Metro procurement disparity study shows progress, lists seven recommendations

Christopher Wood presented Metro’s 2023 disparity study to the Procurement Standards Board and said the study — prepared by Griffin and Strong — is available at pearson.national.gov.

"Metro is required to complete a disparity study every 5 years," Christopher Wood said, noting the consultant produced seven recommendations and a set of commendations for Metro’s procurement programs.

The nut of the study, as described by Wood, was a mixture of praise and next steps: Griffin and Strong commended Metro for its project-by-project goal setting tied to the Equal Business Opportunity program; for using a Small Business Reserve program for projects at or under a $250,000 threshold; for staffing increases that enabled more intentional inclusion work; and for improvements in Oracle-based tracking and commodity-code analysis. The study also recommended seven actions; Wood said Metro staff are in internal discussions about each recommendation and will work with the legal department before moving to implementation.

Wood framed those recommendations as subject to the current legal and political environment. "Given the current political, climate and legal environment, we're working closely with legal, department and monitoring what's going on at the federal level," he said, and said staff will return to the board with a specific implementation plan at a future meeting.

At least one board member asked whether any of the study’s findings were unexpected. "I wouldn't say any of them were a were a surprise," Wood replied.

The presentation closed with staff committing to continue internal review and to present an implementation plan to the board at a future meeting. The study itself and its full set of recommendations remain the basis for the board’s next oversight steps.