comptroller’s office itself, earned “Cs” or “Ds.” Three were given “Fs,” including the Department of Environmental Protection, the Department of Sanitation and Small Business Services, which administers much of the mayor’s MWBE program.