Report: 29% of city contracts go to minority, female-owned businesses

The city awarded $23 million more in contracts to minority and female-owned businesses than last year, according to a study released by the mayor's office Wednesday.

The Fiscal year 2014 Annual Disparity Study analyzes how many city contracts go to minority, women and disabled-owned businesses and the availability of the businesses in different markets.

The city awarded $267 million in contracts to the minority and female businesses representing 29 percent of the contracts for which such businesses are available, the Office of Economic Opportunity reported.

That's a one percent increase over last year and very near the 30 percent goal set by Mayor Nutter.

No contracts were awarded to disabled-owned businesses. Only nine disabled-owned businesses are registered with the city's Office of Economic Opportunity.

""Every dollar spent by the City represents an economic opportunity for minority, women, and disabled owned businesses in Philadelphia," Mayor Nutter said in a release. "We want to expand the markets they serve and their capacity to grow their businesses and put people to work."

For the purpose of the study, the city did not include 63 contracts valued at $198 million into their calculations because those contracts are in markets where few or no minority, female, or disabled-owned businesses exist. Those industries include electric energy supply, water treatment chemicals, oil/petroleum, helicopters, sludge barge transport services, fleet vehicles and medical personnel.

The study was done by Econsult Solutions Inc. and Milligan & Company LLC.

The city's Office of Economic Opportunity keeps a database of businesses registered as minority, female-owned or disabled-owned. The database includes 1,030 minority-owned businesses, 416 minority-female-owned businesses, 962 female-owned businesses and nine disabled-owned businesses.

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