City staff report progress on disparity-study work and Uplift small-business accelerator

City staff told the Virginia Beach City Council on June 10 that BBC Research and Consulting is conducting a disparity study of city procurement practices and expects to deliver findings in the fall of 2025.

Lavera Tolentino summarized the study’s scope and FY24 small-business contracting results, saying the study will assess procurement practices, contract details, vendor demographics and market availability after BBC was selected through an RFP process. She said the disparity study is scheduled to take about 12 to 15 months and “is on schedule and due to be completed in the fall of this year.”

Tolentino reported FY24 award and spend totals for SWAM (Small, Women- and Minority-owned) categories. She said the city awarded about $94,600,000 to minority-owned businesses and $86,200,000 to women-owned businesses in FY24, a combined $180,900,000 (approximately 23.3% of awards). Contract spend for FY24, Tolentino said, was roughly $61,500,000 with minority-owned firms and $59,100,000 with women-owned firms, totaling about $120,600,000 (about 29.7% of contract spend).

Tolentino and other staff recognized outreach work by the SWAM business office and named team members conducting workshops and outreach. She noted the city adopted aspirational spend goals following a 2018 disparity study and that current trends have exceeded that 12% goal in recent years.

Micah Rivers, program manager for the Virginia Beach Uplift accelerator, described Uplift as an eight-week, in-person program geared to “middle tier” businesses (those beyond startup but not yet fully established). Rivers said the program focuses on three forms of capital — social, knowledge and financial — and pairs participants with resource partners for procurement, SWAM certification help, and finance preparation. He said the accelerator has run cohorts for two years and an impact report in January found that 67% of participants reported increased revenue, 40% reported hiring part-time staff and full-time employment increased by 25% among participants.

Council members asked where business owners can find information; staff said program and workshop details are posted on the city’s SWAM business webpage. Council members also discussed the city’s pause of certain MBE project goals effective July 1 pending disparity-study recommendations and raised concerns about framing and program access. No formal council action was taken; staff said policy recommendations from the disparity study will return to council after completion.