Transcript Slide 1

Beyond Compliance:
Creating and Executing Successful
Strategies for DBE Participation and
Workforce Diversity
Panelists
 Brian McCarthy (Moderator)
– Program Management Consultant, CDM
 Heyward Davenport
– Regional Director, Minority Business
Development Agency
 Michael Jefferson
– Diversity Manager, Metropolitan District
of Hartford
Why beyond compliance?
Stakeholders
Regulatory
Compliance
Environment
Benefits
Jobs
ROI
Contracts
Benefits Drive Strategy
Program Management Strategy
Risk Management
Benefits
Context – Large Public Works Program
 Context and experience comes from a large
urban public works program for a mid-size
city, primarily horizontal construction
 Not a lot of existing local MBE & WBE
capacity
 Biggest program ever undertaken by owner
 Voter approval required
 Politics
Compliance Framework
 DBE (MBE/WBE) participation percentages as
condition of funding or a legal requirement
 EEO / Workforce Diversity
 Set-Asides
 Prevailing Wage
 Project Labor Agreement
Leading off . . .
 The Owner’s Perspective
– Program Benefits
– Risk Management
– Managing expectations
– The importance of a coherent strategy
– Getting it done
Next up . . .
 Resources to help you
– Leveraging programs and agencies
– How to engage their support
– What they can do
– What they can’t do
And then . . .
 Program management to support the strategy
– Leverage existing tools & processes
– Forecasting
– Tracking and Reporting
Owner’s Strategy
 Manage Benefits
 Manage Risk
DBE Participation & Workforce
Diversity in Context of Program
Benefits & Risks
 Public Agency
– High Visibility
– High Expectations for your Program

Vehicle for economic growth

Vehicle for economic opportunity
 Public & Local Business Stakeholder View
– Program Benefits = jobs & business
opportunity
DBE Participation & Workforce
Diversity in Context of Program
Benefits & Risks
 Risks
– Adverse publicity
– Public protests
– Erosion of support for the program
– Non-compliance with funding & legal
requirements
Compliance Mindset
 Manage Risk of Non-Compliance
 Risk = Participation Goals not met
 Consequence = Lose funding
 Risk Management Strategy Includes
– Solid Contract Terms
– “Good Faith Efforts”
– Tracking and Reporting
– Creating the Paper Trail
What’s missing?
 Achieving, documenting, and reporting
compliance may not deliver the program
benefits expected by some stakeholders
 From their view (right or wrong), you have
not delivered
Why take a narrow approach?
 It’s the way we’ve always done it
 It’s worked for us before
 Inexperience
 See doing more as an unnecessary expense
 Fear of engagement
 Not part of organizational culture
Beyond Compliance
 Broader view of risks and benefits that are
related to issues of DBE and workforce
participation
 You’re already doing a lot of the legwork to
support taking these extra steps
 Leverage work you’re already doing
 Proactively manage expectations (benefits)
and risk
Strategy
 Manage expectations
 Engage the local small contractors
 Engage the general contractors
 Engage external resources
 Leverage existing tools & systems
 Publicize your efforts and successes
Manage Expectations
City Plans $1.6B Sewer Upgrade
08/19/2009
The Daily Planet
Mayor John Doe told the crowd the project would create jobs,
especially in the eastern part of the city, a promise he touted
during his campaign.
Jobs will be available for "hundreds of people for
construction above the ground and below."
Managing Expectations
 Realistic Jobs Forecasts
– Job Preservation Versus Job Creation
– Consistent Approach
 Realistic Subcontracting Opportunities
Forecasts
– Breakdown by trades
– When will opportunities happen?
Engaging the Local DBE
Subcontractors
 Pursue them
 Maintain a vendor database
 Provide Educational Opportunities
– How to work with your agency
– How to work with general contractors
 Develop relationships before there are
problems
Engage the General Contractors
 GC to Subcontractor matchmakers
 Get off on the right foot – you take these
issues seriously and will pay attention to
them
 Plug GC into local resources, if they are not
from the area
Engaging External Resources
 Government Agencies
– Minority Business Development Agency
– State Departments of Labor
– Small Business Administration
 Other Organizations
– Community-based job training & placement
programs
– Industry and trade organizations
Leverage Existing Tools and Systems
 Planning and design phase analysis
– Workload & opportunity forecasting
 Contract Administration
– Payroll reports
– Progress Meetings
 Internal & External Communication
Publicize your Efforts & Success
 Be out in front
 Prevent protests
 Have good stories and evidence to fall back
on
 Anecdotes are effective
Strategy to Go Beyond Compliance
 Manage expectations
 Engage the local small contractors
 Engage the general contractors
 Engage external resources
 Leverage existing tools & systems
 Publicize your efforts and successes
Engaging External Resources
Most of these organizations exist to
help the small or minority business, or
the individual worker. How can they
help or support me, the program
owner?
What’s in it for the Program Owner?
 Expands your network
 Adds credibility
 Creates publicity
 Builds local capacity
 Doesn’t cost much
 Proactively managing risk
What do they have to offer?
 Training & education
 Networking
 Access to capital for subs/suppliers
 Realistic advice
 Coaching & mentoring
 Certification assistance
 OJT Funding
Risk Mitigation Payoff
 Establishing relationships
 Track record of support & fair play
 “Problem children” get independent support
 Good publicity
 Reduce chance and severity of problems
About the MBDA
 Minority Business Development Agency, part
of the US Department of Commerce.
 Created as an executive order in 1969 by
President Richard M. Nixon, first known as
the Office of Minority Business Enterprise.
 Mission driven as an entrepreneurial
organization; we actively promote job and
business growth to enhance competitiveness
for minority businesses of all sizes and
industries; we are committed to wealth
creation, teaming capabilities and cultivating
opportunities in domestic & global markets.
MBDA regions
…our 5 regional offices cover all states including Puerto Rico, too.
Enterprise Centers
 The MBDA funds its network of Minority Business
Enterprise Centers, Minority Business Opportunity
Centers & Native American Business Enterprise
Centers.
 MBEC leverages business alliances with government
agencies, financial institutions, procurement supply
chain programs and corporate America. In the NYNEC:
8 Centers & 2 District offices.
 MBEC assists the small business owner to cultivate
business resources which are geared to serve minority
entrepreneurs seeking to pursue accelerated growth.
MBDA’s Approach to Program Owners
 Establishes a high profile partnership to demonstrate
owner’s commitment and sincerity to local and MWBE
contracting programs
 Provides resources such as vendor outreach and
strategic alliance with local resources
 Co-sponsors and acts as primary event manager -
including staffing and coordination - for project
outreach events
 Facilitates introductions to local technical assistance
organizations and associations in such areas as
certification, bonding, insurance and joint venture
development.
A couple of recent examples
 In 2009, MBDA & local MBEC’s hosted a B2B
Procurement matchmaker with 5 NY City Agencies who
never worked together to identify 20 prime contractors
who met 125 MBE vendors.
 Significant outreach and partnering efforts in Hartford
include B2B matchmakers and educational programs.
MBE prime awarded one of largest contracts in
agency’s history. MDC named Northeast regional
Partner of the Year.
We want to help
www.mbda.gov
The MBEC’s, MBOC’s & NABEC’s are funded by the U.S.
Department of Commerce as technical assistance centers
Program Management Tools to Support
the Strategy
 Use existing tools & processes to your
advantage
– Forecasting subcontract opportunities and
workforce requirements
– Extract useful information from standard data
sources
– Tracking and Reporting
– Communication & Outreach
Planning and Design
Cost Estimates
Constructability
Reviews
Subcontracting
Opportunities
& Workforce
Requirements
Realistic
Expectations
Program
Schedule
Procurement
 Maintain & Use a Vendor Profile Database
 Forecast upcoming work
 Tack matchmakers on to pre-bid meetings
 Use technology to push information
Construction Administration
 Maintain visibility
– Progress meetings
– Site Inspections
 Mine data from daily reports
– Subs
– Crews
– Trades
Construction Administration
 Certified Payrolls
– Job classifications
– Ethnicity & Gender
– Residency
Tracking & Reporting
Realized
Benefits
Reduced Risk
Defensible &
auditable data
and results
Clear
Processes,
Consistently
Applied
Education & Outreach
 Many small firms have not played in your
arena
 Conduct seminars & workshops on how to do
business
 Reinforce expectations
 Deliver consistent messages
Summary
 Focus on the program benefits to develop
your strategy
 It’s a contact sport – you’ve got to be visible
 Engage stakeholders
 Use you’re existing systems and tools
 Don’t go it alone – partner up
 Publicize your efforts and successes
Closing Thoughts on Strategy & Risk
Management
 Benefit – from Latin benefactum (good deed)
bene (well)
 Risk – from French risque, Italian riscare (to
run into danger) – ancestral meaning could
be “sail dangerously close to rocks”
 Manage – from Italian maneggiare (control a
horse) fr Latin manus (hand)
Program
Management is
a contact sport!
Hands – on
approaches
will help keep
you off the
rocks!
Questions?
 Brian McCarthy
– Program Management Consultant, CDM
 Heyward Davenport
– Regional Director, Minority Business
Development Agency