Many architecture, engineering and construction companies are disappointed to learn that receiving doesn’t automatically secure projects.

Some firms try again and again to win jobs set aside for minority contractors, with no luck, and, they say, little feedback on why they weren’t selected.

Inclusive contracting has been a hard slog in Oregon. It’s been complicated by other well-intended efforts, like laws requiring use of hard-bid procurement for public projects.

“We thought having the WBE and ESB (designations) was going to help us compete, but it didn’t,” Emerick Architects principal Brian Emerick said.

Required delivery

COBID, Oregon’s diverse business certification office, currently recognizes 3,555 firms in its directory of woman-owned, minority-owned and emerging small businesses, plus members of the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise program, which it operates on behalf of the federal government.

Emerick Architects is one of the 88 firms that have “graduated” from the state’s ESB category since 2013 – the year its online database system was implemented. Companies graduate when they exceed either a specified average annual revenue or total number of employees, or because the 12-year time limit has passed.

Emerick Architects will probably continue to re-enroll annually as a WBE, however, because its leadership is proud of the “woman-owned” tag, Brian Emerick said. (Emerick runs the company with his wife, Melody; he said the firm tries to ensure that at least half of its employees are women.)

“It was never much of an advantage for us, honestly,” he said. “Prime contractors, from what I could tell, never put much stock in it.”

A number of COBID firms interviewed by the 91��Ƶ feel that they’re included in bid solicitations only so that general contractors can hit a quota. With enough COBID-certified firms in the pool, a contractor can claim to have made the “good faith effort” to reach out to disadvantaged businesses as required by state law for public projects.

Officials with some COBID firms say requirements for winning a bid aren’t clear. They also say they don’t know how big general contractors score bid packages regarding equity. For instance, a white male-owned firm can win a project over COBID-certified firms by prioritizing outreach efforts to women and minorities.

Several COBID owners said the process is a game, and general contractors usually end up going with the well-established subcontractor they wanted all along.

COBID program director Carrie Hulse said she is aware of such complaints, but one difficulty her office faces is in identifying which large general contractors are sincere in their minority outreach, and which solicit minority bids only as a perfunctory step.

“We hear those comments,” Hulse said. “It’s certainly something that we are attempting to address.”

Foot in the door

Mandates to diversify the construction workforce and redistribute wealth to minority-owned businesses often clash with the low-bid procurement method. State law requires low-bid on public projects, though exceptions can be made.

The original intent of the low-bid requirement was to increase fairness in contract procurement, along with ensuring tax dollars weren’t wasted. But, ironically, low-bid is often blamed for inequitable outcomes. Alternative contracting methods, like construction manager-general contractor, are said to do better with equity goals, by allowing an owner or general contractor greater freedom in selecting who works on a project.)

Second-generation flooring contractor Judith Huck said Oregon’s COBID program has been helpful, but not because it has won her firm any work.

“It doesn’t get us the job; it gets us a foot in the door,” said Huck, president of Classique Floors in Portland. “They don’t have any requirement to give us work.”

Large general contractors maintain contact lists of diverse subcontractors to help them meet minority participation goals. Then firms like Huck’s expend time and resources putting together bids. This would be fine, she said, if someone followed up to explain why the losing bids fell short. Huck knows many companies that lose bids regularly.

“We see each other in these meetings; we all know each other,” she said. “After a while, you start to think, huh, maybe they’re just going to go the way they intended all along.”

In fact, Classique has been passed over for nearly every public contract it’s pursued as a COBID bidder. But Huck is OK with it, because Classique has landed contracts for projects at Nike’s headquarters and for other large private owners through its COBID connections.

Government agencies are required to post winning bids on the Oregon Procurement Information Network. COBID’s Hulse said she advises owners to view past bids on ORPIN and see what type of bids have been successful in the past. She also suggests that when contractors lose a bid, they contact the contracting entity and ask why.

“I don’t think that many firms do that right now,” she said, “although they are learning that there’s that advantage.”

Do your part

Firms have to do their part to win a bid, said Nancy Bebek, owner of Prestige Tile & Stone. It’s certified as a DBE, WBE and ESB.

“There’s work on my half that I have to do,” she said. “And I have to give a good number. Being a minority contractor doesn’t give me work – it gives me no work. It gives me a lot of opportunities that I do not think I would have access to if I did not have certification.”

Bebek suspects that without COBID certification, her company would not have had the opportunity to pursue what became its first large job – installing flooring at Pittock Mansion.

The experience has also been largely positive for Sherlyn and Gilbert Martin of mom-and-pop GreenLife Construction. Founded in 2002, GreenLife primarily serves as a general contractor for small commercial tenant improvements, though it’s procured public work through programs with the city of Portland, Multnomah County and Metro.

The firm hasn’t grown larger than needed; the Martins are the only regular employees. Gilbert Martin said it would be nice if the state issued smaller set-aside bid packages for minorities, so firms like his could pursue them. The state of Oregon, like most contracting authorities, tends to favor larger bid packages, and letting winning bidders – usually large, white-owned companies – sub out most of the work.

“They’re basically in it to make money – just like we are – not to help somebody,” he said. “They’re trying to use you if they can, but they’re not trying to put any money in your pocket.”

COBID’s Hulse said the state is trying to be better at outreach. It held 104 meetings with minority owners last year, and hopes to hold more this year.

“There are many certified firms, when they initially get certified, that think that because they’re certified, the money’s going to come rolling in. And it’s not. Certification is just another tool to gain access to opportunities. But ultimately it’s the responsibility of the business to do what they can to be successful.”

Name game

The state of Oregon in 2006 restructured its diverse business certification office, resetting the 12-year time period firms may remain certified as Emerging Small Businesses. That means next year, the largest class ever – around 30 firms – will “graduate.”

2015 was another big year for the office. Some major rules were clarified or changed. Notably, the race- and gender-neutral category of Service Disabled Veteran was added.

The addition of SDVs brought about another change: Rather than add more initials to the name “MWESBs,” the state opted to rename the office the Certification Office for Business Inclusion and Diversity.

COBID program director Carrie Hulse said the new name is a better fit. Certification is what the office does. Beyond that, if more categories are ever added, they can be absorbed into “COBID” without requiring a name change.

“What we’re attempting to do, is instead of everybody saying the ‘MWESB,’ we’re trying to get everybody to say ‘COBID-certified firms,’” she said.

Hulse acknowledges that more work on that front remains. Many COBID owners and others in the contracting community apparently are still unaware of the new name.

“We’re getting there,” she said. “People are just very used to saying ‘MWESB.’ So we’re getting there.”

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