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Asheville Business Inclusion Office outlines progress, disparity study goals
Summary
The city’s Business Inclusion Office (ABI) reported early gains in minority and woman‑owned business participation, described outreach and contractor matchmaking since Hurricane Helene, and explained how the disparity study informs aspirational goals and good‑faith‑effort standards.
Marcus Kirkman, the city’s Business Inclusion Manager, presented an overview of the Asheville Business Inclusion (ABI) program, review of the most‑recent disparity study, and early results from outreach since last spring.
Kirkman said the city has engaged with MWBE firms and partner agencies and reported utilization metrics: “According to the most recent utilization report dating back April of last year to January of this year, we have used, as a city, 46 MWB firms. This accounts for 2,650,000.00 in MWBE awards,” and he noted that amount represented an increase of roughly $500,000 over the prior year. When asked for the percentage of overall awards, Kirkman gave the utilization rate as “2.57%,” an increase from the prior period.
The nut graf: ABI staff framed disparity studies as one tool among many to expand participation by ready, willing and able (RWA) underutilized firms; the office described outreach, matchmaking, certification assistance, and training as its principal tactics to increase competition and meet aspirational goals established in the disparity study.
Kirkman summarized recent work: targeted outreach events with McCormick Field and AshBritt (debris‑removal contractor), a weekly ABI “Inspire” listserv of roughly 75 firms for direct communication, and partnerships with NC Department of Transportation and local business‑support organizations to help certify and prequalify firms. He said AshBritt hired nine MWBE firms for debris removal work after ABI outreach and that 17 new MWBE firms had been certified with the city since April.
The presentation also reviewed the 2023 disparity study results used to set aspirational goals by procurement category (professional services, construction, non‑professional services, goods and supplies). Kirkman said the study identifies disparities by race and gender and recommends aspirational percentage goals in each procurement category and a relevant market area for outreach (state or national depending on the category).
City legal counsel explained how the ABI policy interacts with procurement law: in construction contracts, the city must accept the lowest responsive, responsible bidder, but Kirkman and legal staff stressed that ABI compliance (good‑faith efforts or meeting aspirational subcontracting targets) is part of the responsiveness determination. City legal counsel said for some non‑construction procurements, evaluation is scored and ABI compliance can be one factor among many.
Kirkman outlined next steps: a second debris‑removal outreach event with AshBritt, a March virtual commodity‑code training to help firms describe their services accurately in the city database, internal ABI training for staff and project managers, and continuing matchmaking and technical assistance.
Kirkman concluded that disparity studies provide legal justification for program goals but are only one tool among outreach, certification, training and contracting practices to increase MWBE participation.
