QUESTION
Council Member Won Asks About Retroactive MWBE Contracts and Payment Timeliness
2:18:08
·
146 sec
Council Member Julie Won questions Michael Garner about the high percentage of Minority and Women-owned Business Enterprises (MWBE) contracts registered retroactively in fiscal year 23, highlighting the financial strain on small business owners awaiting payment. Garner disputes the stated figures, emphasizing efforts to improve on-time registration and reduce retroactivity in procurement processes. The chapter closes with anticipation for the City Controller's testimony on the matter.
Speaker 2
2:18:08
And for Michael Gardner, according the controller's most recent report, 61% of MWE contracts registered in fiscal year 23 were retroactive.
2:18:22
Subjecting businesses as specialty MWEs to wait long times for payment can be burdensome to owners, particularly small business owners.
2:18:30
What does the doing to ensure MWDE contracts are paid in a timely manner?
Speaker 6
2:18:35
Yes.
2:18:35
We certainly disagree with that number, most significantly.
2:18:38
So the numbers that we have is 21% fiscal 23.
2:18:41
We told them that in a letter, so they're aware of that difference that we see.
2:18:46
So I'd be curious as to the methodology for retroactivity for MD BBE that got it to somewhere in 60 something percent.
2:18:52
But we're talking about in the twenties.
2:18:53
And of course, chair 1, as you know, retroactivity is the bane of the procurement system, and 21% is significantly lower.
2:18:59
Than we see for other problem areas, other areas where retroactivity really, really hurts the city and our vendors.
2:19:05
So although we are laser focused on retro activity, we see a very much number, but we will not that will not prevent us from trying to make sure that every single MWD contract is registered on time and every city contract is registered on time.
2:19:17
That's we'll always remain our
Speaker 2
2:19:19
So is your answer that you're trying to register everybody on time to prevent retroactive payments?
Speaker 6
2:19:25
So I then I can't speak to the active payment that obviously well beyond Mox's remit.
2:19:30
What we can control in the procurement process is making sure that everything is in FMS, which means it's registered So in terms of late so I I believe the statistic that you just quoted was something like 60% of contracts registered late.
2:19:43
So that's that statistic we do not disagree with.
2:19:46
That's not what our local on one numbers or indicators numbers indicate that are all public and have been public for 5 months.
2:19:52
That's not the data that we see.
2:19:54
Doesn't mean it's not a huge problem.
2:19:55
It doesn't mean that it's distinct from payment surely, but we disagree with that number.
Speaker 2
2:20:00
Can you break down the 21% in dollar amount?
2:20:03
What does that come up to?
Speaker 6
2:20:05
In terms of that, it was a it's a question it's by value or by contract count.
2:20:09
That's another very important distinguishing factor.
2:20:11
Again, this is all publicly available data.
2:20:13
I could collate it in a specific way if you're if in a separate follow-up if we want to discuss different ways that we can cut it.
2:20:21
But this is all based off of that local L1 fiscal year 23 report and our indicators report.
2:20:26
It's you can cross reference retroactivity with MVP status.
Speaker 2
2:20:31
Well, luckily, our controller is here now, and he will also be testifying.
