THE STATE IS STILL STRUGGLING to overcome decades of dysfunction around tracking and enforcing its laws for contracting with minority-owned businesses, even after a $500,000 study published a year ago laid bare the problems and offered 22 recommended fixes.
But Tomás Ávila, associate director for the
R.I. Office of Diversity, Equity and Opportunity, which oversees the program, insists that changing attitudes, technology improvements and more than $1 billion worth of school construction projects will help improve and expand the troubled program.
Ávila, a longtime leader in the state’s Latino community and a business owner, acknowledges the state Minority Business Enterprise program was in bad shape when he took over last August. The amount of dollars awarded to minority businesses wasn’t being tracked, contractors were being let off the hook too easily and many minority business owners were reluctant to get involved in what seemed like a pointless amount of paperwork.
Indeed, in the 34-year history of the state law requiring that 10% of contract dollars go to minority- or women-owned businesses, the MBE program has only met that mandate twice, in fiscal 2018 and 2019.
Fixing the problems isn’t a simple or fast process, but Ávila is optimistic. The state is launching an online bid-tracking system next year that will allow his office to more accurately and efficiently keep tabs on dollars awarded to minority businesses. His office is also holding contractors’ feet to the fire when it comes to finding minority subcontractors, no longer letting them opt out so easily under the “good faith effort” clause.
Ávila is also working with the
R.I. Department of Education to find major upcoming projects for minority businesses to participate, and he is targeting the $1.3 billion in upcoming school construction projects.
But some aren’t sold on Ávila’s optimism.
“Unfortunately, I don’t think the conversation has changed much,” said Rep. Karen Alzate, D-Pawtucket, who leads the state Legislative Black and Latino Caucus. “We like to window dress a lot of things. We gave money [for the study], but there’s still not a lot of follow-up.”
The study called for better enforcement of penalties for contractors who fail to meet the 10% minority-business participation requirement. Ávila, in a document submitted to the General Assembly earlier this year, stated that no further action was needed, referring to the existing state law that gives the director of administration the power to suspend payments, revoke contracts and deny participation in future projects.
When questioned by PBN about this response, Ávila acknowledged that these punishments are not happening.
Without sanctions, Lisa Ranglin, executive director for the
Rhode Island Black Business Association, sees little hope of improving the program.
“A year later, we’re still talking about enforcement, and nothing has been put in place to ensure it happens,” she said.
Ranglin has asked the
R.I. Office of the Attorney General to get involved and bring charges against those who aren’t following the law.
The attorney general’s office would be happy to meet with her, spokesperson Brian Hodge told PBN. But he also noted that the state law gives the director of administration, not the attorney general, the power to crack down on vendors who don’t obey the 10% requirement.