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When clients are struggling to get short-listed, one of their weaknesses is responding to questions regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). 鈥淲e don鈥檛 know what they鈥檙e looking for!鈥� they tell me. Reading through the responses, I confess I find them lacking. Typically, I see a regurgitation of in-house DEI policies, a nondiscrimination statement, perhaps in-house diversity percentages, and a paragraph or two on the proposed project team鈥檚 diversity. Project team diversity can be a real head-scratcher for firms that struggle with recruiting diverse team members to meet some public entities鈥� stringent requirements.

Both Oregon and Washington have MWESB (minority-owned, woman-owned, emerging small business, and service-disabled veteran business enterprise) certification criteria. The state of Oregon also established COBID (Certification Office for Business Inclusion and Diversity) certification to certify that a firm is owned by a person of color, a woman or a veteran, or is an emerging small business.

Many primes responding to RFPs believe that finding these certified businesses can be difficult. Because they are small, their availability can be maxed out at just one job or two. Also, firms that could be certified but aren鈥檛 often don鈥檛 have the resources to attain certification or aren鈥檛 interested in it.

I interviewed two public entities for this two-part article: Amy James Neel, the workforce and contracting equity manager for Portland Community College (PCC) and Hanna Emerson-Steed, the director and chief procurement officer for Oregon State University (OSU).

This article is based on my interview with Neel, who has years of experience as a journey-level carpenter and was formerly training director with Oregon Tradeswomen. In part two, which will appear in the 91视频 on Jan. 6, I鈥檒l go over my interview with Emerson-Steed.

COBID and MWESB history

PCC requires 20 percent MWESB and COBID utilization on proposals. The college鈥檚 overarching goals are to participate in contracting equity and workforce equity. The goal of contracting equity is to create and sustain a competitive and fair business environment for contracting, procurement, and consulting opportunities that include small businesses owned by minorities, women, and socially and economically disadvantaged people. Workforce equity focuses on eliminating racial and other gaps in employment and income and ensuring that the workforce is representative of the general population.聽This includes ensuring opportunities exist for career advancement.

Oregon recently conducted a study that showed wide disparities between the availability of minority-owned businesses and the utilization of those same businesses.

鈥淲e鈥檙e looking to correct that,鈥� Neel said. 鈥淲e want to set a target. We want to offer equitable opportunities for access to PCC construction projects. Then we want to measure each demographic against that goal.鈥�

Neel believes in being transparent about the way PCC utilizes disadvantaged firms. To that end, PCC has developed and migrated all its data for utilization. This tool is on the PCC website and includes four dashboards: contractor equity, contractor workforce, architect equity, and architect workforce.

Because statistically most emerging small businesses (ESBs) are owned by white males, PCC鈥檚 20 percent inclusion requirement cannot be solely ESB firms. Neel said PCC wants to support small businesses. 鈥淏ut if the entire 20 percent of the MWESB goal is met by ESBs, then it excludes those other demographics in the community that tend to be historically marginalized, and we want to elevate those businesses as well,鈥� she said.

Respectful workforce programs

Responders to PCC RFPs know that the selected design team may be required to participate in an approved respectful workplace program such as Green Dot or RISE Up. Initially, only construction workers were required to comply. After hearing a need to extend it to other trades, PCC is slowly introducing this into architecture proposals. For PCC, a respectful workplace is one that is 鈥渁ppropriate, productive, safe, and free from behaviors that may undermine workers鈥� job performance, physical safety, psychological safety, productivity, inclusion, retention, the equitable access to meaningful work, and/or efficiency.鈥� Neel notes that firms that come into the selection process with one of these programs (or a similar one) already in place demonstrates that they are fully invested in PCC鈥檚 policies.

Critical race theory

Another criterion often included in PCC RFPs is critical race theory. Its purpose is to acknowledge the building users.

鈥淲hen you put up a building, it has a culture and tradition attached to it,鈥� Neel said. 鈥淪o, the more voices we have at the table, the more lived experience we have to reflect our incredibly diverse users.鈥�

The lesson for proposal submitters here is to have a deep understanding of who these people are 鈥� and they can vary from project to project. PCC serves people for whom English isn鈥檛 their first language, people of color, and people with disabilities. They have campus locations that are not accessible by everyone and serve different gender identities.

鈥淎ll those things are important if you鈥檙e going to build a building for us,鈥� Neel said. 鈥淓very single person that wants to take a class at PCC needs to feel like they belong there.鈥�

There is a downloadable on the PCC website titled Critical Race Theory developed in partnership with critical race educator, researcher, and strategist Amara H. P茅rez.

鈥淧art of what I鈥檇 be doing in preparation for a proposal response is to understand why PCC subscribed to her approach to design not being neutral, and then I think you鈥檙e on track,鈥� Neel said.

The look of a successful response

Some of the most successful proposals came with firms that leaned into workforce and contracting equity, Neel said. Specifically, firms set goals, put them in the RFP, and didn鈥檛 just talk about how they were going to meet them but showed excitement and an understanding of why they are philosophically aligned with PCC. They鈥檝e developed relationships with pre-apprenticeship programs. They have an idea for developing an internship for a small minority contracting firm they鈥檙e excited about. They鈥檝e created a unique teaming arrangement that they would like to pilot on a PCC project.

鈥淲hat we cannot do is inspire buy-in,鈥� Neel said. 鈥淪o, if they come with buy-in, we get excited, and we understand that we have a community partner that we鈥檙e going to literally build the future with.鈥�

Neel noted that architecture can be a less diverse community. She said if those firms can acknowledge that, and demonstrate an effort to change, that can go a long way. For example, a firm may say, 鈥楬ere鈥檚 what we鈥檙e doing to foster the next generation of design professionals, and here鈥檚 a long list of places we鈥檝e reached out to, and we have a couple of paid interns coming on board.鈥� She also suggested that putting interns into leadership spaces so they can watch and learn and aren鈥檛 being relegated to menial tasks is important. 鈥淲e want to cultivate their leadership,鈥� Neel said. 鈥淲e get excited about that.鈥�

MWESB availability

For primes that have difficulty recruiting COBID or MWESB firms because of availability, Neel said she would like to see them be more innovative.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a whole bunch of them out there,鈥� she said. 鈥淢aybe they鈥檙e not certified yet, or maybe they have not been asked to the table yet. So that is where, again, PCC gets really excited about innovation.鈥�

If a prime is willing to reach out to a firm that is eligible for certification or is certified but doesn鈥檛 yet have the exposure, she said she would love to support it. If a certification is in the works, and the prime is facilitating that certification, that would be a selling point.

Debriefings and other meetings

PCC is willing to meet with firms beforehand.

鈥淢y goal is to set people up for success, not trick them,鈥� Neel said.

It鈥檚 common for PCC to have pre-proposal meetings to go over the details of what it鈥檚 looking for. Oftentimes, separate information sessions take place. She highly recommends watching for these meetings, which can be found on Bid Locker.

Neel said PCC also does scads of debriefs, takes copious notes on all proposals, and is fully invested in the candid sharing of information. She said she is happy to sit down with any firm after the fact and talk about ways in which its proposal would have been stronger, adding that she鈥檚 seen tremendous progress among firms that have leaned into PCC鈥檚 critique.

Julie Flattery has worked in the architecture, engineering and construction industries for more than 30 years and uses this knowledge to help firms improve their verbal and visual communications. She also teaches workshops on the art of proposal creation through a co-owned business: Deconstructed Workshops (www.deconstructedworkshops.com). Contact her at [email protected].

The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed in the preceding commentary are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the Daily Journal of Commerce or its editors. Neither the author nor the 91视频 guarantees the accuracy or completeness of any information published herein.